Things Everyone Gets Wrong About The Icon Sting
With almost 40 years in the industry as a wrestler, Sting has undergone many gimmick changes and had feuds with many of the biggest stars in the promotions he was signed to. Due to this, there are several misconceptions about "The Stinger" that have simply become widely accepted online.
One of the biggest repeated claims is that Sting and Ultimate Warrior were the best of friends. While it is true the pair got their start in the industry together and were praised for their early run as "The Blade Runners," their friendship was shaky from the beginning, and they drifted far apart by the time Jim Hellwig became The Ultimate Warrior and Steve Borden became Sting.
In 2005, Sting looked back at his friendship with Warrior and suggested it was difficult to be around him, claiming he was "always really kind of paranoid." However, in a 2009 interview, Warrior had far more heated words in regards to his old partner: "Steve Borden is a piece of garbage. I recently saw Steve for the first time since our time in WCW, and he didn't even acknowledge me. He wasn't even on tour with TNA, yet he carried his belt around like some kind of big shot. We were never friends, even when we did work together, but you would think the guy would at least nod his head at me or something." (Per Pro Wrestling Stories).
Surfer Sting wasn't less popular than Crow Sting
Sting's two most recognizable gimmicks are his "Surfer" persona, which he became famous for, and the "Crow" persona he established in the late '90s. However, due to the popularity of the Monday Night War, the consensus online has largely been that the "Crow" persona is better than the "Surfer" one, and that WCW fans got tired of seeing his bleached-blonde hair.
While fans will naturally have their preferences, Sting's character change was never done to appease the audience, but instead to line him up with what was happening at the time. Borden also stopped bleaching his hair months before changing his persona, so his look had already begun to differ from what fans were used to.
Unfortunately, due to changing with what was popular at the time and the ever-evolving nature of the NWO, Sting's momentum ultimately became affected by the feuds he engaged in. His Starrcade 1997 clash with Hulk Hogan is often cited as the moment he began to wane in popularity, but his uninspired feuds with Scott Hall and Randy Savage also served to hurt his run, ending with "The Icon" simply becoming another top guy and not the hottest act in WCW.
Sting was never a good WCW World Champion
In the world of pro wrestling, championship reigns are often one of the most important indicators of how successful a wrestler is. While titles often elevate the champion, it's always important for a promotion to elevate its top title by crowning major stars and establishing its importance. In the case of Sting, many championship reigns happened, but were often underwhelming.
In WCW, Sting captured the World Championship on six different occasions — a record number he holds alongside Hulk Hogan that is behind only Ric Flair with seven reigns — but outside of his first reign in 1992, where he held the title for 134 days, Sting's reigns were always short and often times simply "transitional reigns."
However, despite having lackluster runs with the title, Sting's many angles where he was chasing after gold were often times where he shined. As mentioned above, some stars elevate the title and don't need the belt to become prominent. This was the case with Sting, who was often already far more over than the championships he held, and never needed to become a champion to be relevant.