Sting May or May Not Sign With WWE – Do You Even Care Anymore?

When I was a kid, back in the day, use whatever cliché we need to use, I was a WWF fan. I grew up in the northeast and it is what I was exposed to the most. Hulkamania ran wild, and I had no problem with him, but I wasn’t his biggest fan. I was a Randy Savage guy. This may sound familiar, and that is because I have said it before, but felt that heading into this article that it needed to be said again. As I started to branch out of my WWF circle of trust, I found the Superstation TBS and their brand of wrestling, WCW. Some of my favorites from WCW were the Steiner Brothers, Vader, Harlem Heat, Arn Anderson and Sting. Sting wasn’t Ric Flair, he wasn’t “the man,” although they tried to make him the man; but he was something more important to many fans, he was the heart and soul of that promotion for many years. They called him the Franchise of WCW, and later he transitioned into the ICON Sting; because once he made it to the big stage of WCW, he stayed loyal to WCW and never left. He was even there the night that they closed the doors. Sting has always been one of the most discussed “what if” scenarios in the history of wrestling. Could he have been a huge star if he went to WWF in the late 90s? Would Vince have buried him for being a WCW guy? Should Sting have main evented a WrestleMania during his career? We’ll never know, because he never went there. But there was life after WCW for Sting, despite what some people think.

The funny thing is that when it comes to his TNA run, people want to take a big old shit on Sting. But they shouldn’t. They should criticize the booking, they should criticize the fact that Dixie Carter wanted to keep him year in and out instead of making new stars; but you should not the criticize man and claim that he hurt TNA. TNA booking over relying on Sting and constantly going back to him as a safety blanket is what hurt TNA. Sting came to TNA, and he did a lot of good for the company. Hell in some ways signing Sting may have been the best financial decision that TNA ever made. Sting came to TNA. This made Spike TV happy, so happy that they made it clear to TNA that they loved having him as one of the main faces of the promotion. They liked Sting so much that they supplemented part of his pay for years to keep him involved. When Sting signed on full time with TNA, their international TV distribution grew exponentially. And for those that do not understand what that means, it just isn’t more eyes on the product, international TV distribution is where the money is and had been one of the main sources of revenue for TNA for years. Sting still had a name from WCW and other countries liked him; so they took the chance on TNA. He may have not been the star that he was in WCW, but he helped a struggling promotion gain some financial traction, he heart seemed in the right place; he helped the wrestling business…

But he wasn’t with WWE. And to some narrow-minded people, if you never work for WWE, you are a failure. I do not subscribe to that particular newsletter, but that is the scuttlebutt going around.

The tease has been there for years, ever since WCW closed down and even at times before that. When discussing WWF vs. WCW dream matches, Sting was always one of the centerpieces of that discussion. He was the franchise of WCW, he was their guy, and wrestling fans wanted to see him against the “WWF” guys. It’s quite natural for a passionate fanbase to want these sort of things, hell look at comics and the desire for crossovers. A few years back, when Sting was a little younger and a little more active, he agreed in principle to come to the WWE. He would work 100 dates a year (a sweet deal from WWE) but in the end he went back to TNA. He went back for about the same money, but had fewer dates, no house shows and less travel. No one is sure exactly when he changed his mind, but look at that deal from TNA. That’s good work if you can get it. Fans were disappointed once again because their dream matches were slowly dying out, and Sting was getting older. The window was closing.

For years we speculated if he would leave TNA, if he would actually come to WWE; year after year fans were disappointed. I mean no disrespect to the guys that post news here at 411, it’s a job I want no part of covering, but the “Weekly Sting Update” has essentially become 411 MEME. Each and every week we get to read about how “Sting has reportedly thought about putting pen to paper for a contract WWE allegedly sent him because the feeling is that it is virtually almost maybe a lock that he will consider signing after looking over the deal and dotting the lower case letter js in the deal before faxing it back.” I get that it is big news for the sites, I get that it maybe considered big news for fans but I have to ask…

And I mean that seriously, do you even care anymore? It is 2014, Sting is 55, and I am not sure if you saw his final year in TNA but he got bad really fast. There was a time that he could have a fine single match, and could be great hidden in a six-man tag, but this past year it became painful to watch him in the ring no matter the situation. I watch the TNA programming, I watch the PPV; it was a struggle to get through, and I say that as a fan.

If and or when Sting signs with WWE, I hope that wrestling is not part of the deal. Put him in the hall of fame, make some DVDs, do projects for the WWE Network and become a brand ambassador for the company. It may be 2014, and he may be 55 years old, but Sting has a place in the wrestling business, just not in the ring. That window has closed. I’d be lying if I said I was excited about Sting’s potential WWE arrival. To be honest with you, my enthusiasm for the man called Sting to debut in the WWE has continually diminished. Because the years have kept passing, Sting has kept getting older and I knew that I’d never truly see “Sting” in the WWE. Remember, father time is undefeated. If Sting can get a deal that allows a proper story of his legacy in wrestling to be told, then I am all for it, he deserves it.

But that is of course if he even reportedly considers pondering putting pen to paper for a contract WWE allegedly sent him because the feeling is that it is virtually almost maybe a lock that he will consider signing after looking over the deal and crossing the lower case ts. Hell it was a done deal, and now virtually not a lock.

Allegedly…

Jack McGee is an aspiring investigative journalist with interests covering TV, Movies, Wrestling, MMA and Sports. When not hunting the Incredible Hulk, Jack works on his surfing, his Johnny Utah like throwing motion and origami.