Sting’s Fear of Coming to WWE Came True

The fear that Sting had that kept him from signing with WWE in the past has come true; the WWE failed at booking the WCW legend properly.

Back in 2008, Sting did an interview about why he never signed with WWE shortly after the closure of World Championship Wrestling in 2001. He points to how the company booked Goldberg when he came into the WWE and also how he didn’t like the travel requirements and some of the other things going on with the company’s image at that time.

While in the world of professional wrestling where you can never say never and there had been a large number of wrestling fans who always wanted to see the Undertaker battle Sting back when the Phenom’s WrestleMania winning streak was alive and well, this is probably a contract that Sting should have never signed.

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In Apr. 2014, the dreams of just about any wrestling fan who grew up in the 1990s would come true – Sting officially signed a contract with the company. Although, we would not see if debut until Survivor Series in Nov. 2014 to start a feud that led to him losing to Triple H at WrestleMania 31 last year.

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A few months later, Sting would wrestle in his second match for the company against Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions. Not only did Sting lose the match, he also suffered a neck injury that – at the age of 56 – puts any potential future of one more match in further doubt.

It’s ironic how Sting spoke in 2008 about how the booking of different WCW stars going to WWE detracted him from going to the sports-entertainment giant. It’s exactly what has happened to the man who was the Icon of WCW and also had a decent run in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Sure, TNA has its problems. But the company knew how to treat a legend and a future Hall of Fame talent.

So was it worth going to WWE just to put bury not only Sting, but pretty much WCW as a whole? Sure, it probably helped with the WWE Network’s subscription numbers because fans wanted to know they could watch all of Sting’s best WCW moments on demand. But Sting isn’t just a marketing tool – he’s a legend.

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It’s one thing when someone like Chris Jericho returns for a feud to help put over a newer talent that is starting his rise in the company. Yet for the average WWE fan, they never had a chance to see the best of Sting. He never had a chance to build credibility in the company so younger fans who weren’t around in the days of WCW could take his challenge of the championship seriously.

While he wasn’t able to do a full-time schedule at the age of 56, having him get a few wins over some established talents once a month or in two matches per month would have helps Sting. However, like with many of the NXT talents that are called up to the main roster, the creative team didn’t know how to book a new superstar to WWE.

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In the end, Sting’s biggest fear eight years ago turned out to become a reality today. And now, we’re left to question if the right choice was made as his future as an active wrestling is likely at an end.