It was in the late 1980s that Sting rose to stardom in North American professional wrestling as a bleach blonde heroic babyface taking on the nefarious bad guys of the time. He was young, he was energetic, and he wowed crowds by continually battling Ric Flair to a number of time-limit draws. Pro wrestling was different in the 1980s of course. Babyfaces were babyfaces and heels were heels, no grey areas, no blurred lines. There was also a fair amount of xenophobia built into the lining of professional wrestling, and anyone who wasn't North American was almost guaranteed to be booked in a dastardly heel fashion. It is this that adds a certain element of regret to the fact that Rusev exists in the modern age. Rusev would have been a mega star in the late 80s, the evil foreigner who also had all the athleticism in the world. A modern day battle between Sting and Rusev would have brought memories flooding back of such a time, and possibly even given Rusev a career revival.