Whether he was presented under his surfer gimmick or under his more widely-recognized Crow attire, Sting wasnt called the Franchise of WCW for nothing. The man had a certain air of superstardom about him. That, coupled with a natural gift for wrestling, turned him into a major draw. He was such an excellent wrestler that his popularity with the JCP/WCW faithful stayed consistent for well over a decade. From his rookie years in the late 1980s to his dominance during the 1990s, Sting was a tremendous draw for the Atlanta-based promotion. To this day, Sting is viewed with universal respect, and is often praised as one of the best wrestler ever. As former WCW-booker Kevin Sullivan once said, if he needed to increase ratings, all he needed to do was book Sting vs. Ric Flair. That, to him, was a guaranteed ratings pusher. Sting's popularity was so profound that his match with Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 1997 was WCW's biggest-drawing PPV ever. There was so much interest and hype for this match that it drew an astounding 650,000 buys, a number that proved without a shadow of a doubt that Sting was insanely popular and beloved by the WCW audience. When one looks back at Stings stellar wrestling career, sees his excellent matches, and the crazy storylines he took part it, it shouldnt be a surprise whatsoever that the man was a tremendous draw for WCW.
Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.
