10 Things That Would’ve Happened Had Sting Joined WWE In 2001

1. He Could Have Changed Vince McMahon's Mind About WCW

If you remember Vince McMahon's original plan for WCW, it was going to see him keeping the company around as an entirely separate "brand". Vince was pitching WCW to TNN and other networks, in an attempt to get a two-hour WCW-only show aired on television. When that idea fell through, with networks not wanting to be attached to the WCW name, which had been tarnished beyond repair in their eyes, Vince would then go forward with just keeping WCW as a "brand" within a "brand", much like we would get to see with Raw and Smackdown, and eventually ECW. On July 2nd, 2001, Raw's final segment was basically an episode of WCW Monday Nitro, with WCW announcers (Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson) calling a WCW match (Booker T defending the WCW World Title against Buff Bagwell), with WCW graphics and ring skirts being involved. It was a surreal moment, but Vince needed to test the waters, so to speak. Unfortunately, the match was awful, with rest hold after rest hold boring the crowd to the point where they completely turned on Booker and Bagwell. Watching the match from the "Gorilla Position", Vince flipped out, hating it probably even more than the fans in Tacoma, Washington that night. The reports are that he changed his mind about keeping WCW going right then and there. What if Sting had replaced Bagwell that night? Not only would Booker VS Sting have been a better match, but the crowds would have reacted to it more with Sting's involvement. If that happens, Vince doesn't get upset and change his mind, at least not on that night. Think about what that could have meant for wrestling history... he would have continued with his push to make WCW a separate entity, and we could still be seeing WCW around to this day. The "brand" would have built more popularity over time, and with the influx of talent through the years, there would have been plenty of people who could ply their craft there. One man could have provided a world of change for a business that thrives on it.