10 Wrestling Mysteries That Were Supposed To End Differently
8. The Black Scorpion
The idea for Black Scorpion actually started as a joke, pitched by Ollie Anderson to WCW Executive Vice President Jim Herd. A man in a robe and mask would begin to haunt Sting, claiming to be a figure from his past. Herd of course loved it, much to Anderson’s chagrin, and they got to work on crafting the Black Scorpion.
After a few months of taunting Stinger and doing some weird, cheap magic tricks in the crowd, the two eventually faced off at Starrcade '90. Sting would beat the Scorpion in a World Championship match and unmask him to end the story. Underneath the hood was Ric Flair, who Sting had won his NWA Title from months prior.
According to Flair, WCW bookers had narrowed their available choices down to either him or Barry Windham. Since Windham had just portrayed a Fake Sting at Halloween Havoc less than two months ago, Flair volunteered as the gimmick would “hurt him less” than Windham. But this decision had been made in a scramble.
For whatever reason, the original “man from Sting’s past” was set to be Al Perez, which wasn’t exactly the most exciting of reveals. Perez played the character several times but eventually left WCW before the story could come to a conclusion.
Whilst the reveal wasn’t all that special, Flair as the Scorpion at least had more impact than the original plan would’ve been.