40 Greatest Stories Wrestling Ever Told
10. Sting Is The Hollywood Antidote (WCW, 1996-1997)
From 'Man Called Sting' to watching from the rafters.
Sting's drastic change from a bleach blonde and tanned wrestler to Brandon Lee's 'The Crow' between 1996 and 1997 was one of wrestling's best ever switchovers. This wasn't a routine gimmick change done for the sake of it. Nah, the Stinger watched the WCW he'd helped build slowly bend to Hulk Hogan's whims as the nWo seized more and more power, and he planned to do something about it.
For almost a full year, Sting (having walked away from WCW amidst rumours he'd attacked good pal Lex Luger in late-1996) watched from the shadows as Hogan ran riot. Then, heading into Starrcade '97, Eric Bischoff eventually pulled the trigger on a story he'd shown incredible patience with: Sting was coming for Hollywood on WCW's biggest ever pay-per-view.
"Against an army of shadows comes the dark warrior. The purveyor of good, with a voice of silence and a mission of justice. This is Sting".
OK, so they messed up the impact of Stinger cutting down Hulk's nWo empire with a crummy finish that saw ref Nick Patrick "fast count" when he didn't really, but the lead up to Starrcade was still a chest-thumping success story for Bischoff and WCW.
It isn't quite the single best story in promotional history for those in Atlanta, but it came really, really close. That 'Crow' reimagining would prolong Sting's run and become the character most cherish from his iconic career. There was no looking back once the nWo's worst nightmares rang true.