The WCW Conspiracy Iceberg EXPLAINED!

20. The Original Identity Of The Black Scorpion

black scorpion
WWE.com

The despised Black Scorpion angle was a tone-setter for WCW’s pre-New World Order 1990s. Everything you knew about Jim Crockett Promotions was dead, killed by the venom of this preposterous storyline. A basic recap of the goofy nonsense follows:

Sting was tormented by his upcoming mystery opponent, named as the Black Scorpion and presented as a shadowy, potentially occult figure in vignettes. As the storyline progressed, the Scorpion, who was not remotely eerie, revealed that he was a figure from Sting’s past, specifically citing “California in 1986”. The Scorpion also let slip that he had a different face to the man that Sting once knew. A decoy Scorpion was portrayed by Al Perez, but a different, cloaked big bad emerged to intimidate Sting at Clash of the Champions XII. Who was this mystery man?

WCW, as Jim Ross confirmed years later, had no idea. The promotion had a shortlist of names and could never make their mind up; Ric Flair, ultimately revealed as the Scorpion and who very quickly took the piss out of the idea by parodying Ole Anderson’s silly monster voice, reckons it was between him and Barry Windham. Flair took one for the team, correctly surmising that he was too established for any of this b*llocks to hurt him. A conspiracy theory/urban legend persists that WCW thought they had a crack at signing the Ultimate Warrior, and this was meant to be his launchpad. The red herrings pointed hardcore fans in this direction. Sting and Warrior were indeed California gym bros in ‘86, and could that line about “a different face” pertain to his Warrior paint?

Maybe! 

Probably not!

But Warrior did fancy leaving the WWF in the summer of 1989, alongside Owen Hart, when he was exhausted by the ‘Killer Kalender’. Owen advised him against a move to Japan. There’s probably nothing in this beyond some scheduling dots to connect, but who knows?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!