4. He Does Not Draw
Now, this one really does bug me, as the evidence is stacked right in front of everyone for the whole world to see, yet every one of you seems unwilling to face the truth. In a previous article, I posed the question, "Can Triple H really be considered a legend and what is best for business if he has resided over the most unpopular era in WWE history?" I think not, and this extends to the Icon himself. Let us revisit some Sports Entertainment history, shall we? Both the NWA and WCW had their time in the sun; although at one time both leaders in the world of professional wrestling, one has since famously become defunct and the other is now just an assorted mash up of independent feds. With NWA, although Shane Douglas might beg to differ, the decline peaked around 1993, and at the start of the new millennium, not only WCW but also ECW became totally irrelevant and managed to all but fold in the eyes of the general public. We all know what happened to WCW, but to summarise for those who may not, after dominating the WWE for years, it went bankrupt due to bad management and backstage unrest, eventually being sold to its biggest rival, Vince McMahon himself. Do you know what was significant about both events? Sting was there to see it all happen. In fact, he was both company's biggest draw at the time. Now, similar to the question I posed to you about Trips, I ask you, "If Sting was the face of not one, but
two wrestling federations at the time of their collapse, how does that make him an Icon?" If you think I am being both harsh and judgemental with that question, let's continue to the modern day, namely TNA. Although Sting receives much fanfare with IMPACT wrestling, his presence has done very little to stem the exodus of fans. Even when he first came in, there was no massive ratings jump, there was no increase in tickets sales. The company just kept plodding along as if nothing had happened, and considering nowadays it seems to be on the verge of an epic failure that will surpass WCW's legendary mismanagement history, it speaks volumes to me. Let's put that all into perspective. Sting could quite possibly become the only man to have been the face of
three, count them,
three major federations and their demise. An Icon? More like the bringer of death. Speaking of TNA...