History YMMV / STing

* HypeBacklash: Non-hardcore wrestling fans and/or ''Film/TheCrow'' fans often have a hard time understanding why a wrestler whose more immediate characteristic is that he impersonates the character of the film can be (or have been) so massively popular. Of course, Sting was already popular before the gimmick switch, he just became even more popular afterwards.

* ParodyDisplacement: As popular as ''Film/TheCrow'' was (and still is to a degree), Sting's DarkerAndEdgier persona -- which was a blatant ripoff of the film's protagonist Eric Draven -- had a much larger cultural impact at the time.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Although since VindicatedByHistory, upon its debut the Insane Icon / Joker Sting gimmick was widely derided for being a an on-the-nose and out-of-character attempt to slap a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick on Sting [[Film/TheDarkKnight blatantly inspired by a recent popular film]], salvaged only by [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct Sting's charisma and promo skills]] and [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously willigness to commit to the bit]]. But it's worth noting that that same description could be applied word-for-word to the much-beloved Crow Sting gimmick, up to and including taking heavy inspiration from [[Film/TheCrow a recent popular film]]. A key difference rests in the atmosphere of the times; WCW was, seemingly, riding high as Crow Sting debuted. And before taking on [[TheCowl the mantle of a grim-yet-righteous champion of justice]] Sting was kind of a generic white-meat babyface; giving him a some cool factor and edge while not abandoning the parts of his character audiences liked was seen as a refreshing way to put a bit of shine on Sting without having him undergo a full-fat heel turn. Conversely, Joker Sting happened in a company desperately clawing for relevance and replaced a well-tenured and much-beloved gimmick, so audiences turned on it as a short-sighted attention grab.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Although since VindicatedByHistory, upon its debut the Joker Sting gimmick was widely derided for being a an on-the-nose and out-of-character attempt to slap a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick on Sting [[Film/TheDarkKnight blatantly inspired by a recent popular film]], salvaged only by [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct Sting's charisma and promo skills]] and [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously willigness to commit to the bit]]. But it's worth noting that that same description could be applied word-for-word to the much-beloved Crow Sting gimmick, up to and including taking heavy inspiration from [[Film/TheCrow a recent popular film]]. A key difference rests in the atmosphere of the times; WCW was, seemingly, riding high as Crow Sting debuted. And before taking on [[TheCowl the mantle of a grim-yet-righteous champion of justice]] Sting was kind of a generic white-meat babyface; giving him a some cool factor and edge while not abandoning the parts of his character audiences liked was seen as a refreshing way to put a bit of shine on Sting without having him undergo a full-fat heel turn. Conversely, Joker Sting happened in a company desperately clawing for relevance and replaced a well-tenured and much-beloved gimmick, so audiences turned on it as a short-sighted attention grab.

** Reversed after coming out of retirement to join AEW, as Sting is not only treated as a feared and respected legend of the ring (albeit only wrestling on special occasions, and then only in tag matches with his young protégé Wrestling/DarbyAllin), and ends his illusturous career completely undefeated.

** Reversed after coming out of retirement to join AEW, as Sting is not only treated as a feared and respected legend of the ring (albeit only wrestling on special occasions, and then only in tag matches with his young protégé Wrestling/DarbyAllin), but is completely undefeated so far.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Although since VindicatedByHistory, upon its debut the Joker Sting gimmick was widely derided for being a an on-the-nose and out-of-character attempt to slap a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick on Sting [[Film/TheDarkKnight blatantly inspired by a recent popular film]], salvaged only by [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct Sting's charisma and promo skills]]. But it's worth noting that that same description could be applied word-for-word to the much-beloved Crow Sting gimmick, up to and including taking heavy inspiration from [[Film/TheCrow a recent popular film]]. A key difference rests in the atmosphere of the times; WCW was, seemingly, riding high as Crow Sting debuted, and before taking on [[TheCowl the mantle of a grim-yet-righteous champion of justice]] Sting was kind of a generic white-meat babyface, and giving him a bit of an edge while not abandoning the parts of his character audiences liked was seen as a refreshing way to put a bit of shine on him without having him undergo a full-fat heel turn. Conversely, Joker Sting happened in a company desperately clawing for relevance and replaced a well-tenured and much-beloved gimmick, so audiences turned on it as a short-sighted attention grab.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Although since VindicatedByHistory, upon its debut the Joker Sting gimmick was widely derided for being a an on-the-nose and out-of-character attempt to slap a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick on Sting [[Film/TheDarkKnight blatantly inspired by a recent popular film]], salvaged only by [[HeReallyCanAct Sting's charisma and promo skills]]. But it's worth noting that that same description could be applied word-for-word to the much-beloved Crow Sting gimmick, up to and including taking heavy inspiration from [[Film/TheCrow a recent popular film]]. A key difference rests in the atmosphere of the times; WCW was, seemingly, riding high as Crow Sting debuted, and before taking on [[TheCowl the mantle of a grim-yet-righteous champion of justice]] Sting was kind of a generic white-meat babyface, and giving him a bit of an edge while not abandoning the parts of his character audiences liked was seen as a refreshing way to put a bit of shine on him without having him undergo a full-fat heel turn. Conversely, Joker Sting happened in a company desperately clawing for relevance and replaced a well-tenured and much-beloved gimmick, so audiences turned on it as a short-sighted attention grab.

* MemeticLoser: His reputation as "the dumbest man in wrestling" due to his numerous cases of HorribleJudgeOfCharacter, along with being a FailureHero. Despite winning more matches than he lost, he ultimately failed to dethrone Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen, and the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]], and Wrestling/AcesAndEights, and Wrestling/TheAuthority.

* HarsherInHindsight: "Russians" is about the arms race between the Soviet Union and the [=USA=], and was written in the '80s when nuclear war was a genuine threat (and the world actually came very close to it in 1983). Fast forward to 2022, when Vladimir Putin hinted he would pull out the nukes if [=NATO=] intervened during the war on Ukraine, and the song was still as relevant as ever.

* VindicatedByHistory: Joker Sting was hotly controversial in the midst of its run, but you are willing to see a lot more love for it today. At the time it was largely viewed as TNA being TNA; giving an iconic wrestler a bizarre and ill-fitting gimmick in an attempt to capitalise on [[Film/TheDarkKnight a recent popular film]], with confusing results. Now however, the gimmick is increasingly praised for its creativity and depth of character; mixing the grounded backstories and WorkedShoot aspects of popular wrestlers at the time with a classic PartsUnknown-style character to great effect. The gimmick is also praised for giving Sting, who has played a white-meat babyface for most of his career, the opportunity to try something completely different and hone his promo skills; and now that the stigma associated with TNA has largely faded, people are willing to admit that [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct he did a great job in the role]]. In the years since we have seen psychological horror-inspired acts such as [[Wrestling/MattHardy The BROKEN Universe]], [[Wrestling/BrayWyatt The Fiend]] and Wrestling/{{Danhausen}} all become incredibly over, and so you are now willing to see a lot of fans view Joker Sting as ahead of its time and a genuine bright spot in TNA's early-2010's AudienceAlienatingEra.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: It's almost universally agreed that WWE ''totally'' botched Sting's run with them, having him lose to Wrestling/TripleH at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania 31'' and only winning two matches (a tag match with Wrestling/JohnCena where he managed to make Wrestling/SethRollins tap out of the Scorpion Death Lock, and a win by DQ against Wrestling/BigShow) out of four total before an injury inflicted by Rollins ended his career. While they couldn't have predicted the injury and presumably had more planned, the booking they'd subjected him to up to that point didn't exactly inspire confidence. At least his ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' debut was good.

** During his triumphant 2020 return in AEW he had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWlFXoSghw Arrival]]", an almost Music/RhapsodyOfFire-reminiscent PowerMetal instrumental which is borderline divine.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: The Joker gimmick from 2011 definitely comes across as this, even though [[Film/TheDarkKnight the movie]] it was based off of was already three years old by that point. [[FranchiseOriginalSin It's not without precedent,]] since ''The Crow'' was too in 1997.

** Between 2001 to 2008, Sting was consistently the most requested wrestler in fan polls, magazines and even peer polls to get a WWE contract, even more so than darlings like Wrestling/AJStyles (who himself would finally show up in 2016). Ever popular was [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny the hypothetical Sting vs Undertaker program]], preferably culminating a ''[=WrestleMania=]''. Come 2014, Sting did show up in WWE, only to unleash a wave of apathy and backlash about how it wasn't the right thing to do, as the ''[=WrestleMania=] 31'' match ended up being basically one last attempt for WWE to piss on WCW's grave, and ''Night of Champions 2015'' ended his career, and no one even wanted the Undertaker match anymore because by that point both men were considered to be too old to put on a quality match without a younger wrestler to carry them through it. To add insult to injury on the latter, Undertaker's ''[=WrestleMania=]'' streak had been broken just months before Sting's debut.

* SignatureSong: "Fields of Gold" as a solo artist, "[[Music/ThePolice Every Breath]] [[Music/{{Synchronicity}} You Take]]" overall.

** His "Joker Sting" era in TNA seems a lot less like a DorkAge if you interpret Sting's antics as him just trying to screw with Hogan to goad him into a match, rather than actually going insane. He even dropped most of it after actually getting the match.