History YMMV / STing

** Ironically, after his WWE run, many fans would now love to forget his time there instead; at least in TNA, he didn't (1) lose all his singles matches and (2) get injured into retirement after only a year there.

* HarsherInHindsight: Before 2014, he constantly refused to join WWE, believing they'd mishandle him. Come 2015, and not only does he lose his only two singles matches there, but he ultimately gets a career-ending injury that means said losses were his final in-ring moments. ProperlyParanoid 101.

** Though to be fair, so was The Crow in 1997.

** '''I AGREE.'''[[note]]The TNA Victory Road 2011 main event against Jeff Hardy was cut short due to the fact that Hardy was stoned out of his mind as he came down to the ring. Angered at Hardy's lack of professionalism, Sting forcibly pinned Hardy and wouldn't let him back up, to prevent either of them from getting hurt. The result was a title match that lasted about thirty seconds. When a fan screamed "This is bullshit!" at Sting, this was Sting's response.[[/note]]

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Sting is the more successful of the Blade Runners, but he still never lived up to the drawing potential he demonstrated during his initial 1987 breakout largely because he began to develop the reputation of being a FailureHero. The point of no return was a certain false finish at a certain Starcade involving [[VillainSue a certain balding nWo member]]. Sting was always popular, but fans became increasingly reluctant to spend money on someone they doubted would win in the end.

* AwesomeMusic:

* SoBadItsGood: ''Sting: Moment of Truth''. Barrage of montages? Check. Historical inaccuracies? Check. Hilariously bad acting? Check. The redeeming quality? [[HeReallyCanAct Steve himself is a great actor]] and made an otherwise lackluster film at least watchable. It's clearly not intended for wrestling fans and is meant to be something shown to kids at Sunday School.

* FridgeBrilliance: His final appearances (and indeed, much of his career) in TNA were spent fighting a power grab by a corrupt regime consisting of the company's legit ownership going mad, and failing due to the numbers game. His first appearance ever in a WWE was spent the exact same way, with the numbers largely neutralized beforehand, and it was a smashing success.
** 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.

** Sting may be 0-2 in WWE, but Wolfpac Sting is undefeated! On the other hand...Lobster makeup? Dumb [=nWo=] catchphrases? It took away from his mystique and was a total negation of everything he had worked so hard to build over the previous two years.

** A minor one between Sting fans: which Sting is better: Surfer or Crow? (Almost everyone dislikes Wolfpac and Joker Sting) The casual fans prefer Crow Sting because he had a better look and character, but most smarks prefer Surfer Sting because he put on better matches.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Sting is the more successful of the Blade Runners, but he still never lived up to the drawing potential he demonstrated during his initial 1987 breakout largely because he began to develop the reputation of being a FailureHero. The point of no return was a certain false finish at a certain Starcade involving [[VillainSue a certain balding nWo member]]. Sting was always popular, but fans became increasingly reluctant to spend money on someone they doubted would win in the end.
* DesignatedVillain: Had two brief heel runs in TNA which turned out to be exactly this. The late 2008 turn to join the Main Event Mafia was a matter of spreading his message of respect, which he knew they would initially embrace before eventually turning against him. The early 2010 turn happened because he knew Hogan was EvilAllAlong but also that [[YoureJustJealous nobody would ever listen]] long enough to see it.
* DorkAge:
** His time in the [=nWo=] Wolfpac in mid-1998. Lobster makeup, stupid [=nWo=] catchphrases; it just took away from his mystique and was a total negation of everything he had worked so hard to build over the previous two years.
** TNA Joker Sting. Even though this happened in 2011, it was part of TNA's pitiful attempt to recreate the Monday Night Wars down to the letter. It can be dismissed as more 90's silliness.
* FanonDiscontinuity:
** Many fans would love to forget his time in TNA, especially after 2011. While Sting had many good matches in TNA (and TNA booked his character far better than WCW did, averting his "GoodIsDumb" reputation for the most part) he essentially wasted so many years there that by the time he did make it to WWE, he had next to nothing left in the tank. As far as WWE's concerned, it never happened. Even Steve himself said that in hindsight, he wished he had gone to WWE instead of TNA.
** Ironically, after his WWE run, many fans would now love to forget his time there instead; at least in TNA, he didn't (1) lose all his singles matches and (2) get injured into retirement after only a year there.

* HarsherInHindsight: Before 2014, he constantly refused to join WWE, believing they'd mishandle him. Come 2015, and not only does he lose his only two singles matches there, but he ultimately gets a career-ending injury that means said losses were his final in-ring moments. ProperlyParanoid 101.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Despite being less famous than [[Music/{{Sting}} Gordon Sumner]], Steve Borden actually holds the trademark on the name "Sting" for a performer. That means that Sting the musician has to ''pay'' Sting the wrestler in order to use the name he's best known as (apparently, it's a token sum). They HAVE been photographed on stage together, so it must not be too big of a compromise.
** Between 2001 to 2008, Wrestling/{{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, to a wave of apathy and backlash about how it wasn't the right thing to do, especially since the [=WrestleMania=] 31 match was basically one last attempt for WWE to piss on WCW's grave and Night Of Champions ended his career. No one even wanted the Undertaker match anymore because both men were considered to be too old to put on a quality match without a younger wrestler to carry them through it and Undertaker's streak had since been broken, so what would be worth fighting for?
* HollywoodPudgy: His weight has been fluctuating in recent years and fans have called him out for it.

* 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.

* 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 the Four Horsemen, and the [=nWo=], and Aces & Eights, and The Authority.

* {{Narm}}: His early promos weren't very good, by the man's own admission.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Sting has accomplished a lot in his 30 year career. a dozen or so championship reigns, a record setting 4-time "Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" Winner [[note]]albeit, he's tied with Wrestling/JohnCena[[/note]], lots of classic matches under his belt. Unfortunately, he tends to be mostly remembered for the amount of times he's been made to look like an utter dolt by backstage politicking, incompetent management and a drugged up Wrestling/JeffHardy.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: He and Warrior were pretty awful in their Freedom Fighter/Blade Runner gimmick and fans didn't respond well to them. Two generic muscleheads who couldn't do anything besides gorilla press slams. Sting outgrew this and became a big star, as did Warrior, for a while at least.
* SoBadItsGood: ''Sting: Moment of Truth''. Barrage of montages? Check. Historical inaccuracies? Check. Hilariously bad acting? Check. The redeeming quality? [[HeReallyCanAct Steve himself is a great actor]] and made an otherwise lackluster film at least watchable. It's clearly not intended for wrestling fans and is meant to be something shown to kids at Sunday School.

* 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.
** Though to be fair, so was The Crow in 1997.

** A lot of people are pissed that WWE would not allow Sting use his Crow theme, despite it being used in ''WWE 2K15'' and during his appearance at San Diego [=ComicCon=] in 2014. At Survivor Series, he came out to a generic rock song by CFO$, which appears to be a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for "Slay Me".

** Sting's later years, particularly his time in TNA, are often derided for this by his haters and even some of his fans. While his days as a top superstar are unquestionably over (mainly because he has nothing left to prove other than not being washed up), Sting was still a damn good wrestler, only being forced into retirement due to a neck injury.

** This line from ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', slightly tweaked, sums up Sting's 20-year war against Hogan:
--->'''Hobbes:''' Has Crow Sting ''ever'' won a battle?\\
'''Calvin:''' Well, they're all moral victories.

** Many fans would love to forget his time in TNA, especially after 2011. While Sting had many good matches in TNA (and TNA booked his character far better than WCW did, averting his "GoodIsDumb" reputation for the most part) but he essentially wasted so many years there that by the time he did make it to WWE, he had next to nothing left in the tank. As far as WWE's concerned, it never happened. Even Steve himself said that in hindsight, he wished he had gone to WWE instead of TNA.

** Many fans would love to forget his time in TNA, especially after 2011. As far as WWE's concerned, it never happened. Even Steve himself said that in hindsight, he wished he had gone to WWE instead of TNA.
** Ironically, after his WWE run, many fans would now love to forget his time there instead; at least in TNA, he didn't (1) go 0-2 and (2) get injured into retirement after only a year there.

* HarsherInHindsight: Before 2014, he constantly refused to join WWE, believing they'd mishandle him. Come 2015, and not only does he lose his only two matches there, but he ultimately gets a career-ending injury that means said losses were his final in-ring moments. ProperlyParanoid 101.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Sting has accomplished a lot in his 30 year career. a dozen or so championship reigns, a record setting 4-time "Most Popular Wrestler of the Year" Winner [[note]]albeit, he's tied with Wrestling/JohnCena[[/note]], lots of classic matches. Unfortunately, he tends to be mostly remembered for the amount of times he's been made to look like an utter dolt by backstage politicking and a drugged up Wrestling/JeffHardy.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Many fans would love to forget his time in TNA, especially after 2011. As far as WWE's concerned, it never happened. Even Steve himself said that in hindsight, he wished he had gone to WWE instead of TNA.

* HellIsThatNoise: The crow caw in his WWE theme.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: On the 8/9/1997 Edition of Nitro the [=nWo=] ran an angle where they called Sting down from the rafters (as he'd been doing for some time at that point). However, Sting came down way too fast and crashed at ringside. Hogan and the rest of the boys start selling it like the man was really hurt. They gathered around him, called for help from the back, brought a stretcher down...and then they revealed that it was a dummy, and pulled it into the ring to mock Sting and have hogan beat "him" in a match. Owen Hart would die from a rappelling stunt gone wrong two years later.

** The Sharpshooter vs. Scorpion Deathlock debate. They're the exact same hold with the only major difference being that Sting does it right handed while [[Wrestling/BretHart Bret]] does it left handed.You could say Sting does it "right", since the hold actually predates his usage, although Bret did apply more pressure.
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Sting is the more successful of the Blade Runners, but he still never lived up to the drawing potential he demonstrated his initial 1987 breakout largely because he began to develop the reputation of being a failure hero. The point of no return was a certain false finish at a certain Starcade involving [[VillainSue a certain balding nWo member]]. Sting was always popular, but fans became increasingly reluctant to spend money on someone they doubted would win in the end.