History YMMV / STing

** 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.

* 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.

* 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 DorkAge.

* 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 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 DorkAge.

* 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, apparently breaking character and gathering 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. Wrestling/OwenHart would die from a rappelling stunt gone wrong two years later. This gets especially grimmer when once considers that Owen's rappelling stunts were supposed to specifically be a TakeThat to Sting's.

** Speaking of WWE, his time there gets even '''more''' of the "would love to forget" treatment than his TNA run ever did. At least in TNA, he didn't (1) lose most of his (very few) matches and (2) get a CareerEndingInjury in less than a year.

* NightmareFuel: "They Dance Alone" is both this and a TearJerker. It's about Chilean women performing the Cueca, the national dance of Chile, as a protest against Augusto Pinochet, and dancing for their husbands and sons who had disappeared. It's positively haunting at times, especially when you consider how many people were tortured and killed, or simply vanished, never to be seen or heard of again, under Pinochet's regime.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying", a whimsical country song with a music video featuring Sting with a corn-shaped pompadour interacting with shitty CGI aliens.

* MagnificentBastard: Sting showed signs of this in his "Joker Sting" run, from his [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger as the Joker]]-esque rants against Wrestling/{{TNA}} management, playing every single face and keeping his badass evil smirk while he does it. He retained all the above traits when he turned Face, and increased the amount of Ledger!Jokerness.

* MagnificentBastard: Sting showed signs of this in his "Joker Sting" heel run, from his [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger as the Joker]]-esque rants against Wrestling/{{TNA}} management, playing every single face and keeping his badass evil smirk while he does it. He retained all the above traits when he turned Face, and increased the amount of Ledger!Jokerness.

* 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 and heel 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 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 DorkAge.

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: Downplayed; while Sting is undoubtedly one of the more successful wrestlers in history (and certainly the more successful of the Blade Runners), it's believed by many fans that 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 being the infamous false finish of ''Starcade 1997'' involving Wrestling/HulkHogan. Sting was always popular, but fans became increasingly reluctant to spend money on someone they doubted would win in the end.

** During his triumphant 2020 return in AEW he had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWlFXoSghw Arrival]]", which is borderline divine.

* HarsherInHindsight: Before 2014, he refused to join WWE -- believing they'd misuse him. Come 2015, and not only does he lose most of his (very few) WWE matches, but he even gets a CareerEndingInjury that makes said losses his final in-ring moments. ProperlyParanoid 101.

* 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.

** 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 does it left handed. You could say Sting does it "right", since the hold actually predates his usage, although Bret did apply more pressure. It goes to the point that people tend to assume that either of them invented the move, when it was actually invented in Japan by Wrestling/RikiChosu.

** "Man Called Sting" [[WordSaladLyrics (though the lyrics are kind of stupid)]]

** Seek and Destroy by Music/{{Metallica}}.
** His TNA theme, "Slay Me" is pretty bad ass as well.

** 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.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Thought that big voiceover at the top of the main page was pretty cool? Well, this being WCW, they had to mess it up ''somehow.'' The main event of ''Clash of the Champions XXXV'' was Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/RandySavage[[note]]Subbing for Wrestling/KevinNash. The [=nWo=] imposed what they called "[=Wolfpac=] Rules," meaning that some other [=nWo=] member could sub for Hall or Nash in tag team title defenses.[[/note]] defending the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] against Lex Luger and Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage. After the match, which Hall and Savage of course won, the [=nWo=] came in to celebrate before the camera saw Sting in the balcony with a vulture. The voiceover played, and the lights went off. When they came back on again[[note]]ECW had done the lights out/lights back on again trick a few times already[[/note]], the vulture was on the top rope. The show ended with the vulture walking along the top rope and the [=nWo=] having to sell being "afraid" of it. WCW never mentioned the vulture again.

** 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 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 [[Wrestling/HulkHogan 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.

** 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.
** Speaking of WWE, his time there gets even '''''more''''' of the "would love to forget" treatment than his TNA run '''''ever''''' did. At least in TNA, he didn't (1) lose most of his half-handful of matches and (2) get a CareerEndingInjury in only a year.
* 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.

* 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.
* HarsherInHindsight: Before 2014, he refused to join WWE -- believing they'd misuse him. Come 2015, and not only does he lose most of his half-handful of WWE matches, but he even gets a CareerEndingInjury that makes said losses his final in-ring moments. ProperlyParanoid 101.

** 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?

* MagnificentBastard: Sting is showing signs of this in his recent heel run, from his [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger as the Joker]]-esque rants against Wrestling/{{TNA}} management, playing every single face and keeping his badass evil smirk while he does it. He retained all the above traits when he turned Face, and increased the amount of Ledger!Jokerness.
* 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.

* 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.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: One of his TNA theme songs mimicked Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Seek And Destroy". And in his later years in WCW, he actually DID use a live performance of "Seek and Destroy" as his theme from late 1999 until it's end in 2001; this is overdubbed on WWE [=DVDs=] with his original Crow theme.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot / [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter Character]]: 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/TheBigShow- [[SarcasmMode yay!]]) 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.

* TearJerker: Much of ''The Soul Cages'' when you take into account the real-life events that influenced its creation.

* NeverLiveItDown:
** The way his hair looked after the [=WrestleMania=] 31 match. It's in the Funny tab now.
** Getting betrayed by Wrestling/RicFlair on multiple occasions is another point of mockery with fans, to the point where Sting has earned the dubious moniker of [[GoodIsDumb "The Dumbest Man in Wrestling"]] for it.
* 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.

* HollywoodPudgy: His weight has been fluctuating in recent years and fans have called him out for it.

** During his triumphant 2020 return he had "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPWlFXoSghw Arrival]]", which is borderline divine.

* SignatureSong: "Fields of Gold".

* 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.

* {{HSQ}}: His debut for WWE at Survivor Series 2014.