"When a man's heart is full of deceit, it burns up, dies, and a dark shadow falls over his soul. From the ashes of a once great man has risen a curse, a wrong that must be righted. We look to the skies for a vindicator, someone to strike fear into the black hearts of the same men who created him. The battle between good and evil has begun. Against an army of shadows comes a dark warrior. The purveyor of good, with a voice of silence and a mission of justice. THIS IS STING."
—voiceover from WCW Clash of the Champions XXXV
"...IT'S SHOWTIME, FOLKS! OWWWWWWW!!!"
—Sting, August 1999-
Steve Borden is better known to wrestling fans as "the man called" Sting. Working as a professional wrestler since 1985, the majority of Sting's career saw him working in WCW, where he became one of the company's biggest stars during the 1990s. Starting off as a bleached-blonde surfer-type, he eventually transitioned into the Crow-inspired look (which he's retained to this day) while feuding with the New World Order. Sting stayed a member of the WCW roster up until the company's demise in 2001; he wrestled in its last match (where he defeated longtime foe Ric Flair).Sting has never once officially worked for WWE in any capacity since WCW's demise. (WWE's "Superstars" page for Sting counts the main event of the last episode of Nitro on 26 March 2001 as "the first and only time Sting has appeared on a WWE-produced broadcast"). Choosing instead to have control over his career and his gimmick, Sting worked the independent circuit until around 2006, when he became an on-again/off-again member of the TNA roster. He has worked in that promotion ever since.Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x NWA World Heavyweight Champion, a former 7x WCW World Heavyweight Champion, a former 2x WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a former NWA World Television Champion, a former 3x WCW World Tag Team Champion, a former 4x TNA World Heavyweight Champion and a former TNA World Tag Team Champion.As usual, That Other Wiki has a nice, long article on his career.(Do not confuse with the trope, the musician (Gordon Sumner), the film, the dagger used by Frodo and his Uncle, or the painful infliction of the same name.)
To the point that WWE's "2.21.11" vignettes set off a wave of internet specuation that Sting had finally signed with the company. As it turned out, the vignettes were hyping the return of the Undertaker, but to this day, nobody's sure if Undertaker's return was the initial plan or if negotiations with Sting fell through at the last minute and the vignettes were repurposed. For their part, TNA satirized the vignettes with one of their own, with the date "3.3.11", which made it painfully obvious that Sting would return to TNA programming on that date. In interviews done well after the fact, Sting hinted that WWE came about the closest it has ever come to hiring him around that "2.21.11" timeframe.
American Accents: Born in Nebraska, but grew up in Los Angeles; his California accent can be quite prominent when he speaks.
Art Evolution: When he first started using the full "Crow" make-up it looked almost exactly like the actual make-up used in The Crow. As time went on, it became substantially different.
Badass Longcoat: Once he made the transition to "Crow" Sting, he got one.
Batman Gambit: Disrespected Hulk Hogan in front of Ric Flair to get Flair angry enough to call the match between the two of them back on after Hogan convinced Flair not to. Ironic considering his present gimmick.
Also a subversion of Crying Wolf, as this was the one notable time he saw the evil plan coming before it happened rather than naively embody the Good Is Dumb and Stupid Good tropes. However, because he had to be cryptic with the hints (possibly so as not to catch a slander case due to absence of evidence), and possibly in part because of his history of failure as a judge of character, few believed him.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite the gothic style, Scorpion motifs, and omnipresent black bat, Sting is pretty much always a face even as a designated heel.
One of his gimmicks for much of 2011 took a good bit of inspiration from The Dark Knight version of The Joker, including face paint, being Laughing Mad, and even having a small horde of clown masked Mooks. And yet he was most certainly a face.
Dangerously Genre SavvyCharacter Development: Sting is considered to be the "dumbest man in wrestling" because of how many times he's allowed himself to be duped and betrayed over the years, infamously trusting the Four Horsemen twice.
We start in 2008 with his helping to organize the Main Event Mafia because he felt the younger guys in TNA were getting too disrespectful. He spoke and acted upon his cause before the group officially formed, and even became its de facto honor figurehead through virtue of walking in having just won the World Heavyweight title. He expected most of the members to eventually betray him all along, and at the end of the day, the measures he took to be the Token Good Teammate led to younger guys accepting his help in fighting the Mafia afterward and he left after the Bound for Glory main event in 2009, in which new world champion AJ Styles beat him to retain the title and then gave him the floor as a sign of ultimate respect.
Come the entry of Hulk Hogan into TNA. Sting was seen watching Hogan carefully up in the rafters on Day 1, which Smart Mark fans instantly knew meant he didn't trust him. Next time he showed up a couple of months later was actually teasing a 3-on-2 with Hogan and Abyss against Ric Flair and AJ, but instead turned it the other way around. From there he continued attacking Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and anyone they seemed to be promoting above the rest of the talent, only speaking in cryptic language and hints knowing some of the fans would catch on, rather than shout what he knew/suspsected from the rooftops and make himself looks like the typical jealous distrustful bastard against the hot new toy in town that you see at least once on every television show. And he was right on the money. Not only did Hogan and Bischoff indeed out themselves at BFG 10.10.10 as beingEvil All Along, but EVERYONE who Sting attacked over the last seven months leading up to it was either in on their conspiracy or somebody being used. Sure, he was painted as a jealous, bitter glory hound just the same (scaring Dixie Carter didn't exactly work in his favor), and he couldn't stop Immortal from coming, but there were results. He began the fight against Hogan, and got two wrestlers curious enough to eventually join him (both after talking to Miss Tessmacher), one of whom has vowed to carry the fight with Immortal (although Pope Dinero only lasted a cup of coffee before becoming a Sinister Minister because making money imitating Michael Vick seemed like a better idea than constantly failing against Abyss). The dumbest man in wrestling has certainly grown a brain in 2010.
During this period he once hid underneath a mask to ambush Rob Van Dam. What kind of mask? A Sting one.
He used the same tactic on the October 13, 1997 WCW Monday Nitro. The NWO were beating down Roddy Piper and Diamond Dallas Page after the main event, until multiple people started running down to the ring in Sting masks, getting beaten down and thrown out. Finally, Sting himself, in a Sting mask, entered the ring. Buff Bagwell punched him and Sting no-sold it, thus confirming it was the real guy. He gave Bagwell the Scorpion Deathdrop and unmasked, sending a paniced Hogan and the NWO running for their lives.
And this brain continued to show in 2011. He came back in March (which seems to be a regular thing for him) and defeated Immortal's DragonChampionAntichristJeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight title (and retained in an infamous squash which even he vocally agreed was bullshit) thanks to some aid from an anonymous network representative which turned out to be Mick Foley. Sting and his network buddy pretty much sabotaged Immortal at every turn, even as Hogan claimed full ownership of the company from Dixie thanks to a court case full of eternal failure. Then Mick gotfired and Sting got screwed out of the title. Obfuscating Insanity followed suit, Heath LedgerJokerstyle. The night of his rematch with Mr. Anderson, who by now had taken a Deal with the Devil, he had five guys dressed as Monster Clownsrun around taking out Immortal so they couldn't interfere. Four of them were Fortune, eliminating pretty much everyone in Immortal backstage. One was Kurt Angle, cutting off Bully Ray's interference during the match itself. Sting pinned Anderson and is champion again because of this trope. Even better, Fortune stated that Bully Ray was taken care of, one possible implication being that Sting told them not to go after Ray, meaning he saw the interference coming and perfectly planned for it to work to his advantage, capitalizing on the distraction Angle caused by taking out Bully Ray to pin Anderson for the title. This last paragraph wasn't a designated heel turn and he's still the face, by the way, so he's actually been completely averting his once usual pattern of Good Is Dumb. Safe to say, he's no longer the idiot from WCW.
Then there was the night he got Hogan to snap into an Open Mouth, Insert Foot, which eventually led to Hogan's face turn as well as the end of any semblance of power for Immortal. For more details, see TNA.
Enemy Mime: You might have been forgiven for mistaking him for one during the last few months of 1996 and most of 1997, what with the whiteface, frowning black mouth, and silent treatment. But this trope was ultimately averted because 1) Sting eventually did start speaking again; 2) he was always meant to be Dark Is Not Evil; and 3) the makeup itself eventually Took a Level in Badass (see Growing the Beard on the YMMV page.)
Enforced Method Acting: For Victory Road 2011, Sting looked absolutely pissed off and managed to destroy Jeff Hardy in less than two minutes. Why? Jeff was so drugged out of his mind, he couldn't actually wrestle. Sting's barely contained rage was completely legit; when he was walking back up the ramp, a fan can be heard shouting, "THAT WAS BULLSHIT!" after the finish. Sting turns to the off-camera fan, and in plain view of the TNA cameras, shouts, "I agree! I agree!"
Epic Fail: This is really the only way to describe the way Sting lost to Bobby Roode at 2012's Victory Road pay-per-view. A steel chair had been set up in the ring. Sting apparently forgot it was there, and went to give Roode the Scorpion Death Drop—with the chair right behind him! He ended up smacking the back of his head on the seat of the chair, knocking himself out and allowing Roode to pin him for the three. Behold the historic moment in gif form!◊
Evil Is Hammy: He seemed to be having a lot of fun in his 2010 heel run.
Sting: "The blood isn't on my hands Hogan! You brought this upon yourself!"
Face Heel Turn: Attempted and denied. WCW tried turning him heel in 1999, and the fans completely no-sold the turn, cheering Sting over all the babyfaces and booing everyone who tried to "bring him to justice". After a month or two they just dropped the angle, re-turned him face and pretended it never happened.
He recently underwent another Face Heel Turn in TNA after attacking Hulk Hogan on the first Monday night edition of TNA Impact. It lasted for about ten months, and he only turned face because Hogan himself turned heel.
Facial Markings: Ever since his Blade Runners days with the future Ultimate Warrior in "Cowboy" Bill Watts' Mid-South/UWF days.
On /wooo/, "Steve", thanks to a dirtsheet typo that identified him as Steve "Steve" Borden.
"Brother Borden" - In reference to his deep Christian beliefs.
"Lobster Sting" - Due his face paint being mostly red as a member of the nWo Wolfpac.
"Real Estate Steve" - Referencing his no make-up, suit-wearing Main Event Mafia run. Long story short, MMA Fighter Frank Trigg knew a guy who owned a lot of property his town nicknamed Real Estate Steve and found out he was Sting at a TNA show.
Finishing Move: For most of his career, the Scorpion Death Lock submission, which many people attribute as stealing from Bret Hart's Sharpshooter, but in fact can be attributed to Japanese wrestler Riki Choshu (it helped that the actual name Choshu used, "Scorpion Lock", for looking like a scorpion upon execution, fit Sting's gimmick). Later, Sting would add the Scorpion Death Drop, a DDT variation, as an impact finisher—this would later be demoted to mere Signature Move.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: In an episode of Thursday Night Impact that aired just before the Bound For Glory pay-per-view in October 2010, "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, accompanied by Kevin Nash and Sting, came to Taz and Mike Tenay's broadcast booth to do commentary. Sting was not in whiteface, but was still recognizable thanks to the familiar black baseball bat he was carrying. While on commentary, Pope quipped (in an obvious Shout Out to Batman Forever): "Riddle me this, riddle me that. Who's the man with the big black bat?" Taz and Mike Tenay assumed he was referring to Sting, but Pope was actually talking about his... uh, own "big black bat".
Also an in-universe example, since Pope basically just revealed the nature of the encounter where he got the details on Hogan and Bischoff's plan that got him to decide to finally join Sting and Nash (*cough* Miss Tessmacher *cough*).
Greater Need Than Mine: Nikita Koloff had returned to WCW at WrestleWar 91 and attacked WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Lex Luger following his successful title defense against Dan Spivey, still angry about a loss to Luger from back in 1987. During the Sting/Luger-Steiner Brothers match at WCW SuperBrawl, Koloff, who had squashed Tommy Rich earlier that night, ran down to the ring with his Russian chain around his arm to attack Luger. Sting pushed Luger out of the way and took the shot himself. Sting would feud with Koloff for the next few months until Koloff disappeared again, with Luger going on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title at the disastrous WCW Great American Bash 91 PPV.
During the War Games between Sting's Squadron (Sting/Koloff/Ricky Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham) and the Dangerous Alliance) (Rick Rude/"Stunning" Steve Austin/Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko) at WCW WrestleWar 92, Koloff appeared to be arguing with Sting about something, but then pushed Sting out of the way and took the attack from Anderson and Austin himself.
Important Haircut: Inverted. He grew out his hair during WCW's peak in the late 90s.
Insult Backfire: Robert Roode called him a lunatic repeatedly before an impromptu match with Bully Ray on 3/8. He considered it a compliment and repeatedly thanked Roode.
Laughing Mad: As part of his current mind games with Hogan. This includes laughing his head off as he's getting beat up. That really got under Hogan's skin, which was likely exactly what he had in mind.
Lightning Bruiser: Back in his prime during the 90's, while he was never exactly what you would call a high flier, he was ridiculously fast and agile for a guy his size.
Logic Bomb: "The only thing that's for sure about Sting... is that nothing's for sure." (the last words he ever spoke before transitioning into his "Crow" gimmick).
Names to Run Away From Really Fast: His name evokes the scorpion, whose nasty telson on its rear has enough venom to kill most small animals.
Obfuscating Insanity: Has recently done this, acting like The Dark Knight incarnation of The Joker and generally pretending to be totally crazy to get under Hulk Hogan and Immortal's skin.
And now he's channeling this persona again to attack Bobby Roode.
(in Mid-South/UWF): "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert's The First Family -> Hyatt and Hot Stuff International
The Four Horsemen (briefly, at the end of 1989-beginning of 1990, when Flair and the Andersons (Arn and Ole) kicked him out at Clash of the Champions X.)
Signature Move: The Scorpion Death Drop and the Stinger Splash.
Stupid Good: Sting was welcomed into the Four Horsemen, only to be turned on and kicked out of the group by Ric Flair. And this happened twice. In fact, Sting has for most of his career pretty much embodied Stupid Good, almost always trusting the people who were setting him up.
Took a Level in Dumbass/Motive Decay: In four months since taking power, the Dangerously Genre SavvyDarkGuile Hero who rightly accused Hulk Hogan of protecting his favorites and successfully fought to expose and destroy The Illuminati-style corruption and power grip Hulk was on with Eric Bischoff through practically clairvoyant psychological warfare that lasted almost two years, has now been reduced to a borderline FundamentalistBureaucrat trying to screw with Bobby Roode for not being the kind of champion he favors. So far every inescapable situation he's put Roode in hasn't been so, and it's gotten even worse with his direct involvement increasing. In fact, Roode even utterly played Sting at Against All Odds into helping him beat Jeff Hardy to keep the belt, and now Roode's gotten so deep under his skin that he's reverted to the Joker mode that used to be his best tool against Immortal and actively booked himself in a pay-per-view fight with Roode, resulting in the same "Drunk with Power" protest gag that foreshadowed Stone Cold Steve Austin's removal as co-GM of WWE Raw in 2003.
May have just averted this trope by realizing himself that the GM!Avenger thing wasn't working and voluntarily stepping down the Impact after Victory Road.
Only to later lead Hogan and all of TNA down the rabbit hole of trusting in BullyRay to be The Hero for the company against the Aces and Eights. Who then shockingly turned out to be the guy leaving the Dead Man's Hand calling cards, weaving a web of manipulation across all of TNA, all the while secretly sitting at the head of the Aces' table.
The Voiceless: For over a year, when he went into Crow mode.
What Could Have Been: Sting was approached to wrestle the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVII, but turned it down for the same reason he's never worked for WWE: because he disliked Vince McMahon's treatment of former WCW talent. Despite the age of both competitors, it could've been a dream match between two of the industry's biggest and longest-lasting stars.
WrestleCrap: He has had some bad moments in his career. These will be listed in chronological order.
RoboCop rescuing an injured Sting after the Four Horsemen attacked him and locked him in a ringside cage at NWA Capital Combat, May 19, 1990.
The Black Scorpion, where Sting's whole NWA World Heavyweight Title reign in the second half of 1990 was overshadowed by a terrible angle involving a mysterious masked guy who did pathetic magic tricks.
The Halloween Havoc Hoax, where Sting defended the NWA World Heavyweight Title against Sid Vicious that October in a match where they fought to the back and Sid came back with "Sting" and "pinned" him, though it was actually Sid's fellow Horseman Barry Windham with a haircut and face paint. The regular Sting came back out and pinned Sid to retain the title.
The "Spin the Wheel Make the Deal" mini-movie with Jake "The Snake" Roberts from Halloween Havoc 1992note You ever notice how a lot of bad stuff seemed to happen to Sting whenever October rolled around? setting up their lame "Coal Miner's Glove" match that night.
The "White Castle of Fear" mini-movie with Vader, that, ironically, set up their excellent strap match at WCW SuperBrawl III, February 1993.
The Beach Blast 1993 mini-movie with Sting and Davey Boy Smith playing beach volleyball with some kids until Sid and Vader showed up, and Cheetum the Evil Midget tried to blow up Sting and Davey's boat with a cartoon bomb.
The Shockmaster incident, at WCW Clash of the Champions XXIV.
The Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett match from Halloween Havoc 2000, which as per professional moron Vince Russo's obsession with obscure inside information, featured several guys, including Bill "Masked Superstar"/"Demolition Ax" Eadie, painted up as Sting from different phases of his career running in and attacking him.
Sting: Moment of Truth, a direct-to-video biographical film from 2004 about his religion. As WrestleCrap wrote:
"We have nothing against religious movies. Unless they are terrible. Like this one."
). Choosing instead to have control over his career and his gimmick, Sting worked the independent circuit until around 2006, when he became an on-again/off-again member of the TNA roster. He has worked in that promotion ever since.Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x NWA World Heavyweight Champion
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