Titles Held NWA World Champion, WCW US Champion, WCW Tag Team Champion, WCW Heavyweight Champion, TNA World Heavyweight, WWA World
Short Bio
First started out as a tag-team called The Blade Runners, with Jim 'Ultimate Warrior' Hellwig as his partner. When Hellwig left to go to another promotion, Borden tagged up with Eddie Gilbert, and Steiner and won Tag gold in the UWF, before Steiner turned heel on him. A monstrous feud ensued, so much so that the pair were signed to NWA/WCW in 1988 where Sting has been ever since.
As the blonde haired, multi colour face painted Stinger, he enjoyed a long run at the top, feuding with Ric Flair in a legendary series of matches. Sting was the WCW 'franchise' and top face, feuding throughout the years with Vader, Flair, and Lex Luger amongst others down the line.
When the nWo surfaced in 96, Sting vanished from TV screens for a while (His contract was up, and he needed time to heal some injuries) before a Crow started to make an appearance on Nitro. Fans wondered what this was about, until it was revealed: Sting was back, and looking
like an extra from The Crow.
Being lowered from the rafters, he would side against the nWo armed with his trusty baseball bat. This is the gimmick that put Sting on the map, and is the one he has to this very day,although rumours of a makeover run rampant at the moment.
At Starrcade on December 28, 1997, Sting returned to in-ring competition and fought Hollywood Hogan in a match for the WCW World Heavyweight Title (due to the engrossing story line between Sting, WCW and The NWO, Starrcade got a 1.7 million buy-rate, the largest in WCW history). Sting defeated Hogan for the title, bringing it home to WCW. However, due to the controversial finish of the match (where former WWF Superstar, Bret Hart made his WCW debut and called for the bell while Hogan was trapped in The Scorpion Death Lock), the belt was declared vacant by JJ Dillon, and put on the line in a rematch at Superbrawl VIII on February 22, 1998.
This time there was no controversial finish, and Sting raised his second WCW World Title under his new "Crow" persona. Sting's reign lasted about 2 months, during which time he managed to defend the title against many tough challengers, including The NWO’s Scott Hall (Uncensored 98', March 15), before dropping the belt to Randy Savage at Spring Stampede on April 19, due to interference from Kevin Nash.
Sting later joined Nash’s own NWO Faction, the red and black "Wolfpac" (Sting changed the colours of his facepaint to reflect the change) and feuded with Bret Hart in a rivalry that concluded with a match at Halloween Havoc 98’ which Sting lost. During the match, he suffered a serious injury, which forced him to miss some action for several months.
During his time away from the ring, Sting became a born-again Christian, and returned to full-time competition on Monday Nitro on April 5 1999 (he had worked a few house shows a few months prior to his television return). Clad in his "Crow"attire, Sting literally dropped in (with the aid of a harness, the same stunt that unfortunately killed Owen Hart one month later at the WWF's Over The Edge PPV) on a Four-Way Dance between Goldberg, Hollywood Hogan, DDP and the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair.
Due to his sudden return to the ring (just 6 days before Spring Stampede), Sting was the obvious favourite to win the WCW World Title. However, following an entertaining contest, (where DDP supposedly injured Hogan's knee and put him out of action) Ric Flair fell to a Diamond Cutter from DDP, while Sting struggled to make it to his feet in time to stop the fall. The end result of this match was very disappointing for fans of Sting or even WCW fans in general.
Sting ended DDP’s reign on Nitro on April 26. Unfortunately, Sting's latest title reign was fleeting and pointless (and the shortest in WCW history), as later in the evening he dropped the belt back to DDP in another Four-Way Dance (this time featuring Goldberg and Kevin Nash).
On September 12 at Fall Brawl, the foolish decision was made to turn Sting heel. Battling Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title, Sting used a baseball bat supplied by a returning Lex Luger to capture the title and turn on the fans.
Predictably, the fans never bought the heel turn, and Sting was more or less the same guy he was before. At Halloween Havoc on October 24, Hogan got a rematch with Sting, but as this was the first show produced by formerWWF scriptwriters, Ed Ferrara and Vince Russo, the match was over and done with in a matter of seconds, with Hogan laying down for Sting.
It was at Mayhem that Sting officially changed back to a babyface. Following his semi-final loss to Bret Hart (who would go on to win the title in the final), Sting offered his hand to Bret, showing great sportsmanship.
In 2000, Sting feuded with the likes of Lex Luger, Vampiro and Jeff Jarrett. At the end of the year, Sting was brutally assaulted by Scott Steiner on a special UK-edition of Thunder. WCW gave the impression on TV that Sting was finished. But in reality, he was back the following night, competing on a house show in Birmingham, England, teaming with Kevin Nash to defeat Kronik.
Sting's return to the ring on March 26, 2001 was an emotional moment for WCW fans. WCW had just been bought by the WWF, and were finished as a company. The Nitro on March 26 was to be the last one ever, and featured surreal clips of Vince McMahon on Raw throughout. Sting brought the show (and WCW) to a close with a classic encounter with Ric Flair. After forcing Flair to tap to The Scorpion Death-Lock, Sting offered his hand to Flair and the two legends embraced in the ring.
Sting returned to the ring in December 2002, taking part in the WWA's European Tour. Over a series of dates, he teamed with Nathan Jones to battle Buff Bagwell and Malice and even defeated Lex Luger for the WWA Title.
In 2003, Sting worked on a part-time basis for NWA:TNA and was involved in matches with the likes of A.J. Styles, Jeff Jarrett and Lex Luger.
Proving that he still had something to offer the wrestling business, Sting returned to TNA in 2006 and earned his hefty contract by taking some serious physical abuse in some violent gimmick matches with Abyss (Sting had a candelabra broken over his head and was driven into glass and thumbtacks). Though in his "twilight years", Sting has enjoyed a brief reign as TNA’s World Champion and is a regular fixture on TNA IMPACT! and PPV events.
