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Sting?s 10 Best Matches Ever

Posted: Jul 21st 2014 By: Ryan Droste

There have been few superstars in wrestling history who have been associated with one company as strongly as Sting was with WCW. Through all the ups and the downs that the company went through over the years, Sting never waivered in his support of the promotion that made him a worldwide superstar. While mainstay WCW stars such as the Andersons, Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair all jumped ship to the rival WWF at one time or another, Sting stood out as the one guy who never made that move. He was WCW through and through, for better or for worse.

At some point in the very near future, Sting will finally make his long anticipated debut with Vince McMahon?s WWE. This past Monday night on RAW, Sting appeared in a commercial for the upcoming WWE 2K15 video game, marking his first ever appearance during a live WWE broadcast (he has appeared in a taped interview for the WWE Network). It is expected that not only will Sting be cooperating with the WWE on upcoming projects, but he will also be open to wrestling from time to time.

With Sting stepping into a WWE ring, a whole new generation of fans will be exposed to him for the very first time. It has been over 13 years since WCW went out of business, so teenagers of this generation are too young to have ever watched him wrestle live during his prime. Though Sting has had some memorable matches in the past few years while working with TNA, the amount of fans watching those shows doesn?t come anywhere close to the audience that he will be exposed to when he debuts in WWE. Simply put, a large percentage of the WWE audience probably has not seen much of anything Sting has done since WCW closed its doors in early 2001.

Come along with us on a trip down memory lane as we count down the top ten matches in the career of the man called Sting. If you are new to his career and anticipating seeing him for the first time in WWE, hopefully this article can give you a good background as to why he is considered one of the all time greats in the world of professional wrestling. If you are a long time fan, we apologize in advance for this article inspiring any binge watching sessions of the WWE Network in the coming days as this article will definitely bring back some memories that you will be motivated to rediscover.

Lets rewind to October 1989 for the first match on our countdown?

10. Sting & Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk & Great Muta (Halloween Havoc ?89)

For those not familiar with WCW?s Thunderdome cage, it was basically an archaic looking version of WWE?s Hell In A Cell. The cage was made of thin metal bars, and the structure went entirely around the outside of the ring just as WWE?s cell now does. At the top of the cage, the bars curve towards the center of the ring like a prison fence (it is not completely closed on the top) so as to keep the wrestlers from climbing out. In addition, this particular cage was supposed to be electrified towards the top, giving the wrestlers another reason to think twice about climbing out. This was the structure that would be the setting for this memorable encounter at Halloween Havoc.

From the ring entrances forward, it was clear that the crowd in Philadelphia was hyped for the match. During his feud with Flair during this era, Terry Funk had incredible heat from the audience; just watch his entrance, you don?t see real hate like that from the fans in wrestling anymore. Watching this match back 25 years later, it becomes clear just how much good tag team wrestling is missing from today?s product.

9. Sting & Ric Flair vs. Dick Slater & The Great Muta (Clash Of The Champions 8)

To understand why Sting was tag teaming with his old nemesis Ric Flair so much in 1989, we must rewind to the start of that summer. At the Great American Bash in June, Sting defended his television title against the Great Muta. The match ended in controversial fashion (Sting was initially declared the winner, but a replay showed Muta?s shoulder up) and the television title was declared vacant. Later on in the same show, Ric Flair defended his world championship against Terry Funk. Funk and Muta were both being managed by Gary Hart at the time as part of the group known as the ?J-Tex Corporation.? After Flair earned the victory over Funk, Muta came down and attacked him to avenge his fallen partner. Surprisingly, it was Sting who came down to the ring to help out Flair. The stage was set for a feud between these four men that would last for several months.

Well, maybe we should say five men, as Dick Slater had to substitute in place of Funk for this bout at Clash of the Champions 8 in September 1989. Slater had been a main event level star in Mid South and Mid Atlantic Wrestling during the early 1980s, and he eventually made the leap to the WWF in 1986. While wrestling for McMahon, he didn?t receive much of a push and was mostly a jobber for more established wrestlers in the company (Don Muraco, most notably). Slater?s final run in wrestling came in WCW, and this match at Clash of the Champions was generally considered his first high profile match during this period. While he was a last minute replacement for Funk, this match was actually slightly better than the match Muta and Funk had with Flair and Sting the following month at Halloween Havoc.

8. Sting vs. Vader (SuperBrawl 3)

Throughout 1992 and 1993, there was arguably no better feud in wrestling than Sting and Vader. It had everything you could want out of a wrestling feud: great matches and heat that you could believe was real. Sting was the white meat babyface, clean cut and muscular. Vader was the big, punishing brawler that people loved to hate. The rivalry also helped carry WCW during a period when Ric Flair was enjoying a run in the WWF.

In February 1993, as Flair made his return to WCW, Sting and Vader met up for a world heavyweight championship match that was billed as a ?White Castle Of Fear Strap Match? unsanctioned by WCW. This successful title defense by Vader was a throwback to the old, bloody NWA world heavyweight championship matches of the 1980s. Blood wasn?t something that was common place at the national level in pro wrestling at the time, as WWF had explicitly banned it from their matches during this era. The blood, the great brawling, and a brilliantly executed feud made this one of the most memorable matches of 1993.

7. Sting vs. Flair (Starrcade ?89)

After forming a high profile tag team with Flair throughout the fall of 1989, Sting went toe to toe with Flair at Starrcade in December. This match was the result of an iron man tournament to determine the number one contender toward Flair?s world heavyweight championship. The tournament used a point system and featured only four individuals (Sting, Luger, Flair, and Muta). Points were given out as follows: 20 points for a pinfall or submission, 15 points for a countout victory, 10 points for a disqualification victory, 5 points for a draw, and 0 points for a loss.

Sting faced off against Lex Luger in his first match of the night, and Luger won the match via pinfall. Later on in the evening, Sting faced off against the Great Muta and won the match after a superplex. The final match of the night featured Sting going up against his tag team partner Flair in a classic encounter between two men who had already wrestled twice that evening. Sting ended up getting the victory by reversing a figure four attempt into a cradle for the pinfall. This victory gave Sting the point total he needed to win the iron man tournament and a future opportunity to wrestle Flair for his title. The final standings were as follows:

1. Sting (40 points; 2 pinfall victories, 1 loss)
2. Lex Luger (35 points; 1 pinfall victory, 1 disqualification victory, 1 draw)
3. Ric Flair (25 points; 1 pinfall victory, 1 draw, 1 loss)
4. The Great Muta (0 points; 3 losses)

Despite the fact that he had earned a shot at Flair?s belt, Sting went on to officially join the Four Horsemen following Starrcade due to the several month long alliance the two had enjoyed. The Flair, Sting, and Andersons incarnation of the Horsemen only lasted a couple of months, though, as Sting was booted from the group at Clash of the Champions 10 when he declared he would be challenging Flair for the belt at WrestleWar ?90. This match would never happen, though, as Sting tore his patella tendon on that same showedition of Clash of the Champions during an attack on Flair. The match was pushed back to Great American Bash ?90 where Sting returned and won the belt from Flair.

6. Sting/Luger vs. The Steiner Brothers (SuperBrawl 1)

The first edition of SuperBrawl took place on May 19, 1991 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Sting and Lex Luger had a kind of on again, off again relationship between 1988 and 1991, sometimes being billed as the ?Dudes with Attitude? while teaming up. During 1990, while Sting was sidelined with his patella tendon injury, it was Luger who stepped in to wrestle Flair in his place at WrestleWar. Upon Sting?s return, he and Luger teamed up later in the year and wrestled a series of matches against the Four Horsemen. The team reached its peak when they wrestled the Steiner Brothers in a rare babyface versus babyface match for the WCW world tag team belts at SuperBrawl.

Pro Wrestling Illustrated gave this encounter the match of the year award for 1990. Although it is a bit short when compared to other classic wrestling matches (the bout clocks in at just over 11 minutes), it is a tour de force in fast paced intensity and athleticism.

Besides the great wrestling, here are a couple of other things to keep an eye out for when watching the match:

1. An incredibly cheesy early 1990s video montage prior to the match

2. Sting and Luger almost getting burned by fireworks on their way to the ring

5. Sting vs. Vader (Starrcade ?92)

The best match of the memorable feud between Sting and Vader was their encounter at the Omni in Atlanta during Starrcade. This time there was no title belt involved as the two met in the finals of the ?King of Cable? tournament. Eight men had entered the tournament when it started in November. Besides Sting and Vader, other competitors had included: Barry Windham, Tony Atlas, Rick Rude, Brian Pillman, Dustin Rhodes, and the Barbarian. Tournament matches were held on WCW Saturday Night and the Clash of the Champions throughout November and December of 1992.

Considering this is Vader that we are talking about, the match wasn?t a technical masterpiece, but it was a hell of a brawl. Making the performance even more memorable was the fact that both Vader and Sting had already wrestled once earlier in the night in Battle Bowl qualifying tag team matches. After this match, these two went on and somehow wrestled a third time in the Battle Bowl battle royal (won by the Great Muta). To say that the WCW roster was thin on top tier talent at the time would be an understatement.

4. Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Beach Blast ?92)

During his second reign as a world champion, Sting met Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) in a ?Falls Count Anywhere Match? on June 20, 1992 in Mobile, AL. The bout took place at the first ever Beach Blast event, and it happened during an era when WCW had the brilliant idea of not putting any protective mats around ringside.

Because of this circumstance, it made the many high risk maneuvers outside the ring during this match all the more impressive. Jack executes his trademark elbow drop from the ring to the floor below on more than one occassion, including coming off the second rope all the way to the concrete for one profoundly insane bump. Suplexes, backdrops, and sunset flips are all executed on exposed cement.

In the end, despite its relatively short running time, it is another classic encounter that has stood the test of time.

3. War Games (WrestleWar ?91)

If you ask any wrestling fan what the best moments were in the history of the WCW, undoubtedly the topic of a War Games match will come up. Created by Dusty Rhodes in 1987, War Games was one of the best inventions that WCW gave the world of professional wrestling. Typically, a War Games match involved two teams fighting elimination style in a single cage that surrounded two rings. At War Games ?91, Sting teamed with Brian Pillman and the Steiner Brothers to take on Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious, and Larry Zbyszko.

Unfortunately, one of the most memorable parts of this match was the botched ending. Brian Pillman received two poorly executed powerbombs from Sid Vicious that legitimately injured him, knocking him out cold. El Gigante had to enter the ring and surrender the match on Pillman?s behalf due to his injuries. Even so, this didn?t erase the previous 20 minutes plus which had been a textbook lesson in great wrestling. Dave Meltzer even gave the match a rare five star rating in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

2. War Games (WrestleWar ?92)

Many thought that the War Games match at WrestleWar ?91 couldn?t be topped, but just over a year later that is exactly what happened. The enormous cage was brought out again for another War Games match in Jacksonville, Florida at WrestleWar ?92, and it turned out to be an even better match than the all time classic from the previous year?s event of the same name.

This time, Sting?s team (billed as Sting?s Squadron) consisted of Nikita Koloff, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, and Barry Windham. They took on the Dangerous Alliance, a team made up of Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Rude. Sting had been feuding with Paul E. Dangerously?s Alliance since late 1991, and this was effectively the blow-off for the storyline as Sting moved into a long program with Vader in the following months. Once again, the War Games match earned the rare five star rating in Meltzer?s Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

1. Sting vs. Flair (Clash Of The Champions 1)

There was no match in the career of Sting more important than this one. After a two year stint in Bill Watt?s UWF to start his career, a still very young Sting entered the NWA in the summer of 1987 and was immediately positioned as a featured talent on their shows. Before too long, he was put into the ring with the best in the business at the time, Ric Flair, at the inaugural edition of the Clash of the Champions in March 1988. The match garnered the match of the year award for 1988 from the The Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The new Clash of the Champions event aired on TBS directly opposite of WWF?s WrestleMania IV. Those that didn?t feel like spending the money on WWF?s premiere show had the option to tune in to another wrestling card, free of charge. If they did so on this night, they didn?t end up regretting saving their cash. WrestleMania turned out to be a lackluster show that year, but Clash of the Champions created a new wrestling superstar as Sting and Flair went out and put on a 45 minute wrestling clinic. When the time limit expired, the match ended in a draw as the ringside judges couldn?t pronounce a winner. However, Sting clearly came out ahead as the match firmly established him as a top star in the promotion going forward. A star was born as the new face of the company had officially arrived on the scene.

It has been over 26 years since this match initially aired, and it?s definitely no mistake that this is still one of the most talked about matches in wrestling history. This is the match that created a legend.