Sting’s bizarre WCW heel turn in 1999 explained

WCW was indeed an interesting time for the organization in 1999. This was the time when WCW was experiencing a steady decline in terms of ratings, viewership and overall quality of the wrestling product. By October 1999, Eric Bischoff was out of the running and was fired by Dr. Harvey Schiller, one of the higher-up officials at Turner Broadcasting.

They hired Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera to take the creative reins of WCW after Russo sold Turner executives on the idea that he was the creative mind behind the “Attitude Era” and the dramatic increases in WWE’s ratings. Russo had hoped to recreate the same magic for WCW, promoting the younger stars while weeding out the older, established talent.

One of the bolder and at the same time more bizarre steps was the turn Piercing to the villain after being WCW’s most popular star for many years. This is the story of how Sting became a villain and why this strange twist would never work.

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The story began with the feud between Sting and Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Lex Luger told Sting not to trust Hulk Hogan

• Hulk Hogan was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
• The red and yellow Hulk Hogan had returned when the Hulkster became a babyface.
• Sting was scheduled to face Hulk Hogan at Fall Brawl.

In September 1999, Hulk Hogan had won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship by defeating Kevin Nash a month earlier at WCW Road Wild. Earlier, Hogan had just revived his infamous Hulkamania persona, leaving behind the “Hollywood Hogan” gimmick and everything related to the nWo that we had known since his historic heel turn at WCW Bash at the Beach in 1996.

Sting and the returning Lex Luger were targeting Hulk Hogan. Sting was still a babyface, but Luger had returned and convinced Sting that Hogan was untrustworthy. Sting and Hogan clashed in the weeks leading up to their championship match at WCW Fall Brawl. Sting didn’t know who to trust, his best friend or his former nemesis? Was Luger playing mind games with Sting or was he telling the truth about “The Hulkster” all along? These questions were answered in shocking fashion at WCW Fall Brawl.

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Sting’s heel turn was performed at Fall Brawl

Why Sting’s heel turn didn’t work in WCW

• Sting attacked Hulk Hogan with a bat at Fall Brawl.
• Sting became the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
• Despite his turnaround, fans continued to cheer for Sting.

The battle between Sting and Hulk Hogan climaxed at WCW Fall Brawl. The match went about as well as could be expected, with both arguably putting up a decent fight considering that both Hogan and Sting, despite being two of the biggest stars in the wrestling business, didn’t have the best chemistry in the ring.

However, we saw outside interference from Lex Luger and Bret Hart, with Luger attacking Hogan with the baseball bat in front of Sting. When Hogan explained to Sting that it was Luger all along, Sting grabbed the bat and attacked Hogan. After knocking Hogan down with the bat, Sting got the pinfall and became the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion as he and Luger celebrated.

Fans were shocked when Sting did the unthinkable and became a villain. Both men continued their attacks on Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart and others within WCW, and also allied themselves with Diamond Dallas Page (DDP). The biggest problem was that Sting’s heel turn didn’t really change his character. He was still the same Sting, with very few added evil elements, and fans still cheered for him no matter what. Despite Sting’s change in attitude, to some extent the heel turn obviously didn’t work at all.

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Sting and Hulk Hogan had a rematch at Halloween Havoc

• Hulk Hogan laid down for Sting at Halloween Havoc.
• Goldberg defeated Sting to become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
• Sting had a feud with Lex Luger.

The rematch between Hogan and Sting was scheduled to take place at WCW Halloween Havoc 1999. After some obvious backstage politics between Hogan and Russo, Hogan came out in his casual clothes, exchanged a few words with Sting, and laid down on the mat so Sting could pin him for a 3-count. A disgusted Sting came out later that night and openly challenged Sting, which Goldberg answered. Goldberg defeated Sting to become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

The following night, on WCW Monday Nitro, an angry Sting came out and demanded that WCW Commissioner JJ Dillon reverse the decision as the match was not sanctioned by WCW. Dillon refused and was subsequently attacked by Sting as Dillon announced that the WCW World Title would be put on hold and a new tournament to crown a new champion would begin, with the semifinals and finals taking place at WCW Mayhem.

Sting slowly began his babyface turn when Lex Luger turned his back on Sting and the two began feuding. Hulk Hogan didn’t show up in WCW until early 2000, before the start of the New Blood storyline, but that’s another story for another time. Needless to say, Sting’s heel turn was interesting, but ultimately failed and was never going to work due to Sting’s status as their best top babyface and his standing with the organization.