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Mark's Notes on WCW Home Video: Sting! Uncensored
Voiceover by Tony Shiavone (that is really how the credits had it
spelled)
All matches are clipped
Sting introduces himself as Steve Borden. We're shootin', folks.
Talks about why he is the "Franchise" of WCW and about his role in the
company over the years. Eric Bischoff, not in his post-goatee era yet,
unfortunately (still with black hair though!), talks about Sting's
appeal. Sting then talks about his finishing moves, the Scorpion
Deathdrop and Scorpion Deathlock.
Sting vs. Ric Flair from the Great American Bash 1990. This was a
really good blowoff match. For a while at least. Also from one the
first pay-per-views I ever saw, wayyy back when I was a wee mark. Jim
Ross is alone as the commentator; sounds great. A cutway clip shows
when Sting tore his patella tendon. Oucho. Back to the match, we get a
quick Flair flip with a clothesline, and a Stinger splash. Skip to the
end: Sting rolls up Flair during a figure four attempt.
Battlebowl, circa Starrcade 1991. Sting and Luger are the only ones
left. Wicked shot of Sting being dropped onto the guardrail off the
entrance walkway. Luger looks great; hard to believe it's 8 years
later. Yeah. Sting sends Luger over the top with a clothesline, wins
the Battlebowl.
Sting interviewing again. He talks some about his early days, how
hard they were. It seems like absolutely no wrestler, ever, has slipped
through the whole "paying your dues" thing. Well, maybe Ken Shamrock,
sort of, but I think he wrestled for the USWA for just a little while.
Oh well. Someday wrestlers are going to start telling good stories
about their early days and the gig will be up.
Sting vs. Lex Luger from Superbrawl II. Next year would come Vader
and the "White Castle of Fear". For Sting, there was no escaping Harley
Race. Ross still commentating, alongside a younger Jesse the Body.
Sting bounces back from a piledriver and takes the win with a cross-body
from the top turnbuckle.
Sting vs. Vader in an unspecified match, that says Starrcade '92 at
the bottom, but can't be, because his Halloween Havoc match is after
this one. So it's just some random match I guess. Vader wins in about
a 30-second clip.
Sting vs. Jake Roberts from Halloween Havoc 1992. This was the Good
Idea At The Time for this particular point in... well... time. I
thought it was a great idea, but when the Coal Miner's Glove match came
up, the What The Fuck quotient went sky-high. HooRAY for Bill Watts.
Sigh. Anyway, another really short clip has Jake getting bitten by the
snake as he holds it several inches from his face while the camera zooms
in. Great concept; horrible execution.
Sting discuss his beginnings with Jim Hellwig, better known to me and
you as Der Ultimate Warrior. He plainly admits they were horrible
wrestlers, but really big guys looking to break in. I doubt the Warrior
would ever admit that. Hell, he couldn't get small words like that out
of his mouth.
Sting vs. Vader from Slamboree 1993. Absolutely nothing happening
here, I believe their feud was in a rut around the time of this match.
This was a World Title win for Sting, though.
Sting vs. Rick Rude from Spring Stampede 1994. Remember the
International Title? Right around this time. This was a great card.
Sting has Rude moon us and hits the Stinger splash. The ref takes a
fall, though, and can't see Rude submit to the Scorpion Deathlock.
Harley Race (him again) tries to hit Sting with a chair and hits Rude
instead. Sting pulls the easy win.
Sting/Macho Man vs. Big Bubba/Avalanche from Superbrawl V (1995). Big
Bubba is now the Big Bossman, and Avalanche is now Golga, I guess.
Haven't heard anything out of that camp since Kurrgan and Silva got
busted down to Mexico. Match isn't worth covering, Sting/Macho get the
win with a Sting cross-body from the top.
Sting/Ric Flair vs. Arn Anderson/Brian Pillman from Halloween Havoc.
Once again, Evil Flair turns on the trusting Sting. This would lead to
another reformation of the Horsemen, this incarnation consisting of
Flair, Anderson, Pillman, and Chris Benoit~! I'm pretty sure I'm
thinking of the right version of the Horsemen for this time-frame.
Sting vs. Meng from the Great American Bash 1995. Meng hits a
Ligerbomb, Sting kicks out. He takes the U.S. Title with a jumping DDT.
This match was the finals of a tournament for said belt.
Sting vs. Kensuke Sasaki from Starrcade 1995. This was the cool WCW
vs. New Japan card. Liked it at the time, still do. Rematch for the
U.S. Title which Sting had lost earlier. I liked Sting/Muta from the
earlier '90s better. Dusty Rhodes has completed the triplet of
broadcasters. Sting gets the win with a Scorpion Deathlock.
Sting/Macho Man/Lex Luger vs. Scott Hall/Kevin Nash/MYSTERY PARTNER
from Bash at the Beach 1996. Who will the frickin third man be? The
answer ruined WCW for me for a very long time, such time as continues to
this very day. Of course, Hogan walks down and legdrops Savage,
ushering in the new era. The commentators are nearly crying. Fuck. Of
course, they couldn't leave out THE SPEECH from Hogan, post-match. In
case you can't read between the lines, I really fucking hate the nWo.
The Wargames match from Fall Brawl 1996. A fake Sting is sent in to
attack Luger. The real Sting follows shortly thereafter, busts the real
Sting up, along with everybody else. He then walks out. On Nitro,
Sting declares himself a free agent.
A nice short recap of pretty much the whole Sting/Hogan clusterfuck
from 1997. Starts with Sting telling the nWo he's out of their price
range, through his attack on them at Uncensored, covers the mind games
that drive the rest of the hair off Hogan's head, as well as turn Eric
Bischoff's gray partway down, all the way up to the Big Blowoff at
Starrcade 1997.
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan from Starrcade 1997. This was the can't
miss. Even *I* was looking forward to Sting finally getting the belt
here and everyone moving on. But The Powers That Be had other plans for
my sanity. First, props to the people that produced the promo video for
this match. They didn't fuck up. Now, the match. Only a little bit is
shown, till we get to the "fast" three count, which was certainly as
normal as any count I've ever seen. Bet Patrick caught hell for that.
Then Bret Hart comes down and introduces the Dusty Finish, leaving
EVERYONE with their jaw hanging and bile rising. So what if he won? On
Thunder about 10 days later, Jo Jo Dillon makes Sting give up the title,
which will be held up pending a rematch at Superbrawl VIII.
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan from Superbrawl VIII. One was enough, and
they give us a sequel. I hated this match too, as even IT was screwy.
Hogan just can't lose cleanly. The ENTIRE FREAKING NWO runs into the
ring. Sting deals with them all except Randy Savage, who nails Hogan
with a can of spraypaint. Sting covers for the win.
Sting vs. Scott Hall from Uncensored 1998. This wasn't even the main
event, and I think it was hurried up to make room for said main event, a
Savage vs. Hogan cage match. Sting is the freaking WORLD CHAMPION and
Hogan can't even let him main event. Sting slithers out of a Outsider's
Edge and drops Hall with a Scorpion Deathdrop. Easy pin.
Sting vs. Randy Savage from Spring Stampede 1998. The match was made
no-DQ, foreshadowing enough that I went downstairs to play Quake II
rather than watch. They attack each other with all that goddamn hay.
Sting has Savage down for the pin, but the ref's out. Kevin Nash walks
down, powerbombs Sting, and places Savage on top. The ref counts for
the win. Nash and Savage would go on TV the next day and form the nWo
Wolfpac. Sting would join eventually, but that part is sort of glossed
over.
Sting vs. the Giant from the Great American Bash 1998. Another bad
match, featuring the Giant w/cigarette. WCW was hitting its stride
here, preparing to lay out 4 straight bombs in a row: Bash at the Beach,
Road Wild, Fall Brawl, and Halloween Havoc. Sting wins with three
Scorpion Deathdrops, two of which are shown.
Eric Bischoff is shown a final time, talking about the versatility of
Sting's character, and hints that we may see Sting in a gimmick that
allows him to change between black/white and black/red. We all remember
that rumor, but Sting went and found Jesus; the whole thing was called
off.
End of the tape.
The Verdict: Well, I'm a huge Sting mark, always have been, so any
recommendation I give of this show would be tainted as such. So, I'll
just say: if you're a Sting fan, pick it up; if not, I wouldn't
recommend it.
Mark Smith Tape Review WWW Archive coming soon
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