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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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    Guest column text copyright (C) 1999 by the individual author and used with permission