The Sixer: IT'S STING!
Sting! What a guy. What a wrestler. What a wrestling career. All in all I watched this guy for the bulk of my entire life to date, from 1987 until this year. I went through periods where he was one of my favorite wrestlers as a child, then to someone I thought maybe was a good bit overrated, then to seeing the light once more.
Let’s look back on some relatively lesser-known Sting matches!
In this set:
Barry Windham vs Sting (NWA Clash of the Champions/1988)
Sting vs Cactus Jack (WCW Power Hour/1991)
Goldberg vs Sting (WCW Monday Nitro/1998)
Sting vs Jeff Jarrett (TNA Bound For Glory/2006)
AJ Styles vs Sting (TNA Bound For Glory/2009)
Darby Allin & Sting vs FTR (AEW Dynamite/2021)
Barry Windham vs Sting
NWA Clash of the Champions: Fall Brawl
Sept. 7, 1988 - Albany, GA
This is about five-and-a-half months after the first Clash of the Champions in late March ‘88, where Sting got the nod to become a main man from his excellent 45-minute time limit draw with world champion Ric Flair. This time out, Sting’s trying for the U.S. heavyweight title, as he still seeks his first major championship.
Windham’s a Horseman and managed by J.J. Dillon; Barry had turned in April, less than a month after he and Lex Luger had won the tag belts from Arn and Tully at the first Clash. He’s a big time heel, Sting is THE rising babyface in the NWA, it’s the main event! Jim Ross, calling the match with Bob Caudle, expects these two are going to be big players in pro wrestling in the fast-coming ‘90s. Sting was. Windham … could have been and had his moments.
Windham aims to slow this down because Sting brings such an unusually high energy to every match. So he really is stalling this out, but the crowd is happy to play along with the wrestlers. I actually think fans played along way more back then than they do now, as much as people are there to play roles and be part of the show in so many cases. I think a lot of the problem is the greater percentage of fans who are irony-pilled or at least irony-tinged now. Is what it is, things change.
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