I recently conducted a poll on talkinsuplexes instagram page, where I asked if Sting's time in the Wolfpac was a terrible idea or if it had potential and just crashed? Thank you to those who voted, based on the results of the poll the majority of the voters thought it was a good idea that simply crashed. With Sting making his return to wrestling via AEW, I took the opportunity to go back and watch some old Nitro from the summer and fall of '98 when Sting joined. Looking back in my opinion it probably was a terrible idea.
During the spring of 1998 the NWO spilt off into two factions, NWO Hollywood led by Hollywood Hogan and Eric Bischoff and NWO Wolfpac led by Kevin Nash and Macho Man Randy Savage. As the battle lines were drawn and both sides built their ranks, they began to recruit the most sought after "free agent" in the organization Sting. The Wolfpac had a ace in their pocket by having Sting's best friend Lex Luger join the ranks.
After a couple weeks of courting including from WCW, Sting decided to join NWO Wolfpac. At the time as a young 12 year old fan, I thought that was the coolest thing going on in WCW. Looking back it actually was devoid of alot of logic. Typical of WCW during it's later years.
First while from a storyline perspective we all pretty much know why he didn't join NWO Hollywood, it was never explicitly explained why he chose the WolfPac over WCW. Sting was the name people thought of when WCW was mentioned, and it made WCW as a brand seem inferior to the NWO brand. Second while Sting started sporting red and black facepaint, grew some facial hair and became a bit more animated, there was nothing besides the color scheme that was different about his presentation as a member of the Wolfpac.
Third he didn't do much as a member of the Wolfpac, he went from being theee star and defender of WCW to just another player in NWO. His prescene never really gave the Wolfpac a mental advantage
over NWO Hollywood, since months earlier the NWO was terrified of Sting. Once he joined the Wolfpac he fought former tag partner and Hollywood member The Giant for the WCW World Tag Team Championship and Chose Kevin Nash as his tag partner over his old buddy Lex Luger.
His biggest feud was for the WCW United States Championship against nwo aligant Bret Hart, but that crashed and burned during Halloween Havoc when Sting was injured during their match. Meanwhile Hollywood Hogan the man he aimed to destroy and never did, lost the WCW Championship to breakout star (at the time) Goldberg and feuded with DDP and celebrity friends of his (Karl Malone, Jay Leno) in back to back PPV events to generate mainstream publicity and buyrates.
Looking back while it was a damn good time to be sporting red and black NWO shirts, throwing up the too sweet sign, and jumping out of your seat cheering when you heard a wolf howling over the PA system. Sting probably should have kept his ass within the ranks of WCW.
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