Sting WWE Run Has Been A Legacy-Killing Failure [Op-Ed]

The Sting WWE run has been one of the biggest let-downs in the history of wrestling.

While most didn’t expect him to ascend to the status of world champion, they didn’t expect him to make cryptic appearances only to job Triple H at Wrestlemania 31.

Oh sure, you can say you knew it would happen now, but at the time, everyone saw Sting going over Triple H and building slowly to a match at 32, where he would likely do the honors for Undertaker.

But to lose his first match, get paired with Bo Dallas in a short segment that never developed, then completely disappear from programming is a blow to what he established during his WCW days.

The Sting WWE run has basically been a legacy-killing failure because it took a once proud and noble champ and reduced him to the level of company jobber.

And frankly, at this point, I don’t think it’s salvageable.

Let’s look at the reasons why.

Firstly, there’s the momentum factor. Sting had a lot of it when he first appeared on WWE programming. In fact, he had the kind of panache that would be impossible to replicate.

The lone superstar to never work for Vince McMahon. The “shocking” experience at Survivor Series to help Dolph Ziggler overcome the odds and defeat the Authority, essentially putting them out of business. (For about a month.) The knowledge and anticipation of his inevitable Wrestlemania moment. It was all lightning in a bottle, and once uncorked it would never be special again.

Then came Wrestlemania.

Virtually no one predicted that Sting would lose his WWE debut to Triple H. And while it happened under iffy circumstances and involved an inexplicable war between DX and the nWo — the nWo always hated Sting — it was still a match that he lost.

So you spend all this time building up an aura around Sting, only to have him lose his highly anticipated match. Then, as a final insult, you put him with the low-card Dallas in a one-off segment the following night.

Few thought a Sting vs. Bo Dallas matchup was pay-per-view worthy, but most were willing to accept it if it meant the WWE would continue to use Sting for meaningful parts of its programming en route to bigger involvement at Wrestlemania 32.

But then, that never happened and Sting went silent again. To date, fans have seen/heard nothing from the former legend.

It’s possible the WWE could be working to bring Sting back in a way where he’s somewhat relevant.

No matter what they do, though, they’ll never be able to rekindle that momentum. That means anything that comes next for Sting will be mediocre at best.

And I think that’s exactly how WWE wants it. They wanted to get their hooks in Sting because he was the one guy they were never able to get.

They won. Then, at Wrestlemania 31, they won again. Then, the following night on Raw they won again by putting him next to a jobber and sweeping him off WWE programming entirely. Sting fell in to their trap hook, line, and sinker, and in the process became just another WWE whipping boy.

What do you think about the Sting WWE run, readers? Is it salvageable? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via WWE]