Sting's Big Win
The chase for his first world championship
The inspiration for this post came from my favorite Sting t-shirt and the reaction it gets in public.
Nearly every time I wear the shirt out lately, someone comes up to me and starts talking about their favorite Sting match and why they liked it so much.
The match that keeps getting brought up is when Sting won his first world title in July 1990 by defeating Ric Flair at The Great American Bash.
I was there, second row ringside, and in forty years of attending wrestling shows it remains the loudest and most jubilant wrestling crowd I’ve ever been a part of.
*The portion of this narrative on Sting’s pre-wrestling background is based on a conversation with Sting in early 1990 when he was making an appearance at a wrestling fan club gathering. I was there to take photos of him and get quotes from him for a wrestling magazine I wrote for.
The Importance of the World Championship in Professional Wrestling
When I first started watching pro wrestling in 1985, world championships were presented as a very big deal, as they should be.
As fans we get immersed in wrestling when it’s good, and we suspend belief.
So, on that basis, the world championship should always be the focal point at the top of the card. That’s my personal belief.
Further, in storyline presentation every wrestler should be “striving” to be #1 in the promotion, just like in competitive sports. Same concept.
In the fall of 1985, two names were synonymous with the world championship from that era and would be throughout the remainder of the decade.
In WWF, Hulk Hogan was world champion and had been so since January 1984. He would reign for much of the remainder of the 80’s.
In NWA, the champion was Ric Flair. He had been the champion since May 1984, and several times before that as well going back to his first world title win in September 198l.
Flair would dominate the remainder of the 80s except for brief title reigns by Dusty Rhodes, Ronnie Garvin and Ricky Steamboat.
It was a big deal when Flair would lose the title. He always regained the title quick though.
Dusty Rhodes held the title for just sixteen days; Ronnie Garvin held it for two months. Rick Steamboat held it for two in a half months.
Think about that for a minute and the dominance of that, and how that presents the world title as something elusive and hard to obtain, and a big deal when it is lost.
The best executed storyline I’ve seen, that was the most satisfying for me as a fan in the last three decades, was Cody Rhodes “finishing his story” in WWE.
What was his “story”?
What was it about?
Why did he draw me in, to not just his story, but the WWE product itself as well?
The Cody Rhodes “story” was a major factor in me giving WWE a chance again and discovering what fantastic wrestling shows they currently have. You see, I had largely checked out as a viewer a decade ago and had been very critical of WWE.
In retrospect, I was also close-minded as well. (However, my rekindling with WWE is a long story for another post.)
Cody’s story was simple to follow in the purest wrestling storyline sense, but masterfully executed over time. His story was about winning the WWE world title, something his legendary father, Dusty Rhodes, was never able to do in WWE.
Cody was the good guy, chasing the title, trying to win it from the villain (Roman Reigns).
The chase story was well-executed and drawn out for over a year on TV.
The final chapter of Cody’s story led to WrestleMania 40, this past April, where Cody finally defeated Roman Reigns to win the world title.
Just like with a movie ending, the ending of a wrestling storyline is what ultimately makes me feel the entire thing was great or not. Good must prevail for me to be satisfied and happy. I want the hero to win.
Cody won the title at WrestleMania 40, and I felt elated about in a way only a dedicated wrestling fan who watches tons of wrestling on a weekly basis might be able to fully understand.
The Chase Now vs The Chase Then
The drawn-out Cody Rhodes storyline made the world championship look like a big deal and something difficult to obtain.
Like Hogan and Flair in the ‘80s, Roman Reigns dominated for a long stretch of time.
Cody’s chase remained me of another world title chase that reached its conclusion thirty-four years old.
That chase in storyline context lasted two years, but it did not seem to be formally plotted out like it was with Cody’s quest.
Instead, it was just something the fans craved to see.
In those pre-internet days of the late ‘80s, we chatted among ourselves about it on the phone, at wrestling shows, and on local bulletin board systems.
Accessed by modem dial-up, bulletin board systems were the best way to meet other wrestling fans. We would post messages back and forth with each other dissecting wrestling. I forged several long-term friendships that way with fans from nearby towns. The only problem was that the boards were for other topics and not for wrestling. My wrestling friends and I frequently received messages from the sysop (the term for the board admin) telling us we were clogging up the system with too many messages about wrestling.
I digress though.
The trajectory of the world title chase from thirty-four years ago was similar to Cody’s story in that it also consisted of the wrestler overcoming numerous odds and winning his first world championship on live TV at a major event.
Before he was Sting
As a high school basketball star, Steve Borden never had an interest in lifting weights.
When he was 19, he was introduced to bodybuilding training.
Steve trained hard in the gym from the start. He had a natural work ethic engrained in him that he applied to anything he did in his life. In the decades to follow, it would be one of the personality traits that would take him to the pinnacle of his chosen profession and keep him there.
With that strong work ethic applied in the gym to his workouts, the results came rather quick, as Steve added a considerable amount of solid muscle to his lean frame. So much so, that within a year he had completely transformed his entire physical appearance from slender basketball player to thickly muscled bodybuilder.
His passion for weightlifting led him to getting a job at the world-famous Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, California. He worked as both a personal trainer and manager. Steve could be found in the gym on a near daily basis, often training alongside well-known bodybuilding stars of the era like former Mr. Universe Bertil Fox and Bob Paris.
The ‘80s were a golden age for huge muscles, and Steve Borden was swept up in it like so many others his age.
Muscle mass was celebrated in general culture; across the country large numbers of young men entered gyms with the goal of building enormous muscle size and strength.
Many were inspired by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the most heralded bodybuilder of the ‘70s. He had parlayed his dominance in bodybuilding and impressive physique to becoming a movie actor.
He was the right person at the right time, and quickly became one of the top box office attractions of the era.
Arnold starred in action movies that glorified his muscles. A liberal amount of humor was always added to his characters as well. He was like the superstar alpha athlete guy from school that was nice to everyone, and that everyone wanted to be around.
Arnold made it look both cool and fun to be super muscular.
The success of Arnold movies, and its impact on the ‘80s culture, had a direct influence on wrestling. By the mid-80s the top attraction in professional wrestling was a tan muscleman himself.
At 6’8”, Hulk Hogan towered over most of his peers and his calling card was his 24-inch biceps. He proudly flexed his “pythons” for the cameras at every opportunity.
The success of Hulk Hogan, and the general surging popularity of professional wrestling in general, suddenly made it an extremely lucrative-looking employment opportunity for many bodybuilders. They sought fame and fortune far beyond what competitive bodybuilding could ever bring, and many took the initiative to try to find entry into the wrestling business.
Others were recruited into professional wrestling directly by promoters, solely on the basis of their commanding physical appearance. The ability to actually be able to, or even have an interest in learning, the technical side of working a match was often a secondary consideration, if at all.
Steve Borden was one of the latter, in the right place (Gold’s Gym) at the right time, recruited into the business. However, he was eager to learn how to work a match too, sensing that relying on looks alone would limit his long-term opportunities in wrestling.
Steve was funneled by a local entrepreneur into a wrestling training program run by 1960’s era wrestling star Red Bastein in Northridge, California. Alongside him were with six other muscular recruits. Hopes were high that all six would quickly find themselves in the WWF, perhaps with the entrepreneur serving as their manager.
For three months, six nights a week, three hours a session, the six men received a crash course in learning how to be a professional wrestling. Steve bonded with another trainee named Jim Helwig.
After completing the training, Steve started wrestling on the local California wrestling scene as Flash. He was part of a four-person unit known as Power Team USA. All the members were from his class at wrestling school. Two of the members quickly dropped out of professional wrestling. The other wrestler that remained with Steve was Jim Helwig, who wrestled as Justice,
The two decided to seek wrestling work as a tag team outside of California. They mailed 8 x 10 pictures of themselves to every regional territory promoter in the country. Jerry Jarret, an owner of Continental Wrestling Association based out of Tennessee, responded back and brought them into his promotion in November 1985. There, they were initially called The Freedom Fighters, but the name was quickly changed to The Blade Runners. Justice became Rock. Flash became Sting.
The Early Days of Sting
The pair spent just two months in the CWA before moving onto the UWF promotion, operating in the mid-south region of the United States.
UWF was in the midst of launching what would be a short-lived and ultimately failed attempt at being a national promotion in direct competition with the WWF and NWA.
The Blade Runners would only team for a few months in UWF before Rock left the promotion to go to Texas to work for Fritz Von Erich in World Class Championship Wresting. The tag team would perhaps be a minor footnote in the Sting story if Rock had not gone on to become one of the biggest wrestling stars of the late ‘80s under the name The Ultimate Warrior in the WWF.
Sting began to emerge as a rising star in the UWF over the next year, and he was being pegged as a probable future main eventer and world champion. He was often paired in a tag team with Rick Steiner (father of current WWE superstar Bron Breakker), and the duo were UWF tag team champions for a time as well.
UWF used Sting initially as a “bad guy”, but it was very apparent from the start that his natural athleticism and charisma would lend better to him being a “good guy”.
UWF had the foresight to turn him “good”, but the promotion itself was struggling and was sold by promoter Bill Watts to NWA in mid-1987. Several of the UWF wrestlers were absorbed into the NWA roster, including Sting.
Arrival in NWA
When Sting debuted in NWA in July 1987, his look alone immediately made him stand out. His bleach blonde hair cut in a flat top, colorful face paint, and neon tights looked more like a fit for the flashy WWF.
Whether delivering a promo or wrestling a match, Sting always exuded enormous amounts of charisma. NWA fans, a large segment not familiar with his UWF work, were drawn to him and he quickly became one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion.
Soon, fans in increasing numbers were dressing up as him at live events
He was also bringing in newer fans to the NWA with his unique presentation.
Yet, during these early months Sting was frequently booked in the lower card matches at non-televised live events (called house shows in those days).
His first eight months in the NWA were relatively uneventful.
Fans clamored for the promotion to present the exciting young star at a higher level.
It all changed in one night
In one night, everything changed for Sting, and he was instantly elevated to main event status. He would remain at the top of NWA (soon to be completely rebranded to WCW) for the next 13 years of its existence before it ceased operation in 2001.
On March 27, 1988, NWA held an event called The Clash of Champions in Greensboro, North Carolina. The show aired for free on TBS cable channel head-to-head with the WWF PPV WrestleMania IV.
The wrestling war of the ‘80s was down to its final chapter, with WWF’s only remaining serious competition being the NWA.
The wrestling war had begun five years earlier with WWF expanding into a national touring promotion, running live shows in opposition to regional promotions across the country.
WWF also secured local television slots in the various markets, taking it away from the local promotions. That, combined with signing many of the top wrestlers from these promotions, played a major contributing role in many regional wrestling operations going out of business in the mid-80s.
NWA consolidated the remaining top-level stars from the collapsed territory promotions around the country and fought back against the WWF. While the NWA remained fiercely popular in the Southern part of the country and select cities outside of it, they were not as widespread on a national scale in their touring as the WWF.
The Clash of Champions was an attempt by the NWA to draw attention, and viewers, away from the WWF’s fourth incarnation of their signature show of the year.
The main event of the five-match card that night was Ric Flair defending his NWA world title against Sting.
It ended in a 45-minute draw. A forgotten fact in time is they had five judges at ringside to score the match in the event of a draw occurring (wrestling promoters often foreshadow the endings for fans).
One judge awarded the match to Sting. One awarded it to Flair. The referee himself declared it a draw. No decision was made by the final two judges.
Going to a time limit draw with the world champion back then meant a lot. In that era, such a presentation made the wrestler who challenged look like a credible threat to the world title and main event level attraction.
With the right wrestler like Sting, who already had all the intangibles like charisma, look and actual wrestling skills, he became an instant top-level star as a result of his match with Ric Flair.
Fans at the time speculated heavily that Sting would shortly win the world title. The assumption was that the NWA would build the promotion around Sting and make him their version of Hulk Hogan
There would be many more chapters in Sting’s storyline first before he became world champion.
In late 1998, Sting joined The Four Horsemen as the fourth member alongside original members Ric Flair and Arn and Ole Anderson.
It didn’t last long though.
Sting refused to relinquish a title shot for Ric Flair’s belt that he earned by winning a tournament. The Four Horsemen as result kicked Sting out of the group.
He legit injured his knee that same night while interfering in a cage match involving The Horsemen. In those pre-internet days that information was slow to trickle to dedicated fans.
Sting Wins
Sting’s big comeback match was on July 7, 1990 at the Great American Bash PPV. There, he challenged Ric Flair for the world title.
I was there live that night, second row ringside, eagerly anticipating the rumored title change.
In those days, if you waited outside the arena box office an hour before tickets first went on sale, you could likely get ringside seats.
I have been to a large number of live shows over the last forty years, but this is the match I remember best. Like it recently occurred, I can vividly recall the loud noise of the crowd that night when Sting came to the ring. It was like no other crowd noise I had ever experienced before, or since.
The volume of noise remained intense throughout the entire match.
The finish was Ric Flair putting Sting in the figure-four leg lock. Just before Flair locked it in, Sting rolled him into a small package for the pin.
Go back and watch the match online and observe the jubilant rection of the crowd when Sting wins.
It was a special moment I’ll always remember as a fan.
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Really enjoyed reading this post. I wasn't a big NWA guy, and spent most years watching WWF, but I certainly knew of Sting and caught some of his wrestling now and again. I loved the photo of the wrestling team you posted. Great seeing the guys without their outfits and performance make-up on. Cheers!
I loved this. My grandma's favorite wrestler was Sting. We bonded over wrestling and I'm still a massive fan. I loved this read. Great job my friend this was awesome.