MR. TITO – 10 Things I Think on Paul Heyman, the Rock, Sting, Maxxine Dupri, Young Bucks, Virgil, & More

Recently, NFL columnist Peter King retired from his Monday morning columns with NBC Sports (formerly of Sports Illustrated). For those who know what I’m talking about, he made your Monday mornings better by having a lengthy column to read with opinions, news bytes, facts and stats, and other things that kept your NFL appetite going after a weekend of games. His columns during to off-season or pre-season were great, too. While I’d disagree with him politically as he got older, as he wanted the entire 2020 NFL season cancelled because of COVID-19 (him retweeting me in opposition to him on Super Bowl Sunday during early 2021 once gave me over 1 million views!), I still read his columns and appreciated them.

The part on the last page of his columns were the best… “10 Things I Think”, in which he’d give his opinions on things and typically would add unique pieces of news information to it as well. During my tenure at Lords of Pain, I’d write a few columns in the “10 Things I Think” format in honor of Peter King and it made for a successful column format. Then, other column trolls would take that format idea and run with it afterward as their own… *face palm*

On my end, I haven’t written a column since February 18th and that comes following a true hot streak of columns dating back to the end of December. I was almost a daily columnist again… Believe it or not, being Mr. Tito isn’t my full-time job but it’s a voluntary hobby. Thus, if I’m writing a column, I really want to write that column without any financial incentive to do so. And the funny thing about writing so much since late December is that another NoDQ columnist called me out for producing too many columns, but then proceeds to not write any himself since 2/18 and barely any columns have been written from other since. Ooops.

But I need to play catch-up, as I’ve been gone 2 weeks… Rather than write a bunch of columns, I’m going to write a bunch of mini-columns in the form of 10 Things I Think to honor the retiring Peter King. And boy, do I have a lot to catch up on… Holy hell.

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10 Things I Think – Mr. Tito Edition, March 2024

#1 – Cancel Culture needs to get the F*** out of Pro Wrestling
On March 10th, 2003, while the wrestling world was enjoying WWE‘s Monday Night RAW and seeing the show headlined by Shane Helms aka the Hurricane defeating the Rock by disqualification while the rest of the show featured matches like Triple H vs. Maven (Maven considers HHH one of the best workers he’s been with), Jazz vs. Trish Stratus, Chris Jericho/Christian vs. Kane/RVD (one is a politician, while the other 3 work in AEW), and other matches as we were thick into the early brand extension days (RAW brand was brutal to watch back then)…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Dixie Chicks (now called just “The Chicks”) played in London, England and were about to have Cancel Culture attack then and bury their musical careers. At one point in the concert, as America was about to begin its Iraq military campaign, lead singer Natalie Maines got on the microphone and stated that she was ashamed that President George W. Bush was from her home state of Texas. Just words, no actions, and then the band continued on with the set. However, once word got out about what she said, there were protests where their CDs were burned and destroyed while country radio stations actually blacklisted the band. They have NEVER recovered from this, and much of the censorship by radio stations and other media outlets continue to this day.

For words.

And for an opinion on 1 person that actually didn’t slander him. And they were protected under the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution!

Thus, a great female band who sold over 40 million albums in just 8 years when Napster and other file sharing services were running hot was over.

So you’re meaning to tell me that we DISCOURAGED a great country band from playing great music because of freakin’ words?

Just a month later, Madonna puts out her next album called American Life which had a protest song of going to war in the Middle East that was self-titled. Her previous album, Music, did fairly well in the Napster era (3 million) but this album barely sold 1 million. Thankfully for Madonna, she practically reinvented herself and got away from politics with her Confessions on a Dance Floor album. Compare that to the Dixie Chicks who decided to hold their middle finger up in the air at Cancel Culture and put out the single “I’m Not Ready to Make Nice”.

My point is by CENSORING and CANCELLING someone over just words, we were denied of GREAT music by artists. Dixie Chicks were at the peak of their career, too, when this happened, and it disabled many of their fans from getting great music from them.

Fast forward to February 2023… There’s a guy who commits suicide by catching himself on fire, all in the name of what is happening on the Gaza Strip right now in the Middle East. After that happens, someone commented online how Paul Heyman was trending online more than this suicide and Paul responds jokingly: My #TribalChief @WWERomanReigns – #PeoplesChamp @TheRock – #Solo – #Jimmy Uso – and I set the ratings, the box office and the @WWE Universe on fire every time we appear!

And that causes sensitive people everywhere to sharpen their swords and go after Paul Heyman, demanding that Paul either apologize or that the WWE terminate him for posting such a thing.

Was it in bad taste? Of course it was… Was it harmful? No, because Paul Heyman turned an incident into just a hype post for his Bloodline stable and to promote the WWE product. It would be one thing if Heyman said something like “yeah, he deserved it” or suggesting that either side of that war should be set on fire, BUT HE DIDN’T. He just used a real life incident as a punchline for promoting the Bloodline and the WWE product. Not the best thing to say, but not incredibly horrible either. It’s not something that should cause a termination, let alone any warnings or issues with an HR department. It just deserves a memo to say “hey, be careful on what you post on social media relating to political events or sensitive subjects (like suicide)”.

Do you know what deserves more attention? Why a guy felt the need to set himself on fire to make a point.

Do you know what deserves more attention than that? Lots of bloodshed happening in Israel and on the Gaza Strip.

But no, let’s cancel the GREATEST manager of all time, Paul Heyman, who positively HELPS the pro wrestling business instead of focusing on what event he memed.

Have you all gone mad?

JUST WORDS…

OK, I’ll give you when Hulk Hogan did his racial slurs. 100% agree, and Hogan eliminated from the WWE for 3 years (2015-2018) for what was captured and leaked on tape. While Hogan is back with the WWE, he’s still paying for those slurs.

Now, if you dare compare this to Vince McMahon, you’re out of your mind. WWE Corporation during 2022 and now Endeavor/TKO during 2024 cancelled Vince because he’s HIGHLY toxic to the workplace. Up to $20 million in NDA settlements for himself and John Laurinaitis and by refusing to pay on just 1 settlement, a lawsuit has been filed and presented gross fetish details of what Vince likes. Yuck! That’s more of a toxic workplace issue, as you don’t want that man around any women in an office space.

I’m truly shocked that someone like the Rock hasn’t been cancelled yet based on the many, many promos he cut in-character where he’d claim his opponents were of the homosexual variety or how women wanted him to eat their “pie”. I’m also shocked that Triple H hasn’t been cancelled yet for some of the things he said to other characters, like the racially charged Booker T feud or the Katie Vick stuff with Kane. Now, AEW marks have been trying to insist that Triple H knew all of Vince McMahon’s problems and were part of the cover-up, but we all know why you want HHH cancelled. If HHH isn’t there, he’s not winning “Booker of the Year” with the precious Observer joke awards.

For those calling for Paul Heyman to be terminated or cancelled by the WWE, screw you… You’ll deny the majority of wrestling fans QUALITY by taking away Paul Heyman over a bad meme post. Heyman has HELPED so many in the industry by just being present backstage. Sure, you can mock his business antics, but guys like Dudleys, Taz, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Sabu, Shane Douglass, and so many others wouldn’t have future business opportunities without Heyman putting them on his platform when WCW and WWE didn’t or at least at first until Heyman made them into popular characters.

*****

#2 – The Rock is loving the WWE spotlight again too much.
Through the point where Rock returned and remade Wrestlemania 40 into Roman vs. the Rock, I was 100% behind him. Rock vs. Roman is the dream match that we’ve always wanted and based on Rock’s limited schedule and his age, you take it when you can… My issue was WWE caving and flipping the match back to Cody vs. Roman but with the Rock’s shadow casting itself too much onto that match. Rock has leaned into the heel character too much, and is thus unintentionally burying Cody Rhodes on Social Media or other media outlets (feels like Stephanie’s “B+ Player” attacks on Daniel Bryan) but is also taking attention away from the #1 heel in the company, Roman Reigns.

Worse part is that the Rock can say or do what he wants, while Cody Rhodes is sticking with the script that the WWE Creative Team is giving him. He’s also not taking to Social Media or other media outlets to slam the Rock because he CAN’T, as him going off-script creates an issue with a boss of his company. It’s literally the same issue we saw with Triple H and CM Punk during their September 2011 feud, when CM Punk was forced to stay scripted and Triple H could shoot on him without a script. Punk couldn’t do anything about it, and thus began to look like a chump and then completed the burial by losing to HHH at Night of Champions (which Kevin Nash recently confirmed).

But the bigger part is how phony the Rock is as a heel… After a decade of presenting himself as squeaky clean and trying to show himself as the perfect American (even acting like he’s running for President in Young Rock), he’s only acting as a heel because he THINKS that what WWE fans want. No, the sample size of criticism is from loyal WWE fans online who are a small % of the fans who fill the arenas online. Did you not hear those LOUD “Rocky, Rocky, Rocky” chants last night on Smackdown? But, as an analytics fool, Rock is leaning into the online hatred and things that the fans what a HEEL Rock… No, what we wanted was Rock vs. Roman Reigns and you foolishly believed that the online community spoke for all of us.

While the Smackdown segment last night ended nicely with “Acknowledge Me” by Roman Reigns and the Rock did it… We can all see through the BS here. Roman is acting all jealous, while Rock will probably turn on Roman at Wrestlemania 40. It’s telegraphed a mile away and we could have been BETTER OFF if the Rock made ZERO appearances whatsoever and then only made an appearance at Wrestlemania 40 to fend off Solo and Jimmy who were trying to interfere.

We have still yet to see the Rock in his early 50s wrestle and I think that’s when any Rock enthusiasm will end. Apparently, that will be on Night 1 of Wrestlemania in a Tag Match.

*****

#3 – There’s too much Women’s Wrestling right now.
There’s a reason why there is a WNBA and a NBA… Same with PGA and LPGA. For the most part, we have separate competing leagues based on gender. However, the male driven ones draw stronger because thanks to things like BIOLOGY and GENETICS, guys are bigger, stronger, faster, and tougher than women and thus make for a more appealing sports presentation than women.

On the road this week, I watched both RAW and Dynamite from start to finish on the Cable while I watched Smackdown last night. It’s one thing if you have the BEST female talent out there, such as Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Becky, and Charlotte when she’s healthy… But there is a major cliff, in terms of quality, after that.

For the WWE, I question why they have so many bad female matches when their roster of very athletic guys can easily fill the card better with higher quality matches.

Then you have the case of Maxxine Dupri, who not only needs more training, but seems a big afraid out there to compete.

The top of the female card has some real talent, but the middle and bottom just don’t work as well whatsoever particularly in a ring where the ropes are too high for them or where they look miniature in comparison to the men performing in the same dimensions.

Call me a “sexist” or write an opposing column calling me that as well, but there is a reason why females have barely headlined Pay Per Views and maybe another reason why viewership and attendance has dipped since 2015. Trust me when I say this, as the Bella Twins have drawn more than most who wrestle lengthy matches in today’s wrestling.

*****

#4 – Maxxine Dupri deserves the boos and the WWE does too.
After a houseshow, Maxxine Dupri was heavily booed following her match and many in the online community were showing sympathy. I’m not showing any. Yes, the WWE pushed her out there too early from the developmental system, but we all know why she has a WWE roster spot. Just look at her… Is it any different than Sunny, Sable, Trish (though she became a talented worker), Kelly Kelly, or Eva Marie?

And guess who signed her to a WWE contract? John Laurinaitis, the same guy who used the Divas Search Contests during the 2000s to fill his roster with beautiful female models without any in-ring training. Prior to joining the WWE during 2021, she was a cheerleader for the Rams and Suns… So yeah, WWE hired her without any in-ring training and put her on television in less than 2 years to complete inside the ring. Gee, why is she so terrible inside the ring???

BUT, the system is to blame here as well. Laurinaitis was in charge and the developmental system was revised while HHH was out. They pushed an untrained wrestler out there and now they are dealing with the consequences. With that said, she’s just a midcarder and unlike pushing someone hard to the Main Event when they aren’t ready, like Roman Reigns during the 2010s. WWE is to blame for that, too.

THAT SAID, what is Maxxine doing to improve herself as a wrestler given this opportunity? True story… There was a young kid hired by a corporation that I used to consult because his daddy was a top executive. For whatever reason, they had him speak with me one day and I was brutally honest with the kid. “Look, you’re going to have this stigma on you that you’re only here and possibly receiving promotions because of your daddy… You need to work hard and prove everyone wrong about that”. About 5 years ago, he sends me a “thank you” message and has been busting his ass to make a name for himself and isn’t referred to as his dad’s son but is considered for opportunities because of his own merits.

I don’t see Maxxine getting better, at all, inside the ring just as I didn’t see any improvements by Roman (getting busted by the Wellness Policy during 2016 proved that). Don’t get lazy when you’ve been handed an opportunity based on certain upper management members liking your look… Use that as an opportunity for the foot in the door and then use your hard work to break down that door.

But she’s clearly not getting any better and in fact looks scared inside the ring. Her no-selling the Bonzai Drop from Nia Jax is all you need to see to prove that.

Now, can she continue to thrive as a manager? Absolutely… But if she’s going to wrestle, she needs to own it or seek more training to get better.

Part of being an in-ring performer is CONFIDENCE… If you lack that when hitting the ropes, taking bumps, or dealing with any pain that may come your way, then you shouldn’t be an in-ring performer.

*****

#5 – The Young Bucks & Hangman Page are awful and I just can’t find anyone who is willing to defend them.
Watching Dynamite this week to see the Young Bucks trying to cut promos and doing an angle for Sting was total cringe. For one, they look like idiots in their outfits and them leaning into being the “EVPs” just reminds us why AEW is broken… BECAUSE THOSE TWO ARE IN CHARGE! Much of that talent roster were approved by the Bucks, while the messy Tag Team division is also their fault as well. They can try to lean into the EVP angle all they want, but they’ll just remind us on the many disappointments within the last 5 years.

And then Hangman Page… Oh boy, he faked his ankle injury to attack Swerve… What a shocker. Seriously, the AEW Title match is going to be Samoa Joe vs. Swerve vs. Hangman Page at AEW Revolution? Who would want to buy a Pay Per View with an older Joe and the Elite asskisser Page headlining it? I like Swerve, but he’s got “Hangman Page” stench on him that may take a while to scrub off.

^^^ This is what eats AEW alive and Tony Khan is not only naive to notice it, but too stupid and lacks balls to do anything about it.

And you just KNOW that the Young Bucks are going to pin Sting’s shoulders to the mat this weekend. That’s who they are. And even if they give Sting the win, they’ll do stuff within the match that looks so lame or phony that it won’t appear convincing for Sting or Darby to get the win. Nobody on this planet can ever say that they were “made by beating the Young Bucks”. Thus guys cannot convincingly put over anyone if they tried because they are full of themselves, cannot improvise in the ring, and lack psychology. Hard to connect with fans if you choreograph the entire match with literally the same moves each match.

*****

#6 – Very sad about Virgil’s passing.
For the past few years, it was fashionable to rip how desperate Virgil appeared to raise money as a wrestling veteran. But that’s the problem with the pro wrestling system, as it pays you a ton of Independent Contractor cash up front, but doesn’t take any responsibility for health or retirement benefits. Hell, they won’t even help you pay withheld taxes, either. That’s on you, too, so go pay extra to an accountant.

Virgil had a nice WWE run and then probably made some extra cheddar in WCW. But he only had about 15 good years of earning potential inside the ring, as when WCW closed, he was a 49 year old wrestler that the WWE didn’t want and no where else would pay.

I just wish wrestling promotions would do more to help the lives of pro wrestlers. I’m not saying give them benefits, but let them try to learn other things on the promotion besides just performing. In the past with territories, they did that and many wrestlers became bookers themselves so that when their in-ring days were over, their behind-the-scenes career began and would last decades. You don’t see that now, whatsoever, other than a few road agents here and there. Otherwise, keep wrestling until the wheels fall off and then hope that you’ve saved your money after taxes and all of those travel/hotel expenses that most promotions expect you to cover.

Overall for his career, I thought he was a good supporting player. His time with Ted Dibiase was great and then feuding with him afterward was cool… Having him as a NWO member and called “Vince” was hilarious (later as “Shane” with Russo was as well). I did once see him working out at a local gym when the WWE had a television taping nearby and the guy was absolutely jacked. He looked thinner on television, particularly against the other larger wrestlers, but the guy was under 6 foot tall and yet carried about 240 pounds of muscle on that frame. He was pulling a bar behind his back on a weight machine and could just see muscle after muscle popping. Everyone else working out there was in shock.

RIP Virgil… You were a part of our childhood wrestling viewership and we appreciate it. And you made it to 72 years old, just above the average rate as well to escape that “wrestlers die too early” stigma.

*****

#7 – I wasn’t impressed with Dakota Kai turning on Bayley.

I’m still LAUGHING at the insistence that Iyo Sky vs. Bayley should headline Night #1 of Wrestlemania 40 over Becky vs. Rhea, Seth vs. Drew, or hell, the Rock/Roman vs. Cody/Seth match. Watching Bayley/Dakota vs. Asuka/Kairi Sane just proved my point earlier in this column about there being TOO MUCH women’s wrestling, but this heel turn wasn’t impressive at all and I felt zero emotion towards it.

Here’s a very controversial opinion (or maybe not)… What am I missing with Bayley through 2024?

Look, if you go back to my older columns during 2015-2017, you’ll see how HIGHLY supportive that I was of her babyface character who not only fought hard to become NXT champion, but went on to be a great NXT champion through 2016. She was a babyface sensation that actually sold lots of merchandise back then… Then, I had her back when the WWE botched her WWE debut and just didn’t use her correctly as they could have. Took a while to warm to her initial heel turn, but I started liking the character.

But ever since the “Ding Dong” stuff, I must be missing something… Never liked Damage CTRL, and I really haven’t enjoyed any of her matches since that initial heel turn run. While I look at the other members of the 4 Horsewomen (Becky, Sasha, and Charlotte), Becky and Charlotte have evolved and they are tremendous in-ring workers. Sasha could be that, but obviously had backstage issues and you knew the talent was there. New Japan and AEW are paying her top $$$ for a reason… I just don’t see much positive character evolution with Bayley, nor do I see the inside the ring stuff improving either.

I have never thought highly of Iyo Sky and am wondering why she’s women’s champion, but I’m not going to be instantly relieved when Bayley overcomes Damage CTRL and wins the title. There’s no emotion or sense of urgency behind it.

This feud, this stable of wrestlers, and how it has been presented to the WWE audience is just poorly executed.

And yet, there are people online who repeatedly insist that Iyo vs. Bayley should headline Wrestlemania. You are out of your minds for many reasons just listed above.

*****

#8 – Sammy Guevara needs to be held accountable for the Jeff Hardy injury.
On Sammy’s resume, he has injuring Matt Hardy badly TWICE on there along with Jeff Hardy recently. If you watch the majority of his matches, he has a reckless abandon about him that doesn’t add any value to his character.

Want to know why Rey Mysterio was so great? Because he hit all of his spectacular moves perfect and never injured a soul doing them.

We’re literally talking the same thing with Maxxine Dupri and Sammy Guevara… While Maxxine isn’t ready, she’s not dangerous to her opponents. In fact, she’s scared of them and is way too careful… But Sammy isn’t scared, but on the opposite side of the spectrum, Sammy isn’t careful. When you injure wrestlers repeatedly, there needs to be accountability.

And again, ask yourself what is Sammy truly bringing to AEW. Is his daredevil character drawing fans to watch him damn near injure his opponents?

*****

#9 – CM Punk is a proud company man in the WWE.
During 2011-2013, CM Punk was openly critical of having the part-time Rock around. Here in 2024, CM Punk is perfectly fine with it… Isn’t that funny how time works?

But it’s also an indicator that CM Punk is HAPPY with the WWE, and thus willing to tow the company line. He wasn’t as happy during 2011-2013 with the WWE, hence walking out of his multi-million contract on the RAW following 2014 Royal Rumble and not appearing in the wrestling business until 2021. However, CM Punk is happy and probably relieved to be in a better WWE environment right now.

That’s the difference and plus, the Rock is on TKO’s Board of Directors now. Unless you have marbel stones like Pat McAfee and are willing to be critical of your management group on-air (as he did recently with an executive producer of ESPN), it’s not “best for business” to attack someone who could have a say in terminating you. PLUS, since working together during 2013, the Rock and CM Punk are actually friendly to each other. If you’ll recall during a Rock promo on RAW one night during the mid to late 2010s, he actually tried to call CM Punk.

CM Punk showing praise to the Rock shows a few things:
(1) Punk is happy in the WWE and will thus tow company line.
(2) Punk and Rock are friends now.
(3) Punk is happy in the WWE, thus doesn’t want to get terminated there too by ripping the bosses.

Pretty simple to comprehend to me, though it does take off that “edge” a bit for CM Punk’s maverick based character.

*****

#10 – Happy retirement to Sting.
Personally, I’m sad that Sting cannot retire and receive his flowers from the promotion where the lineage of most of his career exists… What WWE did to him was tragic, as that Wrestlemania match with Triple H was pure cringe. BUT, I’ll give AEW their flowers in that they’ve used Sting reasonably well. They didn’t expose his older age and kept him mostly as a supporting role or in tag matches. Sure, Sting tried a few risky moves, but I think he tried them out of loyalty to his partner Darby Allin.

On AEW Dynamite this past Wednesday, I saw two legends in the arena that helped make me a loyal wrestling fan for 35 years now… The Young Bucks tried to scheme Ric Flair into luring Sting out to the ring, but it failed as Ric Flair tried to fight back. Then, Darby Alling appeared but struggled against to the 2 Bucks. As both the Bucks tried to leave the ring area, Sting dropped from the rafters as we all knew and loved him from the 1997 era.

But Sting and Ric Flair were both at AEW Dynamite, with one retired and one about to retire…

Man, that just shows how long it’s been for me as a loyal wrestling fan. During the 1980s, I was aware of Hulk Hogan thanks to the Rocky 3 film but also seeing Hulk Hogan vs. Andre hyped everywhere. However, I loosely followed wrestling… It took watching a VHS tape of NWA’s Clash of the Champions #1 during late 1988 that was headlined by Ric Flair defending his NWA Title against a young Sting to get me hooked… Well, the Fantastics vs. Midnight Express match made me interested to keep watching, but the Sting vs. Flair match got me truly hooked. Watching that tape, I truly believed that Sting was going to win the NWA Title and I was so disappointed by the time limit draw.

But after seeing Clash #1 headlined by Sting vs. Flair, I wanted MORE! I suddenly began regularly watching the NWA (soon to become WCW) shows and became hyped for Starrcade 1989. LOVED the Luger vs. Ric Flair feud, along with the battle of the Midnight Expresses. Then, I gave WWE a try and was BLOWN AWAY by the Mega Powers stuff. I rented SummerSlam 1988 and was highly impressed by the Ultimate Warrior and the main event Hogan/Savage vs. Andre/Dibiase match and of course, Miss Elizabeth. I remember taping the WWE Main Event show headlined by Hogan/Savage vs. Hakeem/Big Bossman where Hogan and Savage broke up as a team and was completely captivated for Wrestlemania 5. Meanwhile on the NWA/WCW front, Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat debuts and blows my mind with how awesome he was… The Great Muta appears and I couldn’t believe how entertaining pro wrestling could be.

Sting retiring is a “full circle” moment for me, as he’s been around in my life as a wrestling fan for 35 years as he was the face of WCW, became to Crow to fight the NWO, had a great career in TNA, tried the WWE but it was lame (should have wrestled the Undertaker), and has rebounded his career in AEW despite the older age.

And once Sting has retired, that’s it… He’ll probably do autograph signings for more steady income, but will probably retire the paint (unless you pay for it).

This gets into a broader point that I wrote about in my “Comeback Column” from March 2022. GO SEE your favorite wrestlers because once they stop performing, you won’t be afforded that opportunity again. Furthermore, if there’s an autograph signing and you’re favorite wrestler is there, go there and get your photos/autographs with them. Tell them “THANK YOU” for all that they’ve done for you and how they’ve enriched your lives.

I have personally met both Ric Flair and Sting at autograph signings and have personal photos with both guys. I met Flair during the early 2000s and Sting during the late 2010s. For Ric Flair, I tried to tell him how much he meant to me as a wrestling fan and he just shrugged it off… Flair gave that “I don’t want to be here” vibe to everyone that day. However, with Sting and when I told him that Clash #1 made me a diehard fan and how much I appreciated his work, Sting was very gracious and appreciative of the fan praise. If you watched Sting with his fans throughout the day, he so nice to his fans and appreciative of them wanting to meet one of their wrestling heroes.

Sting has been an incredible ambassador for the wrestling business. While you could argue or debate that he’s not in the same strong drawing class as Hogan, Rock, Undertaker, Flair, Brock, Cena, Austin, Andre, etc., he’s in that notch just below them… But unlike some of those names (Hogan, Flair, Austin, and maybe now Brock), Sting was of high character and represented NWA/WCW, TNA, WWE, and AEW well during his tenures. There were no issues with him as an employee and everyone in the locker room respected him. Sting wasn’t always perfect, as he had some substance issues but he owned them and became a better man afterward.

Furthermore with Sting, nobody looks like him… He’s a “larger-than-life” character that you’ll never forget, much like Hogan, Andre, Undertaker, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man Randy Savage, Scott Hall/Razor, Road Warriors, John Cena, etc. Somehow, the guy became the Crow and got away with it to be reborn and fight the NWO. How cool was that? And then Bischoff caved to Hogan’s demands and changed the finish to the Starrcade 1997 show. FINGER OF SHAME to Eric Bischoff for that.

Happy retirement, Sting, and thanks for everything. I’m appreciative of you and your fellow wrestlers, just as I am appreciative of the websites and readers who have supported me. Thank you.

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