25 biggest pro wrestling ‘what ifs’ of the past 25 years

10. What if Sting was the third man in the nWo?

I’ve already discussed Sting a little bit and I’ve already discussed the nWo a little bit but what I haven’t yet mentioned is the fact that the nWo and Sting were almost one and the same right from the start. That’s right, Sting was originally supposed to be the man to join up with Hall and Nash as the mysterious third member at Bash at the Beach.

When Eric Bischoff ripped off…err, came up with the nWo idea, he knew that it needed to be big. He had been able to bring in Scott Hall and Kevin Nash from WWE and while that was a big deal, it needed that little something extra to really bring it home. And yes, turning Sting heel, something that he’s not been all that often, would have been something to see but I just don’t think it would have had the same impact (there’s a TNA Sting joke in there somewhere).

While Hall and Nash were cool, what really took this angle to the next level was Hulk Hogan. His red and yellow gimmick had gone stale long before that night and this heel turn gave him a second career. Once the biggest babyface in the history of professional wrestling, he became arguably the best heel in the history of professional wrestling and that’s saying something. The fact that he had ties to WWE only made it better.

I respect Sting a great deal but I just don’t think this would have worked out as well as it did. For one, we likely never get The Crow version of Sting, which in turn prolonged his career another 15 years (I like to pretend that Wolfpac Sting never happened so that’s the one good thing that could have come from this). We don’t get the amazing Hogan vs. Sting storyline that lasted more than a year…well, unless it was just flipped, which would not have been as good. The nWo as we know it would not have been had Sting been the third man and we also would never have gotten the amazing “I told you so” rant from the late, great Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.