Do the WWE lifers despise Sting and his presence in their workplace?

[Creepy Old Man]

Okay, Sting was the face/heart/franchise of WCW. Nobody's more synonymous with that company. His co-captain Ric Flair jumped ship, and everyone else did when, or shortly after, WCW folded. Sting never did, making WWE wait another 14 years.

Sting was basically the engine powering the assault vehicle that almost destroyed the WWF. He took forever to acquiesce to WWE's wishes to call him a WWE product. I feel that WWE brass despises him for resisting their offers and opposing them in WCW and TNA for so many years. Sting showed the kind of loyalty that Vince and WWE loves, it's just that his path led him to other companies.

So they brought him in strong, which only makes sense since he had a DVD and t-shirt out (both of which sold very well, by the way). However, Triple H made sure to remind everyone at Fastlane that WCW and Sting were failures. Stephanie on Raw destroyed the man, saying again that he failed and wasn't worthy of being compared to a dog. At WrestleMania, Trips of course went over, crystallizing Sting as a failure; after the match he cut a promo, taking a dump on the corpse of Sting and WCW. But it was the commentary during the match that really got my attention. JBL simply would not let up with his derision of Sting and WCW, and we all know who feeds him his lines. Even Michael Cole, the supposedly unbiased commentator, couldn't resist laying in a couple of digs. The final call, as Sting's face faded to black after the match, was JBL declaring, "WE WON AGAIN".

So, are Vince and the longtime WWE employees ass-suckers even capable of respecting Sting, or does their hatred of WCW just cloud any hope of objectivity toward Sting as a man and wrestler? Ugh.

 

[SoulTrain4]

Complaining about heels saying heel shit is just ridiculous, it's pathetic actually.

As for the question the obvious answer is no. I'm sure they are excited Sting finally joined the team and he was welcomed with open arms by all the McMahons.

There's no reason for anyone backstage to have anything against Sting, he's one of the few guys I never heard cross words about. With one exception, Neo-WWE HOFer Larry Zbysko did a shoot on Sting once saying some unflattering things but other than that there is probably zero animosity for Sting to be found anywhere.

 

[Miko]

Its kind of ******ed on camera, although it frustrates people and makes them want Sting to win, which of course they rob us of and its not looking like they are going to provide, so it is ******ed. Even more so if they actually mean it. Not that anybody should be surprised that a bunch of meatheads in the worlds pettiest industry are acting like a bunch of petty meatheads.

 

[rge2010]

I think you are talking nonsense my friend.

1 - Sting is paid very well.
2 - Sting was the star of WWE 2k15
3 - WWE brought out a 'Best Of Sting' DVD
4 - Sting has appeared countless times on the WWE Network
5 - Sting got the upperhand at Survivor Series, Fast Lane and on Raw.
6 - Sting was given a place on the Wrestlemania card

Just because Sting lost the match doesn't mean he was buried or despised. The victory wasn't even clean. It involved outside interference and the use of a sledge hammer. Sting stood tall at the end of the match and in a moment of respect, Triple H and Sting shook hands.

If Sting wrestles again in WWE, he will almost certainly go over.

 

[Wald]

The most disrespectful thing was Vince's conference call yesterday where he said he plucked a guy from obscurity and made him a main event player at Wrestlemania in just a few months.

This is Sting we're talking about after all. Even putting aside the slap to TNA and its one million viewers per week it's just a nonsense to suggest Sting needed to be built up by the all powerful Vince McMahon to be allowed a slot in a match at Wrestlemania. The guy has the name value to warrant a place and it is his WCW work that got him a place at Wrestlemania.

All in all I'm starting to think Sting was right to not jump to WWE back in 2001/02 for fear they'd bury him.

 

[rge2010]

The most disrespectful thing was Vince's conference call yesterday where he said he plucked a guy from obscurity and made him a main event player at Wrestlemania in just a few months.

This is Sting we're talking about after all. Even putting aside the slap to TNA and its one million viewers per week it's just a nonsense to suggest Sting needed to be built up by the all powerful Vince McMahon to be allowed a slot in a match at Wrestlemania. The guy has the name value to warrant a place and it is his WCW work that got him a place at Wrestlemania.

All in all I'm starting to think Sting was right to not jump to WWE back in 2001/02 for fear they'd bury him.

Sting left TNA in February 2014. He made his first public appearence for WWE in July 2014 which was a whole 5 months after. Sting was a free agent so WWE pretty much did pick him up from obscurity. He had no contract, was doing absolutely ZERO and WWE made him relevant again.

 

[mizowns]

WWE are like hockey-team and football-team, and WCW is that rival hockeyteam and footballteam .

So of course WWE despise WCW-Sting.

Just like Real Madrid vs Barcelona. They don't like eachother, but they can do business.

Triple H buried Sting last night extremly hard, Sting deserve that victory and it would be the perfect ending.

But Triple H need to stroke his ego, it's getting out of control.

 

[Mustang Sally]

1 - Sting is paid very well.
2 - Sting was the star of WWE 2k15
3 - WWE brought out a 'Best Of Sting' DVD
4 - Sting has appeared countless times on the WWE Network
5 - Sting got the upperhand at Survivor Series, Fast Lane and on Raw.
6 - Sting was given a place on the Wrestlemania card

Plus, Vince McMahon will bring in any-damn-one if he can make a buck from the effort. It's hard to know whether he also values the history and prestige of pro wrestling, at least at this late stage of his life, but it would be nice to think he also wanted Sting in the fold to close the circle; having done business with just about everyone who mattered in the "sport" since Vince took over the company from his father.

As to the question posed by the OP, all I can say is that if the WWE lifers resent Sting for the terms under which he was brought in, they must absolutely hate Brock Lesnar, no?

Still, I'd like to think the lifers wouldn't have much problem with Sting; if there's anyone who's earned his esteemed position, it's Steve Borden. For all the hoopla surrounding his participation at WM31, Sting is essentially in on a Legends contract, the same as Kevin Nash, who worked a PPV (with the same opponent as Sting) and thereafter just did a brief appearances for the company to earn whatever it was he gets from WWE.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Just going by past reports, not saying that they're true as I've no way of knowing whether they were or not, Vince used to be someone who very much wanted Sting in WWE as little as a few years ago. However, after being turned down by Sting again, reports suggested that Vince's mind set had generally switched to indifference and that Triple H was the one who was most interested in pursuing Sting. Every report I've read involving Sting being in talks with WWE the past few years have stated that Triple H is a big fan of Sting and always has been.

If anyone in management dislikes Sting, the likeliest culprits are Vince himself and his chief suck Kevin Dunn. My gut reaction is that I don't think there are any hard feelings towards Sting from Vince, though I certainly can't rule it out because we all know Vince is more than capable of being bitter enough. At the same time though, Vince has gotten past bitterness stemming from animosity FAR above anything he may have felt for Sting, we've seen it in regards to Bret Hart & Warrior moving past things and the worst thing that Sting ever did was say no to signing with WWE.

As far as the response of plucking Sting from obscurity, there's some truth to it, depending on how you look at it. Comparatively speaking when it comes to audience size and wrestling brand recognition, TNA could be counted as obscure. The biggest audience in TNA history was on January 4, 2010 with a viewership of 2.2 million. Prior to TNA leaving Spike TV last year, TNA's audience had shrunk to the point where it was becoming a struggle to make it to a million viewers each week. While it's obvious WWE fans have no doubt heard of TNA, only about one fourth to one third have watched. Even if it was a slap to TNA, so what? TNA can take shots at WWE but WWE isn't supposed to?

As far as roster members go, I doubt there's much if any animosity there. Sting's always been one of the boys and looking back over the course of things, Sting was probably right to be concerned about his legacy if he'd signed with WWE after the fall of WCW. The Monday Night War became something genuinely personal to Vince McMahon, so buying WCW just to be able to say that he owned it is a good hint of Vince's bitterness. In some ways, it's hard to blame him because Eric Bischoff flat out said that he wanted to put WWE out of business and meant every word of it. Vince strikes me as pretty narrow minded when it comes to such matters and gives me the impression that he's a "if you're not with me, you're against me" sort of guy when it comes to genuine arguments. Sting was working for the enemy, Vince's ego was beyond massive and as one of the top guys in WCW, Sting may well have had a target on him.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Okay, Sting was the face/heart/franchise of WCW.

Not totally but OK.

Nobody's more synonymous with that company.

Again, not sure if I agree but go on.

His co-captain Ric Flair jumped ship, and everyone else did when, or shortly after, WCW folded.

This may just be semantics but how did Flair "jump ship" after it was already sunk? Never mind.

Sting never did, making WWE wait another 14 years.

It takes two to sign but let's keep going.

Sting was basically the engine powering the assault vehicle that almost destroyed the WWF.

The NWO and Ted Turner's pocketbook would like to argue with you about that.

He took forever to acquiesce to WWE's wishes to call him a WWE product. I feel that WWE brass despises him for resisting their offers and opposing them in WCW and TNA for so many years. Sting showed the kind of loyalty that Vince and WWE loves, it's just that his path led him to other companies.

So they hate him so much they have shown it by trying to sign him for 14 years? Interesting theory.

So they brought him in strong, which only makes sense since he had a DVD and t-shirt out (both of which sold very well, by the way). However, Triple H made sure to remind everyone at Fastlane that WCW and Sting were failures. Stephanie on Raw destroyed the man, saying again that he failed and wasn't worthy of being compared to a dog. At WrestleMania, Trips of course went over, crystallizing Sting as a failure; after the match he cut a promo, taking a dump on the corpse of Sting and WCW. But it was the commentary during the match that really got my attention. JBL simply would not let up with his derision of Sting and WCW, and we all know who feeds him his lines. Even Michael Cole, the supposedly unbiased commentator, couldn't resist laying in a couple of digs. The final call, as Sting's face faded to black after the match, was JBL declaring, "WE WON AGAIN".

Heels be heelin'. Didn't Sting lose to a sledgehammer to the skull? Are people going to really think of his WM as a failure because he couldn't kick out from a sledgehammer shot to the skull?

So, are Vince and the longtime WWE employees ass-suckers even capable of respecting Sting, or does their hatred of WCW just cloud any hope of objectivity toward Sting as a man and wrestler? Ugh.

They are paying him a ton of money to be with WWE and compete at AGE 56! They are sacrificing spots that could be used to grow their current crop of able bodied young stars for him. They love him. Maybe a little too much.

 

[chicagokmc]

If Vince said "he plucked a guy from obscurity" then that is definitely sour grapes. Connor from the Ascension, that's a guy. Ambrose before he got to WWE tv is a guy. Sting after 20+ years in the game isn't just a guy. Doesn't matter if you love, hate or appreciate him. He is way more to wrestling than being "just a guy".

As for the questions about others in WWE having animosity, keep in mind that most of the important "life long" talents in WWE have also spent time in NWA/WCW and got to be around Sting. Austin, HHH, Big Show, Undertaker, Hogan to name a few. So I don't think there would be bitterness from the talent side unless Sting was really a dick. And I have heard nothing to make me think he was crappy to work with.

 

[Messiah]

Jesus, do you people really believe everyone in WWE is a bunch of vengeful bitches who hate every part-timer, hate every former WCW guy.. Believe it or not, most people in WWE aren't like that.. Sure they had a few whiny little bitches like Punk, AJ, Dolph Ziggler, but most of them just do their jobs to the best of their ability and probably don't worry about guys like Sting.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

I will agree with the OP that JBL was super annoying during that entire match.

I mean, his commentary is usually unbearable. He just won't shut up, ever. But he put the WCW/WWF thing so far over the top, the "We won again" BS and the "Hogan you made your name here!" BS. The less this guy is on TV the better, but Vince loves him because he's a big guy who was loyal. Probably because WCW didn't want him anyways, he was below midcard for most of the Monday Night Wars.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The "obscurity" line was more a dig at TNA than Sting and he knows that.

The problem here is it's a bit like asking the hottest single girl to the prom and getting turned down, then getting turned down a few years later and then when she's older and not quite as hot but can "still go" but is "high maintenance" she says yes.

As early as 1994 Sting could have jumped, the chances were there... that is possibly why Trips wanted that win deep down... he knows that Sting could have been where he is today and that perhaps doesn't sit well. But all those other times he has either said "never" or they just missed out on it will mean that his reality on joining is not going to be as sweet.

He was paid a LOT for that loss, he did business and it wouldn't be beyond the realms for Vince to have said..."Steve, we want to work with you more but I made Brock lose on his way back in, so I have to do the same with you but it's to Triple H and it'll be a "clusterfuck" so you won't lose out... you can say no and that is fine, we go with a win and one match...but if you want more, you gotta take this one..."

In essence he sold Sting "the brass ring", the opportunity to go out there and PROVE he can still go...and he did. If anything I would think 90% of the roster, even those who hate "old timers" and "part-timers" would respect that he went out there and delivered his end of the deal. This isn't Brock, taking the title home and only showing up 12 times a year for more than they can make in 5 years after all... this is a guy they ALL grew up watching, idolising and wanting to be like coming into their company and they might get to wrestle him.

For all we know Sting could have been the one to come up with the match himself as a nostalgia thing rather than a serious competitive one.

There will always be naysayers and doommongers unhappy, but Sting got his one match at Wrestlemania at 56 years old... Only Vince and Flair have wrestled a Mania match older... WCW hasn't even been a factor in Sting's tenure so why would it be now? the NWO? Nah it was a nostalgia pop and way to get Hogan, Nash, Hall and DX onto the card...

The only possible "conspiracy part" was using Shawn... that was one too far but even then Sting and Shawn were the most direct comparisons over the years...

Ultimately, Sting lost his chance at being a "top guy" and getting credible wins when he nixed that Taker match a few years back when it all seemed to be happening.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I will agree with the OP that JBL was super annoying during that entire match.

I mean, his commentary is usually unbearable. He just won't shut up, ever. But he put the WCW/WWF thing so far over the top, the "We won again" BS and the "Hogan you made your name here!" BS. The less this guy is on TV the better, but Vince loves him because he's a big guy who was loyal. Probably because WCW didn't want him anyways, he was below midcard for most of the Monday Night Wars.

There is one thing that makes sense though... JBL being "super annoying" and mocking Sting could have been deliberate.

JBL is someone who could still wrestle a match if needed and be a relatively "big name" who could face Sting if he took offence to what he'd said. Not a big money, 5 star match but one that could co-headline a May or June PPV and give Sting a relatively short match but valuable/dominant win.

 

[Fanai]

So the guy is paid a LOT of money, gets the upper hand on all his appearances before mania, his FIRST match ever with the company is at wrestlemania and lost to 5 younger guys and a sledge hammer and people are still bitching about how he was buried and how triple h and wwe hates him. Just use common sense and stop with the dumb sh!t please...

 

[kadroan]

Okay, Sting was the face/heart/franchise of WCW. Nobody's more synonymous with that company. His co-captain Ric Flair jumped ship, and everyone else did when, or shortly after, WCW folded. Sting never did, making WWE wait another 14 years.

Sting was basically the engine powering the assault vehicle that almost destroyed the WWF. He took forever to acquiesce to WWE's wishes to call him a WWE product. I feel that WWE brass despises him for resisting their offers and opposing them in WCW and TNA for so many years. Sting showed the kind of loyalty that Vince and WWE loves, it's just that his path led him to other companies.

So they brought him in strong, which only makes sense since he had a DVD and t-shirt out (both of which sold very well, by the way). However, Triple H made sure to remind everyone at Fastlane that WCW and Sting were failures. Stephanie on Raw destroyed the man, saying again that he failed and wasn't worthy of being compared to a dog. At WrestleMania, Trips of course went over, crystallizing Sting as a failure; after the match he cut a promo, taking a dump on the corpse of Sting and WCW. But it was the commentary during the match that really got my attention. JBL simply would not let up with his derision of Sting and WCW, and we all know who feeds him his lines. Even Michael Cole, the supposedly unbiased commentator, couldn't resist laying in a couple of digs. The final call, as Sting's face faded to black after the match, was JBL declaring, "WE WON AGAIN".

So, are Vince and the longtime WWE employees ass-suckers even capable of respecting Sting, or does their hatred of WCW just cloud any hope of objectivity toward Sting as a man and wrestler? Ugh.

I think it's part of a greater plan. HHH looks stronger. Whoever beats him next, could be the guy who takes down The Authority for good. Sting is nice and all but he's a 50+ yr old superstar, so can't fault HHH for winning, especially since they make it seem like he never wrestled in TNA.