Sting: Face Or Heel?

[psykohurricane]

This is something that i really don'T get with what they are doing with Sting right now. For the last 2 weeks Sting came out and talk about respect in wrestling and i completly agree with him so the promo makes him look like a face but then he goes and attack people with is baseball bat like a heel. So which side is he on because i actually don'T know.

 

[SpiralHands]

I think thats the point I mean the crowd in the iMPACT zone were cheering with him when he delivered his speech because they also agree, but then when AJ came out and gave him his side of the story they agreed with him and cheered for him to smack Sting with the basball bat! So yeah its confuzing but intriguing and thats what TNA want! It brings in viewers to find out whats going on who is the real heel!

 

[gg inferno]

that's how you're supposed to write a soap opera. you end the show with questions, not answers.

 

[Uncle Sam]

Sting's leaning towards heel. Although I will say that he's actually not got that much of a reaction so far. Most of the crowd seem to be in silent observation and there's a smattering of cheers when he talks about all that dreary stuff like old school respect, etc. etc. I was actually quite annoyed on a personal level that the crowd weren't completely behind Styles but I suppose that's the beauty of the angle, we have to choose our own side.

 

[waylon p]

perhaps this is the point, maybe they are trying to make everyone ambiguous, so that the fans can decide who the heels are when the lines are drawn. it's an intriguing idea.

 

[brm9893]

You could almost say this transcends the traditional heel vs face model. Pro wrestling has had the face vs heal divide for decades, but what if you pretended that doesn't exist? Instead, there's a new divide, which TNA is introducing? Its a new way to structure your feuds. You have alliances between faces and heels, but to them, they're on the same side.

 

[CrazyJoe]

what a shocking concept, letting the audience choose who to agree with rather than shoving "face" and "heel" labels down their throats, this is what the "Cross the Line" philosophy is supposed to be all about. why does there have to be Good Guys and Bad Guys, it's way better for crowd interaction when the whole crowd isnt supposed to be cheering for the Good Guy

 

[TheOneBigWill]

The biggest problem with attempting to turn Sting heel is actually two things.

1. Sting is literally everything he says he is, in this sport. An Icon. Because of that, he's earned the fans respect and you can't just have him cut meaningless promos against "younger" guys that just happen to be (arguably) the biggest faces in the company, and expect he'll get over as a heel.

Furthermore, when he attacked Joe at Victory Road (I think it was V.R.) after the match with Booker T., more fans cheered Sting than booed him, because it was actually JOE who was playing the bit of a heel when he refused to listen to Sting, who was only trying to get Joe to stop because the "point" had been proven. When Joe refused, Sting forced him to stop the hard way.

Then you have Sting attacking A.J. Styles for roughly the same reason. This gained more heat from the fans than the Joe ordeal, because Styles is arguably more over with the fans than Joe is.. but regardless, it was another situation in which Sting wasn't playing a heel role, he was merely making his point heard in a "louder" voice.

Now you have Sting explaining WHY he's doing what he's doing, and he's not attacking people from behind like heels do. He's not even senselessly attacking them, he's giving them his bat.. and THEY'RE attempting to attack him, only for Sting to defend himself. It's like T.N.A. has their logic of what a heel is, backwards.

Which leads me to reason Number Two, on why Sting as a heel can't work in T.N.A.

2. T.N.A. doesn't stay focused on any character switch long enough for it to take effect. A prime example of this is Booker T. coming in as a face, only to turn heel how many monthes later? Christian, Joe, Styles, the list goes on.. they turn from one to the other, then back again all in under the span of a year.

You can't properly expect a Wrestler to fully get over as one or the other, without keeping them AS THAT long enough for it to sink in. And with Sting, it's going to take even longer if you expect him to be a heel, mainly because of his status with the fans.

T.N.A. lacks a few things, but the biggest thing is patiences. Until T.N.A. can be patient, long enough for something to work for them and not try to force it to work when they want it to (instantly) they'll never get the outcome they truly want. At least not in my opinion.

 

[dirtyshubb]

I will admit that it is most likely gonna be hard to do but Sting shoud be heel for this feud, it makes more sense to have the younger generation the faces trying to overcome the old guard.

Also another reason i think he should go heel is that yes he has had some good points both story line wise and true to life but its just too inconsistant with him turning a blind eye to Angles and Bookers actions too. Another reason is that EVERYTHING joe has said is true, they are the ones doing the house shows, touring the world and Sting has been literaly sitting at home collecting his big fat paycheck.

Now dont get me wrong i am a big Sting fan but this feud is really starting to turn me off him, mainly for a few reasons.

1)Changing his lines - if anyone else were to have done this TNA would have been pissed. Imagine if MCMG decided to just change their lines, god i would say they would job them out but they cant get any worse in that department, they would just have to bring them out for a public lashing!

2)Lack of commitment - Like i said all the points Joe has said have been true, Sting has just been doing the bare minimum for a while now and it really isnt fair to the younger guys. I mean look at Petey who when injured his eye shit a brick thinking about how he was gonna pay for his operation and yet Sting can sit at home doind 0 house shows and nothing publicity wise either.

3)Main event at BFG - Why is he in it? He hasnt even had 1 match since coming back from a god knows how long hiatus and TNA just decide to put him in the main event, not only does it make no sense but it just adds to my points in number 2.

How they are gonna try to pull this feud off im not too sure but i am looking forward to it as it does seem to be one that they are putting a lot of effort into making a big time story so i just hope that they can pull it off.

 

[Cowboy]

Well, i think the fued of 'new school vs old school' is a nice, fresh direction for TNA to attempt, plus makes alot of sense since most fans have been annoyed about the over pushing of ex-WWE talent at the expense of the TNA originals, even though Joe is the champion he is not nearly as over as he was without the belt, or even prior to his fued with Angle and that was two years ago.....having said that i feel it could work successfully with Sting as a heel or a face for two reasons...

1) with sting as a heel, I feel Joe needs to beat sting at BFG...otherwise the bad guy would win and while furthering the angle, that makes Joe look even more like a chump not a champ...especially after needing help from Jarrett to retain the last two months. But then if Joe does beat sting at BFG, what then for the angle...do they just shake hands and move on, seems unlikley so what then...maybe sting wins and defends againt Styles, eventually dropping the belt, possibly but what about Joe, lost in the shuffle, fueding with Angle or Booker...whatever happens with him, it doesnt look particularly good. Maybe Joe loses at BFG then wins back the title down the line, shaking hands with sting then and proving himself to the icon...but still not the best outcome for BFG on the night, i really feel Joe needs to win, much like cena beat HHH in 2006 in a similar situation with the crowd cheering the veteran, while booing the young babyface, but the wwe put cena over, for the long term future.

2) Sting as a babyface could work better cos Joe would not look bad in losing, if he were working as a heel, since the match would be structured to build the crowd against Joe and in favour of sting. Then sting could hold the title a while before dropping it back to Joe, then turning Joe face again with a handshake to symbolise a 'passing of the torch' like undertaker vs Brock Lesnar, a few years ago.

Overall the angle is most intriguing since, as said before, there is no clear cut heel or face...both sides have legitimate opionions and all are beloved performers but, i agree it makes most sense for the young guys to be the faces and the old guys the heels cos the logical end to the fued should see the tna originals going over clean, proving themselves and becoming established stars...while sting, angle and booker, etc, are already stars, so they hardly need the push or the 'rub'. Plus as also said before, sting may not be a true heel in the old school sense of the world, but angle and booker surely are, so in order for sides to develope maybe sting will remain nuetral and alone, while the heels form an alliance against tna...then after the angle is over sting will have plenty of heels to work with on his way out, putting over guys like Robert Roode, James Storm as well as Joe and Styles which seems better for TNA long term than having sting beat these guys.IMO

 

[Prodigy]

stings a heel but in his promo it shows that fans agree with his statements and that they have a deep respect for him. i dont think sting as a face really worked out because i dont like him with the nice-guy persona probly because he has black and white paint and outfit. but i think hes a heel that the fans agree with

 

[HBK-aholic]

Sting is so respected and liked, he would never be a great heel. there are some wrestlers who will never be abble to generate true heel heat again. The likes of Hogan, Austin and HBK are examples of that. Sting at the moment isn't wuite face, but he isn't quite heel either. I'm actually surprised his reactions haven't been a lot bigger.

But try turning him heel and it won't work. He'll just look like a failure for something he can't do anything about.

 

[CrazyJoe]

why does sting have to be a 'heel' in this storyline? they are obviously turning MCMG into 'heels' on the young side, Cristian and Sting are face on the older side. new vs old doesnt have to be all face vs all heel, it can be something new that transcends those black and white lines, "Cross the Line" so to speak.