Sting's DVD--is it complete with just WWF-owned footage?

[johnbragg]

We're hearing that STing is signing with WWE, at least for a LEgends deal, and almost certainly for a Sting DVD.

I'm pretty sure WWE owns the tape to every Sting match up until the last Nitro. And they don't own the tape to World Wrestling All-Stars or TNA.

Is the Sting story complete if it ends at the last Nitro? Does it lose anything important to Sting fans if it just ignores the TNA years, basically the last decade of STing's wrestling career?

 

[closet_fan]

It doesn't bother me that they won't show Sting's TNA career. I don't think his career loses importance either. To me, his match with Flair was his last match. I never watched anything he did in TNA except for small highlights here and there. So for me, I won't mind them leaving it out.

Punk was in TNA, albeit, for a very short stint and they left it out of his DVD. I know it's not as long as Sting's, but I can't see someone not buying it just because they left his TNA years out of it.

I think only the most hardest of TNA fans would be bothered by it, but not myself.

To sum it up, no I don't see it being incomplete. NWA/WCW is what will always make Sting famous and memorable in the fans eyes.

 

[Alex]

If Sting goes to WWE, TNA will simply do a Best Of Sting in TNA. That way with the inevitable best of Sting WWE will do fans, can buy the DVD sets from both companies for a complete retrospective on Sting's career if that's what they really want.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Of course it's a legit DVD... TNA has their own Hall of Fame... which Sting is already part of... so there is no need for WWE to cover any of his TNA activities whatsoever.

The stuff that made Sting a legend happened before TNA even got started and that's the stuff a DVD and HOF induction would be involved in portraying. I have a sneaky feeling that we may see him at the HOF this year to induct Rick Rude, who was a major opponent for him in perhaps his best feud not to involve Flair or the NWO.

That would be a strong way to introduce him to the fans and hype the HOF in general.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Sting's TNA career will be a latter day downfall that, thankfully, will eventually be lost in time. If he signs for WWE, he'll get promoted as the legend that he is and the last decade of his career will just be ignored.

 

[Ballin247]

Ignoring Sting's TNA years would be like if Matt Damon decided to do Wrinkly Granny Porn for the next 8 years and that being left out of his documentary.

 

[UFOcalling]

If Sting goes to WWE, TNA will simply do a Best Of Sting in TNA. That way with the inevitable best of Sting WWE will do fans, can buy the DVD sets from both companies for a complete retrospective on Sting's career if that's what they really want.

This is the best point made on this thread, kudos to Alex. TNA will cash in on the Sting phenomenon, especially if/when the WWE makes him a superstar again. Let me clarify, by saying that TNA did their best with Sting during his tenure with the company. TNA did a great job with Sting's character, and did a great job protecting his legacy. TNA also did a great job of making Sting relevant since his WCW departure...probably not as relevant as the WWE could or would have, but I don't think WWE would be as interested in signing Sting today had he only been wrestling for smaller companies (or making indie appearances, or not performing in the ring at all). Unfortunately for TNA, however, they weren't able to give Steve Borden as much exposure as the WWE will. I know, that's like saying chocolate tastes better than poo - but sometimes the obvious needs to be pointed out. Sting signing with the WWE will benefit TNA in that regard, in that they'll most likely sell more "Best of Sting" DVDs than if Sting re-ups his contract with TNA.

Back to Alex's point, my son absolutely adored Jeff Hardy during his last WWE run (as I'm sure most kids his age did at the time). Jacob (my son) was NOT a TNA fan at the time, but wanted every Jeff Hardy DVD available. In turn, he got a "Best of Jeff Hardy" DVD that TNA had released, which included footage from his first run in TNA. Jacob loved watching that DVD even more than anything the WWE released. Did it matter that the DVD was released by a different company? No, because the matches included his favorite wrestler. TNA also released a "best of" CM Punk DVD (or at least a digital version of such) during "The Summer of Punk", if I'm not mistaken. A lot of people give TNA guff for trying to "cash-in" on their video library in this fashion...but who wouldn't? A company would be idiotic not to, and TNA won't miss the chance to cash in on their library of Sting matches...they've got a lot of great ones, too.

Will a WWE "Best of Sting" DVD be "complete" without Sting's TNA matches? No, it won't...but TNA will make a damn fine "best of" compilation of Sting's TNA tenure, and it will be comparable to anything WWE would have done. It will no doubt be a great companion piece for any die-hard Sting fan, because it will (or at least should) include interviews with wrestlers that aren't WWE employees (guys like Angle, Samoa Joe, Abyss, Austin Aries, etc). Sting is obviously one of the most (if not THE most) respected wrestlers TNA has ever employed, hence him being the very first TNA Hall of Fame inductee. TNA will release a fantastic DVD of his post-WCW career, and that will complete anyone's needs for "the entire Sting enchilada".

 

[johnbragg]

Sting's TNA career will be a latter day downfall that, thankfully, will eventually be lost in time. If he signs for WWE, he'll get promoted as the legend that he is and the last decade of his career will just be ignored.

Ignoring Sting's TNA years would be like if Matt Damon decided to do Wrinkly Granny Porn for the next 8 years and that being left out of his documentary.

This is kind of what I was getting at. Look at Hogan--if you did a Hogan biography or DVD, and stopped in 2005 with the Shawn Michaels matches, you leave out the Hogan Knows Best years, the TNA Monday Night War, Nick Hogan and Brooke Hogan. That would not be complete.

On the other hand, there were a lot of WCW stars that didn't make a WWF/E comeback. Their stories are usually complete if you stop at the last Nitro.

Sting, unlike those guys, spent a lot of time as the face of TNA, with a lot of talk about how he was going to help TNA grow etc etc.

So is STing's story more like Hogan's, or like Lex Luger's? Are the TNA years an important part of Sting's story, or not?

 

[mooseman]

It's a money thing. I'm sure in a perfect world WWE would want to have TNA footage on the dvd. Here's the thing, how many additional dvds would be bought if they included the TNA stuff? Probably none. So would it be worth it to WWE to have to pay TNA for the footage as well as a percentage of every dvd bought? Absolutely not.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's a money thing. I'm sure in a perfect world WWE would want to have TNA footage on the dvd. Here's the thing, how many additional dvds would be bought if they included the TNA stuff? Probably none. So would it be worth it to WWE to have to pay TNA for the footage as well as a percentage of every dvd bought? Absolutely not.

They could very likely buy TNA for cheaper than they would try to charge Vince to use the footage if they are in as much trouble as it sounds.

TNA Sting was a shadow of what he was from his debut... he's going to be getting in shape, so when he debuts he'll probably be the best he's been since before WCW closed... even if he isn't wrestling, he isn't gonna wait 20 years to show up at Mania or whenever looking anything less than "defying time". So the TNA footage wouldn't be flattering to that image anyway...

Just as when Jeff inevitably returns they won't use the "drug night" or even ever mention it...

 

[TheHorndogSays]

To answer this I ask you 2 questions:

1.) Would a Honky Tonk Man documentary be incomplete if it just focused on his last 20 years of wrestling in high school gyms?

2.)What TNA stuff would you even put on the documentary?

Unless this is some sort of the rise AND FALL of Sting, I can't think of any reason to have his TNA Years. A true documentary shows their rise to success. In most people's minds that ended the night Nitro ended. I may be in the minority of this but I NEVER purchase a documentary because "oh wow, they'll have THAT match on there". I buy it because I wanna hear about the wrestler's career and what they and the people involved thought about it.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Interesting question...most of the other "TNA Transplants" have already had WWE pieces done on them, and for the most part other than Kurt Angle none of them did much in TNA that was worth any special mention or honor in any documentary (Really think if they do follow up sets for Foley, Hogan, or Flair that missing their TNA stuff matters much ? - WWE hasn't done a full fledged Kevin Nash set but again, would it really miss much).

WWE owns all of the Sting footage from his UWF days and his early days in the NWA as well as his WCW run. That gives you among other things his time in The Blade Runners (with Ultimate Warrior), how he broke into the business, his early matches/interviews in his first go around with Flair, his title wins vs Flair & Lex Luger, his induction/being kicked out of The Four Horsemen, his US Title feuds with Barry Whyndam and Rick Rude, all of his work vs Vader, his latter day run ins with Flair & The Horsemen, everything involving Hulk Hogan and the NWO, his matches with Savage and Goldberg, and of course the last Nitro.

Now Sting, like Angle, did some quality work in TNA and wrestled some impressive matches. However, a career retrospective on him would be more than enough if it mentions TNA in the interview portion but uses only match and promos from the above mentioned, fairly large and impressive body of work.