Trading Places: Sting & The Ultimate Warrior

[Dark Horse]

Most of us know the history of these two wrestlers. We know that they both started together as the Blade Runners, eventually both moving on to successful solo career in separate places. This thread "Trading Places" ask or rather begs the question; What would have happened if Jim Hellwig went to WCW and Steve Borden went to the WWF? This thread also asks, should that have happened, What if Steve Borden in WWF was the guy who became known as The Ultimate Warrior, and Jim Hellwig was the man who went on to be known as Sting in WCW? For that matter, even if Steve Borden was still Sting but in the WWF, and Jim Hellwig was The Ultimate Warrior but in WCW, what would have happened? What if? Do you think that they would have had the same success as Sting and Warrior but in different feds? Do you think, had Sting been Warrior and vice versa, that both or only one of them would have been successful? How would that have changed history? This thread asks all these questions. Now it's your turn to answer them.

 

[TUFFY54]

Good thread.

I think Steve Bordin would have had success in the WWF as Sting or the Ultimate Warrior. However, I don't think his Ultimate Warrior would have been as crazy as Hellwigs. Either of those characters would have fit into the "superhero" era or the WWF in the late 80's early 90's. I don't know if he would have become a legend, but he would of had a nice run.

Hellwig in WCW would have been a total flop in my opinion as the Ultimate Warrior. He was much more over the top than Bordans Sting was, and I don't think he would have fit into the more serious environment of the NWA WCW in the late 80's. I also don't see Hellwig pulling of the Sting gimmick with his long hair and super bulked up frame.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

The Ultimate Warrior and the surfer Sting were more or less the same gimmick. Both were shown as strong babyfaces who made Superman-esque comebacks when the chips were down. But each guy had a differrent brand of charisma. Warrior had the look while Sting got liked due to him standing up to the Four Horsemen more than anything else.

Looking back, I don't think that ther is any way that WWF would have selected Steve Borden for the role of The Ultimate Warrior. Hellwig had a better look than Borden and that was the major requirement for the gimmick.

But it is interesting to think what would have happened had Borden got picked up by the WWF instead of Hellwig. Hellwig, due to his attitude problems, would have ended up failing no matter what. That would have changed WCW as we know it. Some other guy would have got pushed instead of Sting and it is anyone's guess who that could have been. That probably means that the "Crow" gimmick would have never surfaced and perhaps a DDP would have been the face leading the charge against the NWO.

Borden, due to his work ethic and loyalty would have probably gone from strength to strength and would have perhaps even forced Hogan out of the WWF much before 1993. That would have again changed history in more ways than one.

It's too hard to speculate but one thing that I can certainly say is that their individual careers would have been more or less the same and that WWF and WCW would not have been as we know them today.

 

[The Eighties]

I honestly can't imagine either man in the others gimmick so I am just going to look at it from the perspective of them trading companies.

Hellwig would have failed miserably IMO, he needed the WWF machine and he needed Vince to coddle him and get him to a spot where he could draw. There is no denying that Warrior had an electric charisma of a certain kind, but it required Vince's vision and patience to make him a star. the NWA/WCW was dog eat dog and the boys wouldn't have put up with the antics of a talentless muscle head like Hellwig.

Sting would have been an even bigger star under Vince, he had the look, the build, the charimsa and atheltic ability, plus he was a good worker and good professional. He even showed the ability to adapt into a second gimmick and become arguably even more over than he'd ever been. I think he'd have been the top draw for WWF in the 90's and it would have been interesting to see where Bret and Shawn fitted in had Sting been there.