I hate these what if threads about jumping ship. They are always based on a flawed premise.
My question is is Flair talking about Sting in 2001 or 1991? If he means the former Sting has stated he did not join the WWF because of prominent incidents of burial such as The Rock asking who Booker T even was. I think backstage borden could protect his character from the WWF brass but not the other WCW guys and if he were to feature prominently in the invasion the WCW couldnt all be jobbers accept for Sting and a few others. The downgrading of other WCW talent would had heard public perception of Sting.
If we are talking about 1991 which I think you all are he would be the midcard face counterpart to Perfect.. Part of the reason the Ultimate Warrior rose thru the ranks isbecause Jim Hellwig was a demanding individual and wasnt ashamed or afraid to be selfish. Because the UW character was popular, Hellwig had the leverage to take Mcmahon on.. There would not had been room for Sting.
We wouldnt of had a Monday Night War because WCW 's main line of defense wasSting and the NWO would had beaten WCW to easily making the overal product to weak and dead to take on the WWF.
STING JOINING THE MINISTRY is outragious. He would had been subordinate to Taker like how Farooq was to the Rock eventhough Ron Simmons had accomplished more.. Surfer Sting fueding with Undertaker would be a bust because Sting wouldnt be a top name at that time. It would be a lopsiding matching.
We wouldnt be able to discuss sting without the crow Sting. The original sting is only rekembered now because he was the earliar form of the crow Sting. Its true surfer Sting did alot for the early WCW and had awesome fueds with the likes of Vader but early WCW history has become obscured.
In the documentary it is unclear exactly what time frame of Sting's career he is referring to but it seems like he means after he established himself as main event star in WCW.
Warrior only got as far as McMahon would let him...remember Vince sent him packing in 91 and again in 92, and originally the plan in 92 was to have Warrior fued wih Flair and win the title, plans Vince changed when Flair was injured (ironically because of Warrior's carelessness in the ring) and UT's demands for money. Not even Hogan could arbitrarly dictate to Vince, and Hogan & Austin had a lot of leeway with McMahon in their time.
The NWO story would have worked without Sting, the difference is another face, likely Flair, Savage, or maybe Big Show would have had to be the WCW force to be reckoned with. Savage had the name and the drawing power and WCW could have played on the past rivalry with Hogan, Hulk betrays his Macho Brother again, plus Savage never got a win over Hogan in a meaningful match, never pinned him, fans would have been all over the prospect of Randy finally getting over on Hulk.
Flair would have been the most obvous choice because he was Mr WCW and because he was the biggest name on the roster other than Hogan. WCW could have traded on their rivalry, only now the roles would be reversed, plus the idea of gang warfare with the Dirtiest Player In The Game vs the cuthroat NWO could have provided some very edgy entertainment.
As far as Sting joining the 2001 Invasion, that probably would not have worked but only because no one else with a name wanted to join. WWE contacted Sting, Flair, Goldberg, all declined, showing slight interest. They sent feelers to Nash and Hogan and got lukewarm responses as well. Flair only agreed to come in after they already tried previously to get him and he turned them down, this time to end the Invasion Angle. Once Flair signed on, Hogan & Nash agreed to come back, later on so did Goldberg. It's possible if Sting had said yes in the beginning the others would have joined in sooner and instead of WWE vs The second and third string of WCW we might have had a WCW faction lead by legitimate main eventers. e might have gotten Aaron Rogers vs Ben Roethlisberger, Clay Mathews vs James Harrison, not the Green Bay Packers vs Pittsburgh Steelers practice squad which is what the Invasion angle looked like.
There's no way of telling what changes Sting's character might have undergone as the 90's rolled on under McMahon's stewardship. Yes, some guys only changed slightly through the years other than occassional heel and face turns, guys like Triple H, Flair, Hogan, Nash, etc. However we saw major changes to Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, and others. We might not have seen Crow Sting, which was a Bischoff concept that really worked, but Sting had the ability to carry other gimmick changes Vince might have come up with.
