At WrestleMania 31, wrestling fans witnessed a site most thought they’d never see – Sting’s first-ever match in WWE. The WCW icon finally got his WrestleMania moment, but it was a losing effort against Triple H that involved arguably-excessive & convoluted run-ins from DX and the nWo. Sting losing his first WWE match was a real head-scratcher WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall recently gave his first-hand account of how and why it all went down.
During an interview with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated’s Extra Mustard blog, The Bag Guy said he got the impression Sting never felt comfortable during his WWE run.
“I was there and obviously involved in his match at WrestleMania last year,” said Hall. “We’re rehearsing the match in Cali last year at Levi Stadium, and it’s the Kliq and the New Age Outlaws out there, and we all know each other. And then there’s Sting, who doesn’t know anybody. He’s an outsider. I just think he never felt comfortable there. Being hurt was answered prayer for him–just let it end.
As for why Sting jobbed to Triple H when it would have made a lot more sense for the debuting legendary babyface to go over, Hall thinks Vince McMahon still needs to prove the point that he buried WCW.
“You need to remember that Vince is never going to go with something he didn’t create. But we didn’t get anything done at the rehearsal the night before, so WrestleMania day, there were tents in the parking lot set up with rings for rehearsal. So we’re all in there again, and I’m next to Hulk on the ring apron and Triple H is going over the match and then he goes, ‘OK, he’ll break the sledgehammer, then I’ll hit him with the sledgehammer, and cover him, 1-2-3.’ I looked at Hulk, and Hulk looked at me, and I was thinking, ‘Sting, what kind of lawyer do you have, bro? You’re coming in the door doing a job? You weren’t even guaranteed to go over?’ That’s Vince just reminding you who won, even if he’s going to make money the other way.”
A year later, Sting will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame during WrestleMania 32 weekend:
