I'm simply calling it as I saw it.
Undertaker simply would not have worked. This much should be obvious. The idea was that Nash and Hall came in as "Outsiders" and "Poisoned" (they were constantly called that by pundits) the WCW with their influence. Wrestling fans on the whole aren't the brightest bunch but there is an underlying sense of brand loyalty that held that particular plotline together and it wouldn't have worked to have yet another "outsider" be seen to come in and right the wrongs, the fans would never go for it. You're forgetting how tribal minded wrestling fans were with franchises. It had to be somebody that WCW fans already identified with and Savage was too much of a maverick to be that guy, Luger had no angle to hitch onto such a role. Only Sting could have played the role and made it as successful as he did.
I made no such argument about Starrcade, but w/e. Fans never received him as lame, that's some major revisionism on your part there. In reality the NWO had run its course (hence the split) and you say they treated Sting the way he was before Crow like it's a bad thing. That still puts him in the top four most popular wrestlers in WCW. If anything the real problem was that his character was limited by the fact that following the NWO feud the crowd would cheer him no matter what he did.
You're really not making sense here. You say writers and the performance deserve credit but somehow in all of that you can't see how Sting does? Because in that case credit for anybodies popularity at any given time should go to the writers which is bs. Execution of the material by the wrestler matters more.
What do you mean "execution of material"...thats the whole point. Sting wasnt executing jack. What, nobody else could have silently pointed the bat at Hogan quite the same way that Sting could?
WCW with sting as a headliner in the early 90s, lost millions upon millions a year. Their fan base was a net negative. By 97, they were making significant revenues --- meaning, the NWO widely expanded their base, and brought in millions of new fans. These weren't wcw loyalists that were supporting the product when Nitro was peaking, rather it was a wide cross-section --- non traditional fans/wwf defectors/casual fans/women, etc. They would have had no problem supporting Taker as a savior, because they werent even watching wcw 2-3 years prior.
I like Sting....but you cant make a coherent argument that defeats the fact that his popularity as a silent, non-wrestling mute dwarfs his popularity in his other 20 years as a pro. It speaks volumes on the interest fans had in his character over the years. Taker did more with less during his career, and when put in positions to draw he did --- and not by not talking and not wrestling.
