Sting fans, do you really think he was ready for the torch going into 98?

[Jello Biafra]

fine maybe there was no torch for hogan to pass, but wcw definitely had a decision at that point when it came to who got the ball. they decided to stick with hogan.

what do you think sting could have done with the ball.

Honestly Sting always worked better as the babyface chasing the title and finally against all odds winning the belt for a little bit and then he'd lose the belt through trickery and the cycle would start all over again.
Sting as a face champ would not have been the best move.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

Honestly Sting always worked better as the babyface chasing the title and finally against all odds winning the belt for a little bit and then he'd lose the belt through trickery and the cycle would start all over again.
Sting as a face champ would not have been the best move.

right, but why is that?

he's good enough to win the title, but not good enough to HOLD the title?

 

[Jello Biafra]

right, but why is that?

he's good enough to win the title, but not good enough to HOLD the title?

Sting's whole character makes him a better contender than champion. It doesn't matter which character either.
Surfer Sting had a perfect build up to his winning the belt from Flair with the inclusion in the Horsemen, then being turned on; the injury and then all the DQ victories as Flair kept cheating to save his belt...it all made the moment of his capturing the belt so epic.
Crow Sting was also given a great build up storyline as he chased Hogan and overcome the odds against The NWO.
Neither version of Sting was particularly well-suited to be a long-reigning world champ though because the chase was so ingrained in their pushes.

Plus WCW as a company (and even NWA before it) historically really didn't do the long-term face champ thing as well as they did the hell champ. That's why dudes like Flair and Harley Race would be champ for years while someone like Dusty Rhodes would only be champ briefly.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

Sting's whole character makes him a better contender than champion. It doesn't matter which character either.
Surfer Sting had a perfect build up to his winning the belt from Flair with the inclusion in the Horsemen, then being turned on; the injury and then all the DQ victories as Flair kept cheating to save his belt...it all made the moment of his capturing the belt so epic.
Crow Sting was also given a great build up storyline as he chased Hogan and overcome the odds against The NWO.
Neither version of Sting was particularly well-suited to be a long-reigning world champ though because the chase was so ingrained in their pushes.

Plus WCW as a company (and even NWA before it) historically really didn't do the long-term face champ thing as well as they did the hell champ. That's why dudes like Flair and Harley Race would be champ for years while someone like Dusty Rhodes would only be champ briefly.

you ever think that maybe they did better with a heel champ because their heel champ was better? how'd vince manage in the 80's pushing a face champ?

if sting was money, why not keep him on top?

 

[Reggie]

Sting was already a torch holder. The angle with Hogan is what should have taken him to the next level. But they fukked it up with the screwy finish when Sting should have dominated him for 20 minutes and won clean.

 

[Mook]

in hindsight the torch and main feud shoulda went to DDP.

 

[Jello Biafra]

you ever think that maybe they did better with a heel champ because their heel champ was better? how'd vince manage in the 80's pushing a face champ?

if sting was money, why not keep him on top?

WWF always had long reigning face champs...that was their model. Bruno to Backlund to Hogan were all long time reigning face champs because WWF was built on the face champ beating back the attacks of the heel challenger.
NWA/WCW was different; they ran with the heel champs being chased by the babyface who had to overcome all odds to get a legit title win.
Two different companies with two different philosophies.

But to answer your question: Sting was "money" for WCW because the program of him chasing Flair's belt was a popular one for the company.