When you talk about wrestlers who continually stay on top of their game and in peak physical condition, the name Sting immediately comes to mind. Time and time again, the Stinger faces some of the toughest competition out there, and he constantly chalks up the victories.

Often referred to as the "Franchise" or the "Legacy" of the WCW, but he more than deserves that title. Sting was probably the only reason the WCW survived its early years, struggling to compete with the WWF in the late 80's and early 90's. Hogan, Nash, and co. still hadn't arrived, and Lex Luger and the other WCW big boys lacked the flash and charm to grab an audience. Sting had that, and more. The creative facepaint and outfit, the yelling and screaming, and that unmistakable energy and flair in the ring, made Sting voted as WCW most popular wreslter of the year on several occasions.

But Sting is not all show as well, he's got the gold to prove he's got the skills. A 8-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, has been the US Heavyweight Champion, a World Tag Team Champion with both Luger and Kevin Nash, and many more. He's mixed with the best in the business and and come out the winner. The Giant, DDP, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Vader and even Stone Cold Steve Austin (they fought for the US Heavyweight Title when Austin was in WCW) have fallen prey to Sting's Scorpion Death Drop.

Steve Borden was working as a private trainer at Gold's Gym in Venice, California, and he also competed in body building contests when he along with Jim Hellwig (Ultimate Warrior) was discovered. The two were trained by Ric Bassman, before making their wrestling debut in November 1985 in the Californian independent scene.

There Borden and Hellwig joined two other wrestlers and formed Power Team USA. In 1986, Power Team USA disbanded, but Hellwig and Borden formed the Blade Runners shortly afterwards. Hellwig took the name Rock while Borden took the name Flash. Later they moved to the Universal Wrestling Federation, where Borden changed his ring name to Sting.

The Blade Runners broke up and Hellwig left, but Sting stayed at the UWF, where he would the tag team titles twice, firstly with Eddie Gilbert, and then with Rick Steiner.

It was shortly after Sting lost his second tag team title, the UWF were doing joint cards with the National Wrestling Alliance. Sting was now a part of the second biggest federation of the time, and this allowed Sting to perform under the national spotlight. Sting wrestled on the NWA's first ever pay-per-view, Starrcade, November 26, 1987.

Since his move to the NWA, Sting became determined to a get a piece of its World Heavyweight Champion, Ric Flair. Sting's first television confrontation with Flair was in early in 1988. Altough Flair eventually won, he was carried off on a stretcher after Sting had him in a Scorpion Deathlock for 3 minutes.

Many more matches with Flair occured including their match at Clash of the Champions I, March 27th, 1988. There, both exhausted themselves for 45 minutes, time ran out, and was called a draw. Sting and Lex Luger then teamed up at the 3rd Annual Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament Cup, where they met Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard in the final. Sting and Luger was able to defeat the experienced team and win the tournament.

Sting continued his feud with the 4 Horsemen, and he teamed with various partners trying to dethrone the Tag Team Champions, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, but never got the duke. The same thing can be said about his challenges for the US Title, which another horsemen held, Barry Windham.

In early 1989, Sting won NWA Television Title from Mike Rotundo, who offered Sting $10,000 if he could beat him within 10 minutes. Sting won the match and the title within 10 minutes, but he never saw the money.

Sting formed a brief partnership with Ric Flair, and fought in several tag team matches together, including a Thunderdome Cage match at Halloween againgst the Great Muta and Terry. At a later time, Sting came to the rescue of Flair, who was attacked by Muta, the Dragon Master and Lex Luger. Sting was the recipient of a vicious chair shot from Luger and this lead to a series of matches between the two.

At Starrcade 1989, Sting won first and only Iron Man Tournament, it was a special tournament where the four participants had to face each other, they received points for victory and draws. In his first match Sting went up against Luger, but Luger won the match, But in the second match against Muta, Sting rebounded and beat Muta, his third and final match against Flair. Sting defeated Flairto win the tournament.

Flair knew that his title was in danger, so he offered Sting to join the 4 Horsemen, which he accepted. But the WCW had other plans, because of Sting's victory in the Iron Man Tournament, they granted Sting a shot at Flair's World Title at WrestleWar '90. Sting accepted the match, but Flair gave Sting an ultimatum either give up the match or end your career, Sting tried to attack Flair, but the Horsemen prevented the attack and injured his left knee, this put Sting out of action for six months.

Sting returned for the Clash of the Champions XI, in June 1990, where he confronted Flair. They met again at the Great American Bash, Sting and Flair put on a great match, and in the end Flair was going for the figure-four leglock, when Sting caught him an inside cradle to win his first World Heavyweight Title.

In the coming months Sting defended his title against Flair and Sid Vicious, but then in late August a new challenger stopped by, he went by the name of Black Scorpion and claimed to be from Sting's past. Sting agreed to face the Black Scorpion at Clash of the Champions XII, where Sting won. During an interview Sting was attacked by Sid, to setup their match at Halloween Havoc, which Sting won also.

The feud with the Black Scorpion wasn't over, Sting fought the Scorpion at several occasions. Sting decided that he would face the Scorpion at Starrcade in a cage to solve their problems. There were four other Scorpions at ringside during the match, Sting won the match, only to be attacked by the Scorpions and Arn Anderson and Barry Windham. Sting managed to unmask the Scorpion to reveal that it was Ric Flair.

Sting wanted Flair to pay for his actions, so he agreed to a rematch with Flair, at January 11th, 1991. Flair regained the title by putting his feet on the ropes for leverage. Sting continued his feud with the Horsemen, both in singles competition and tag teams, but rarely he was able to walk away with the win.

Luger and Sting got a shot at the WCW Tag Team Champions, the Steiner Brothers, at SuperBrawl I. Sting and Luger had the Steiners beaten, when suddenly Nikita Koloff appeared, he was about to give Luger a Russian Sickle with a chain when Sting saved Luger by taking the full blow, Scott Steiner then pinned Sting to end the match.

After feuding with Koloff, Sting entered a one night tournament for the vacant WCW US Title, which became vacant after Lex Luger won the World Title. Sting defeated Arn Anderson, then the Diamond Studd before Sting in the final beat Steve Austin to capture the title. Sting, as the US Champion, declared the number one contender for the World Title, but he was involved in several feuds beforehand, including the late Rick Rude who had recently made his WCW debut.

Sting and Rude were to clash at Clash of the Champions XVII, but before the match, but Madusa, in a very revealing outfit, Sting appeared with Lex Luger showed up and Luger clipped Sting's left knee. Sting was taken to hospital and was told that unless he defended his title, Rude would become Champion. Sting returned from the hospital to fight, but his injury was too much and Rude won the match and the US Title.

At Starrcade 1991 a special event took place, the Battle Bowl, which was a tournament where wrestlers would be combined in tag teams and the winners would advance to a battle royal. Sting got Abdullah the Butcher as a partner but was able to advance. The combatants were split in two rings and the winners of the two rings would then clash. Luger won his ring, while Sting was having problems with Rude in his, but eventually Sting eliminated Rude. Sting and Luger then clashed in the ring, where Sting eliminated Luger to win the Battle Bowl 1991.

With the victory at Starrcade, Sting was named the number one contender for the World Title, but the match wouldn't take place until February at SuperBrawl II, the match was a one sided affair where Sting dominated and eventually defeated Luger to win the WCW World Title.

A challenger for Sting's title came in the form of the 400 pound Vader. Sting and Vader fought several times, including a match in April, where Vader caught Sting and slammed him to the mat, which resulted in Sting cracking two ribs and a bruised spleen, Vader then lost the match after he hit the referee.

Sting didn't return to the ring until Wrestle War. Upon his return Sting started feuding with old nemesis Cactus Jack, the two put up a great match at Beach Blast in a "Falls Count Anywhere" Match, where Sting came out on top. Vader then strolled back as the number one contender.

At the Great American Bash, Sting and Vader finally clashed. Sting missed a Stinger Splash and was hammered with a vicious powerbomb for the three count, Vader was declared the new WCW World Champion. Sting was supposed to get a rematch at August 2nd, but strange things happened again. Sting came to the aid of Nikita Koloff, who was attacked by Rude and Cactus Jack, suddenly a man jumped over the railing, it was Jake Roberts. Jake attacked Sting and twice gave him a DDT on a steel chair.

The incident was only the start of their feud, then climaxing at Halloween Havoc. A giant wheel should tell under which rules the match should be fought, and the wheel landed on a "Coal Miner's Glove" match. During the match Cactus Jack came to the ring with a ring, which was supposed to bite Sting, but ended up biting Jake Roberts, who lost the match and disappeared from the WCW.

The rest of 1992 Sting focused his energies on becoming number one contender for the WCW World Title, and to do that he had to win the King of Cable Tournament. First Sting defeated Brian Pillman and then Rick Rude before he faced Vader in the tournament final. Sting came out on top, but two days later Vader won the WCW World Title, so the feud heated up again.

Sting and Vader fought each other on many occasions, but the most memorable and brutal encounter was at SuperBrawl III in a Strap Match. Vader won the match but it wasn't without injuries, he sustained a lacerated back and a ruptured artery in his ear that required hospitalisation, but Sting was also bleeding because of the tough match. The feud continued however.

In March, WCW went to England, where Sting defeated Vader to capture the WCW World Title for a second time, March 11. But Vader regained the title after beating Sting on March 17 in Dublin, Ireland. Sting then aligned himself with the British Bulldog to take on Vader and Sid Vicious, but it was Sting and Vicious who started going after each other. Sting finally overcame Vicious at Halloween Havoc.

February 1994, Sting, Dustin Rhodes, and Brian Pillman took on Paul Orndorff, Steve Austin, and Rick Rude in a six man cage match. After Pillman got the pin on Austin, Sting was trying to leave the cage when Rude slammed the door on his face. Rude then put his patented "Rude Awakening" neckbreaker on Sting and left him laying. Sting, incensed, requested a WCW International Title match with Rude but Rude refused, saying that he would never give Sting a title shot.

In March of 1994 the WCW took on a tour to England, where a European Cup Tournament was held. Sting was one of the favourites and he lived up to it by defeating Kane of the Harlem Heat, Ron Simmons, and Steve Austin, before he stood over against old rival Vader in the final. Sting won the final and was declared the winner of the European Cup.

During WCW Saturday Night, a female fan came out and wanted Rude's autograph. Rude, with ego soaring, signed the piece of paper unaware that it was a contract for WCW Spring Stampede for a title match between himself and Sting. With the match signed, Rude had no choice but to battle Sting at Spring Stampede. Harley Race and Vader, appeared and tried to hit Sting with a chair but hit Rude instead. Sting quickly covered Rude for the win and the WCW International Title.

May 1, Rude regained the title in Japan but injured his neck doing so. This put him out of his Slamboree '94 match up with Vader. WCW Commissioner Nick Bockwinkle wanted to give back the title to Sting, if he would take Rude's place against Vader. Sting refused to accept the belt unless he could defeat Vader. Bockwinkle agreed and Sting went on to face and defeated Vader to regain the title.

By June of 1994, WCW decided that there should be one world champion. So they signed Sting to face then WCW World Champion Ric Flair in a unification bout at a Clash Of The Champions event. Ric Flair won the match and unified the belts. The WCW had signed Hulk Hogan in 1994, and that sent Sting out of the World Title picture.

Sting injured his left eye in a match against Flair, and was out of action for three weeks. In September 1994, Sting accepted a triangle match against Vader and The Guardian Angel to determine a top contender for Hulk Hogan's title. Sting, lost the match due to outside interference, a masked man came in and clipped Sting in his bad left knee, causing him to lose. Anyway, Sting made an appearance at Halloween Havoc '94 after the cage match between Hogan and Flair. Hogan was attacked by The Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and Avalanche. Sting came in to save him and would help him on and off his feud with "The Three Faces Of Fear".

Sting entered a tournament for the vacant US Title and defeated Arn Anderson, Paul Orndorff and eventually Meng in the final. Sting won the match and the WCW US Title for a second time. Sting then proceeded to battle Meng for months with the same result.

November 13th Sting lost his title to Kensuke Sasaki, and was not able to regain it in rematches. In the Horsemen ranks strange were happening, Flair was getting attacked by Arn Anderson and Brian Pillman. Flair asked Sting for help, but he didn't trust him, eventually Sting helped Flair. At Halloween Havoc Sting and Flair was supposed to take on Anderson and Pillman, but Flair didn't show up, because of an attack. Flair, pretending to be injured, came out to "help" Sting. When Flair was tagged in, the trap was sprung the Horsemen laid out Sting.

Sting rebounded, two weeks after he wrestled Flair on Nitro, Sting put on the Scorpion Deathlock and refused to release it. Lex Luger then came to the ring and talked some sense into Sting, who released the hold. Luger had returned to WCW earlier in 1995, and he was welcomed back by Sting, but not by Hogan who didn't have high thoughts for Luger. After the incident Hogan accused Sting for being a traitor and challenged him for a match at Nitro, November 20th.

Sting had Hogan at his mercy in the Scorpion Deathlock, when the Dungeon of Doom came out and caused the end of the match. Sting then settled his score with Flair at World War 3, where Sting came out on top.

A Triangle Match occuredbetween Ric Flair, Lex Luger and Sting at Starrcade '95. The match ended when both Luger and Sting were counted out of the ring. Controversy arose because Luger tried to prevent Sting from re-entering the ring It caused some friction and led insiders to believe that they were headed for another feud. That never materialised as Sting and Luger went on to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship in January, 1996, from the Harlem Heat. Their five month reign ended as the title returned to the Harlem Heat on June 24.

In June '96, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash returned to WCW and claimed that they were taking over. Sting was the first one to stand up to Hall, but nothing more happened until Bash at the Beach. Sting, Luger, and Randy Savage were going to face Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, and their mystery partner. Luger was knocked out in the first minute by Sting when he executed a Stinger Splash that had Luger in the pileup. The worst was yet to come though as Hulk Hogan betrayed WCW and formed the New World Order with Hall and Nash, when he came to ring and dropped his big leg on Randy Savage.

After his team lost to the NWO at Bash At The Beach, Sting and Lex Luger concentrated their efforts towards ending Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan's new organisation before it got off the ground. Unfortunately, that effort would turn in a bizarre chapter in the career of Sting.

At Fall Brawl '96, Sting and Lex Luger were scheduled to team with Ric Flair and Arn Anderson for the War Games. About a week before on WCW Monday Nitro, Lex Luger was assaulted by "Sting" and the NWO. The NWO was successful in putting Team WCW in disarray before Fall Brawl. Luger and the rest of WCW was convinced that Sting had gone NWO.

When Sting returned from a tour of New Japan, tags him a traitor. Later, the real Sting shows up and cleans house of the bogus Sting and the rest of the NWO. But, after assaulting the NWO, Sting leaves the cage, more or less saying "you finish them yourselves". The NWO won when Luger passed out from a Scorpion Deathlock from the fake Sting and a front face lock by Hogan. This was Sting's last match for a long time.

The next night, Sting came out to address the crowd and told WCW to "stick it" and declared himself a "free agent". The NWO did what they wanted to do and that was to cause dissension in WCW. Sting disappeared for a few weeks and resurfaces with his "Crow" persona sitting in the rafters and doing drop in, whenever the NWO thought too much of themselves.

When NWO Sting was wrestling, when the real Sting came out and laid him out. The NWO then came to ring and asked him to join them. Sting responded by saying "There's only one thing for sure about Sting, and that's that nothings sure", then he left. Wrestlers who accused Sting for betrayal, paid for it, including Jeff Jarrett, Rick Steiner, Jim Duggan, and Lex Luger. Many thought that Sting had joined the nWo, and when Randy Savage returned to WCW in January 1997, Sting sided with him, shortly after Savage joined the NWO.

At WCW Uncensored the questions were finally answered, when Sting whipped the NWO again by himself, he laid out Hall, Nash, Savage, and Hogan, Sting pointed his bat at Hogan and made clear, who he wanted. But this was only the first of many of Sting's attacks against the NWO.

Eventually a match between Sting and Hogan was signed for Starrcade, December 28th. Dubbed "The Match of the Century", Sting showed some ring rust, near the end Hogan dropped his leg on Sting but the referee counted the pin fall too quickly, and Bret Hart came to the ring and claimed the count was too fast and then decked the referee. The match continued Sting got Hogan to submit from a Scorpion Deathlock. Sting became WCW World Champion for a third time.

The following night at Nitro, Sting and Hogan clashed again, with almost the same ending. Then at Thunder, January 8th, JJ Dillon stripped Sting of the title, because of the controversial way he won it. A new match between Sting and Hogan was signed for SuperBrawl, the winner would capture the vacant World Title. Sting defeated Hogan again. This time Randy Savage hit Hogan with a spray can to secure Sting the win and the WCW World Championship.

Sting then sided with Randy Savage to breakup the NWO. At Uncensored Sting defeated Scott Hall, and in a cage match between Savage and Hogan, the Disciple interfered, Sting then dropped down to the ring to help Savage. But Savage turned on Sting and hit him with a pile driver. The feud with Savage boiled up and down, because Savage injured his knee and it looked like he would have to miss the showdown with Sting. So Sting used two Nitro's to battle Kevin Nash, who on both occasions came close to the victory, only to get it screwed up by Hogan's interference.

Sting would defend the World Title against Savage at the main event of Spring Stampede '98. Sting overcame interferences from Elizabeth and eventually hit Savage with a Scorpion Deathdrop. Sting was unable to secure the pin because the referee was knocked out, so Nash came in and powerbombed Sting, laid Savage over Sting and allowed him to win the World Title.

Sting wanted revenge on Kevin Nash for his actions, so he joined forces with the Giant to challenge the WCW Tag Team Champions, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, to a match. Sting was in for a surprise at Nitro, May 11th, then the Giant turned NWO, Hogan's fraction. Problems were likely to occur for their match at Slamboree.