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After weeks of isolating himself from WCW, Sting appears to have finally turned on the promotion to join the New World Order
1996 | WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING
As WCW was preparing to defend their turf at Fall Brawl, the unthinkable had seemingly happened. The man who had been the face of the franchise for years looked like he had joined the dark side. Was Sting really a member of the New World Order?
It certainly looked that way. With the promotion in chaos following the huge heel turn of Hulk Hogan and the rapidly growing popularity of the nWo, it seemed as if anything was possible in World Championship Wrestling at the time. Allegiances were broken, the rules all changed and seemingly no one was safe.
As Lex Luger ran to the back to find out what was going on. Sting jumped out of the back of the nWo limousine and attacked The Total Package. sealing the end of their friendship and proving that The Stinger was, indeed, a turncoat.
But things weren't quite as they seemed.
The 'Sting' involved was actually Jeff Farmer, who was made up as a very convincing imposter. In fact, this dastardly doppelganger pretended to be the WCW icon once again during the two sides' battle at Fall Brawl. However, the real thing showed up and let the world know the difference between a fake and the real thing.
This would be the start of Sting's transformation to his wildly popular 'crow' gimmick, as well as the 16-month-long program where he chased after Hogan. It was seemingly history in the making at this time, but occurring every single week.
Jeff Farmer was the man exposed as the imposter. However, he would be still used when the New World Order was trying to frame Sting for something or simply lampoon him in some way.
To his credit, Farmer continued to portray 'nWo Sting' for years in Japan after the original angle ended and found prolonged success.
(On a side note: He is the Jeff Farmer who also portrayed the character 'Cobra', not the performer who has forever been enshrined in the 'famous/infamous' promo hall of fame.)
The New World Order, spearheaded by Hogan and WWF imports Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, changed the entire vibe of pro wrestling.
Wrestling fans almost couldn't believe their eyes as Eric Bischoff's brilliant brainchild catapulted the company to the top of the sports entertainment industry.
The nWo didn't just generate ratings and revenue, it reawakened wrestling. The genre had slipped into a world that consisted of cartoon characters in Saturday Morning storylines. The group and their antics made wrestling cool for the mainstream audience.
Perhaps more than at any time in the niche industry's entire existence, the words 'pro wrestling' were a prominent part of the pop culture discussion. And that helped change the business forever.
Still celebrated as one of the most important angles in the history of professional wrestling, the nWo has been honored as such. The faction itself was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020, represented by founding members Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Shawn Waltman, and the man who kicked the whole thing off, the late, great Scott Hall.
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