NWO Sting

Lightning

In 1993, the nWo Sting was signed by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as **Lightning** in a team with another wrestler named Thunder. They made their first appearance at a *WCW WorldWide* taping in Orlando, Florida on July 10, 1993 (in an episode that would not air until November 13 of that year), defeating Billy Brooks and Rhett Blair. Their first actual television appearance came on August 29, 1993 on WCW's *The Main Event*, where they upset Chris Benoit and Bobby Eaton. Thunder and Lightning's next match saw their first defeat, as they fell to Yoshi Kwan and Bobby Eaton at a house show in Kennesaw, Georgia on September 28.

In the fall of 1993, Thunder and Lightning engaged in a house show program with Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce. On the December 11, 1993 edition of *WCW Saturday Night*, the team called out WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys, as well as several other teams.

Thunder and Lightning entered 1994 continuing to come out victorious on television against preliminary level competition, but suffered their first loss when they were defeated on February 20, 1994 by Pretty Wonderful on *The Main Event*. They made their first pay-per-view appearance at SuperBrawl IV, where they lost to Harlem Heat. Their losing streak on television continued into April as they suffered defeats to Bad Attitude (Steve Keirn and Bobby Eaton) and Pretty Wonderful. Thunder and Lightning's final match however was a win; they teamed with Terry Taylor to defeat Tex Slazenger, Shanghai Pierce, and Diamond Dallas Page on *WCW Pro* on April 30th, 1994. Thunder left WCW in the spring of 1994.

In February 1995, he and fellow former WCW wrestler Jim Steele wrestled a dark match for the World Wrestling Federation.

Thunder returned to WCW in July 1995 as **Cobra** to feud with Craig Pittman. Cobra made his WCW debut on the September 9, 1995 edition of *WCW WorldWide*, defeating Bobby Starr with his Cobra clutch slam finisher. The feud was short-lived, with Pittman defeating Cobra by submission in a very short match, although in a rematch the following week, Cobra won. They then would go back and forth and trade victories for a few months before the feud ended.

In 1996, the nWo had been battling Sting, one of WCW’s most loyal supporters. As part of an elaborate plan, Cobra made his debut as “**Sting**” on the September 9, 1996 edition of *Monday Nitro* when he attacked Lex Luger appearing from the nWo limousine after a tape recording of Sting speaking had been played. This led Luger, his longtime ally, friend and tag team partner, to publicly question Sting’s loyalty. At Fall Brawl, as Team WCW was being interviewed, Sting came in and told his teammates that he had nothing to do with the attack. Luger told Sting rather bluntly that he did not believe him. Later during the War Games match, the last man out for team nWo was “Sting”, which convinced everyone (including the broadcast team) that the real Sting was part of the nWo. However, the real Sting showed up as the last man for Team WCW. After assaulting team nWo, Sting walked over to Luger, shoved him, and said, "Is that good enough for ya?" and left the ring. This showed everyone that the nWo Sting was an imposter. The imposter Sting picked up the victory in the match for team nWo when he forced Luger to submit with the Scorpion death lock.

After the WarGames match, the real Sting began to evolve into a much darker character with the Imposter Sting character serving as the catalyst that started the transformation of the character from “Surfer” Sting to the much darker, Crow-like Sting. Cobra, now referred to as the **nWo Sting**, became more of a comedy act in WCW. He would comically mimic Sting’s classic mannerisms, while dressed as the dark Sting. He would also copy the loyalty tests and began carrying a baseball bat as the real Sting did. On occasion, nWo Sting would try to appease the real Sting when both were in the ring. Unfortunately for him, this usually led to the real Sting attacking him and getting laid out with the *Scorpion Death Drop*. In matches, nWo Sting would lose to opponents, or need help from the entire nWo to win a match. The rest of the nWo would completely ignore him whenever the real Sting was around when they were trying to recruit him. After it was revealed that Sting had sided with WCW, Eric Bischoff promised an interview with Sting. He instead brought out nWo Sting and held a mock interview that berated the real Sting and praised Hollywood Hogan.

nWo Sting’s last appearances in WCW came in May 1998, when he joined nWo Hollywood and began teaming with The Giant. The Giant had previously won the WCW World Tag Team Championship with the real Sting, but the team imploded when Giant joined nWo Hollywood, and began feuding over control of the Tag Team Titles they held together. On the May 25, 1998 edition of *Monday Nitro*, the team of nWo Sting and the Giant lost to Lex Luger and Sting, which after the match saw the real Sting join the nWo as a part of the Wolfpac faction. He made one final appearance as nWo Sting on the July 5, 1999 edition of *Monday Nitro* when he interfered in a match between Kevin Nash and Sid Vicious.