Would nWo have been has big as it was if Sting would have been the third member?

Question

I read that Hulk Hogan was the first one offered to be the third member of the nWo. He declined, it was than offered to Sting, but Hulk Hogan changed his mind at last minute.

Is that why Sting retuned with black & white face paint since he was supposed to be the third member of the group?

Adam · Accepted Answer

No. Hogan's heel turn was key to the success of the angle. That created far more options creatively in where you went with stories. Hogan's heel turn gave them so many options. Forget just the initial turn. Yes the impact was big but it didn't immediately turn the tide. It was the stories after that did that. If it's sting, hall and Nash where do you go?
Also would wcws core audience have bought the heel turn. They saw sting as their guy. Hogan was the outsider who they were dying to boo anyway.

Edit - sting needed to evolve his character.  And looking back, the story was done to perfection. Having the end game as starrcade 97 was genius. Looking back the fake sting made sense. The build was superb. Having them basically wipe out everyone but sting was really clever. He became a bigger star than he ever was. Going into Starrcade 97 he was the biggest baby-face in the business. I just wish they'd executed the match right.
Had he demolished Hogan and gone over clean. The story then becomes the nWo throwing everything at him to get revenge. The stories with that were there to be written. You could have had sting basically keep the belt until Starrcade 98 having successfully defended against every major contender... Leaving 1. Then you have Goldberg win the belt.

Up until Starrcade 97, they did everything right with Hogan and sting. If roles were reversed it wouldn't have worked as well. It's Starrcade 97 where they really messed up

Jim Crockett Promotions Fan · Answer

The way that storyline flowed, it made more sense for Hulk Hogan to be the third man. Although it was never specifically stated, it was always implied that This was an Invasion of WCW by WWF Wrestlers. Sting was never a WWF Wrestler. There would have been a change as far as who was out front for The nWo. If Hogan had not been the third Man, Kevin Nash probably would have made himself the front man of the nWo. If the storyline continued to be built for the most part like it was from 1996 on, you would have still had plenty of Star Power for the nWo.

Would nWo have been has big as it was if Sting would have been the third member?

2 Answers