TNA – Sting: Return of an Icon DVD Review

TNA – STING: RETURN OF AN ICON

“For over a decade, the man they call Sting dominated the sport of professional wrestling as one its most popular and successful stars. He was a multi-time World Champion for the NWA and WCW … A household name around the world … And a major catalyst for the wrestling boom of the 1990’s. When WCW ended in 2001, it appeared the final chapter had been written in Sting’s career. Steve Borden, the man behind the facepaint, quietly stepped away from the spotlight. For nearly four years, millions of fans asked when the man in black would return to the ring. At the December 2005, “Turning Point” pay-per-view event, the world got their answer. This is the story of the return of an icon to professional wrestling …This is the return of the man they call Sting.”

That text was read by the big booming voice guy that does all the TNA pay-per-views and DVDs. Then we get a short video package and we’re on to our first segment.

December 11, 2005 – Turning Point

With help from Scott D’Amore, Jeff Jarrett retains his World Title by pinning Rhino. The lights turn out, and images of scorpions are flashing over the video walls, and the crowd pops pretty loud. Sting’s gear somehow got lost in the middle of the ring, as Tenay and West are about to lost control. This was the big news that was going to change the face of TNA in 2006.

December 31, 2005 – TNA Impact

Mike Tenay is in the ring with Christian Cage, to formally announce (after delivering verbal fellatio) the signing of Sting.

MATCH #1: Monty Brown & Jeff Jarrett vs. Christian Cage & Sting, Final Resolution, 1.15.06

Sting gets a monster pop for his entrance. Christian and Monty start off and Jarrett tags in and goes to work. Crowd pops big time when Sting gets tagged in. Tenay is overselling everything, as usual. The crowd chants “you still got it” at Sting, which is clever. ROH fans would later use this chant for Lance Storm, but I doubt any of them would admit that it originated in TNA. Sometimes I can’t stand ROH fans. Gail Kim interferes and gives Cage a nice hurricanrana. Jarrett and Monty are really working Cage over. The crowd chants “Alpha Female” as Jarrett and Brown continue to pummel Cage. He makes a brief comeback but the heels soon regain control. Sting gets distracted by Gail Kim so that when Cage goes to make the tag there’s no one there. Jarrett and Monty go for the con-chair-toe, but Christian ducks and hits a combination flatliner/DDT on both adversaries. The crowd is hot for Sting to get tagged in. He comes in and cleans house. He gets the Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett and he’s tapping, but the referee has been knocked out. Monty delivers the Fallaway slam on Cage, tossing him onto Sting to break up the Deathlock. Sting thinks Cage hit him on purpose. The belt comes in and Cage and Sting have some more miscommunication. Team Canada runs in but Sting and Cage take them out real easy. Cage gives Monty a dive outside the ring while Gail Kim distracts Sting, allowing Jarrett to waffle Sting with the belt. It gets two. All four men are back in and the good guys go for Stereo Stinger Splashes but the heels move. Jarrett goes for the guitar, but Sting’s bat is enough to combat it. A Scorpion Death Drop later and Sting gets the pin on the champion at 15:05. That was a really fun tag team match and Sting looked good considering how long he’s been out of action. Cage takes a powder to allow Sting to have the sole spotlight.
Rating: ***½

January 28, 2006 – TNA Impact

Mike Tenay is in the ring to suck more Sting cock. I believe this is Sting’s first actual appearance on Impact, making it his first appearance on network TV since March 26, 2001. He gives a rundown of the memories he has of his wrestling career. He says he remembers the fans more than anything else. He says his tag match at Final Resolution was his first match in five years, and that’s just patently untrue, as this DVD will later prove. Sting goes on to thank TNA and the fans. He says he has to say goodbye and retire, basically because he really likes how Final Resolution turned out and decided it’d be a good note to go out on.

Next we get a series of dateless clips highlighting the time when Alex Shelley was out in California taping Sting’s every move. His narrating of these is some of the funniest stuff I’ve heard on TNA all year. Miss Jackie is being forced to be with Jarrett’s group in that storyline that was never paid off. A lot of this footage centers around Eric Young’s belief that Sting is not retired. Jarrett is just awful in this segment.

Next is a video package that is building up to the Lethal Lockdown match. Sting’s team is comprised of AJ Styles, Ron Killings, and Rhino against Jarrett’s team of himself, Scott Steiner, and America’s Most Wanted.

MATCH #2: Sting vs. Eric Young, TNA Impact, 4.13.06

This is Sting’s first match on network TV since the final WCW Monday Nitro. This was also the first episode of Impact to air on their new Thursday night timeslot. Young stalls out of fear, and Alex Shelley comes down to set up his camera. Young bumps like a ping pong ball as Tenay uses the phrase “Hulked up.” The battle spills to the floor and we go to a commercial break. We’re back and Young is actually on offense. It doesn’t last long though, but Young cuts Sting off by raking the eyes. An attempt at the Stinger Splash proves to be very painful for Young and Sting takes out Scott D’Amore and Shelley and nails Young with the Scorpion Death Drop to get the pin at 7:45. Shelley tries to attack Sting, but Sting puts the Scorpion Deathlock on him. Jarrett comes out with the guitar but Sting thwarts him too. Jarrett tries to use the guitar, but Sting’s baseball bat is mightier. AMW and Steiner come out to beat on Sting, which breaks out Ron Killings, Rhino, and AJ Styles, leading one to believe that these are the men that make up Sting’s team. The match was a fine TV match and a fine return for Sting.
Rating: *½

April 23, 2006 – Lockdown PPV

The match is JIP from about one minute before Sting enters the ring. Sting comes in and now everybody is in the ring so pins and submissions are in play. Everyone of course bends over backwards to put Sting over. The roof comes down when Sting tells it to, I think for the sole purpose of irritating me. There are weapons on top of the cage, and Sting’s Warriors start to use them right away. Styles and Storm head to the roof of the cage. Gail tries climbing up, but Styles stops her and Jackie rips her skirt off. Weapons are involved in the ring, while Styles (still on top of the cage) sets Storm up on a table and then sets up a ladder and climbs to the top to deliver a splash on Storm. That’s a pretty impressive spot. Everyone starts hitting finishers and Harris goes for the Sharpshooter on Sting. He reverses it and Storm taps out in about half a second and Sting gets the big win. That had some cool spots in it and stuff, but I don’t understand why Sting has to be this unstoppable monster and why everyone has to bend over backwards for his sake. I’m not rating this since it was clipped, but I did give the full version three stars.

MATCH #3: Sting & Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner, Sacrifice 5.14.06

The video package for this match makes Samoa Joe look like a really big deal, which I like. Everyone stalls for a few minutes to start, and the first actual wrestling is between Sting and Jarrett. Sting gets the upper hand so Jarrett tags out to Steiner. They wrestle for a minute until Sting tags in Joe, and the crowd is hot to see Joe and Steiner fight. Joe hits a few strikes but Steiner counters with a belly-to-belly suplex. Joe comes back with a flurry of offense and the crowd loves it every time Joe does something. Steiner comes back with Another belly-to-belly suplex. Jarrett comes in and any offense he gets in on Joe makes me angry. Joe comes back with the STJoe. Sting gets the hot tag and Jarrett goes for the rana that he always hits and never gets powerbombed out of. The only way the heels can knock Sting down is through double teaming. Steiner hits Yet Another belly-to-belly suplex, this time on Sting. They do the false hope tag spot and Sting winds up falling head-first onto Steiner’s balls. Jarrett comes in and Joe gets the hot tag as well. Joe dominates both guys. Sting and Steiner brawl on the outside while Joe abuses Jarrett in the ring. Jarrett hits a low blow and the Stroke to just about no reaction. Joe kicks out, of course. He nails the Muscle Buster on Jarrett a moment later to get the pin at 14:24. He cleanly pinned the NWA World Champion, which should immediately make him the #1 Contender. The match itself was kind of lame, with no real heat or flow, but I do like that Joe got to go over. Sting offers Joe his hand, and Joe debates it before accepting. Joe goes walking up the ramp while Steiner and Jarrett go back in the ring to beat up Sting with the baseball bat, a steel chair, and the guitar. Joe finally turns around and gives the heels the eye, but instead he turns around and walks away. I like that. Rhino, The James Gang, Chris Sabin, and Jay Lethal make the belated save for Sting. What were they waiting for?
Rating: **¼

MATCH #4: Sting vs. Scott Steiner, TNA Impact, 6.8.06

This is a qualifying match for the King of the Mountain match that will happen at Slammiversary. They brawl in the early going, and they head to the outside and Sting is liberally using a steel chair in plain sight of the referee, who is doing nothing to stop it. Back in the ring Steiner starts his comeback and we go to commercial. Back from break and Steiner is in control, doing his signature stuff. He puts on a crossface of some kind. Back up he hits a belly-to-belly suplex. They get up on the ropes and Steiner tries a superplex but Sting blocks it and knocks him down. He hits a nice clothesline off the top rope. He hits a few more moves, including a Vader Bomb. He felt that one a few times. Earl Hebner stupidly gets squashed between the two men, allowing Gail Kim to interfere. Jeff Jarrett comes out as well to hit the Stroke. Slick Johnson comes in to try and count the three, but Sting kicks out. Steiner goes for rolling vertical suplexes, but Sting reverses to the Scorpion Death Drop. Jarrett pulls the referee out and Steiner winds up hitting Jarrett. Sting rolls up Steiner and Hebner counts very slowly, allowing Jarrett to jump in and attack Sting, giving him the DQ win at 11:08. Jarrett looks surprised, but come on – he hit Sting right in front of the referee. The heels continue to beat on Sting after the match, until Ron Killings comes out to make the save. This brings out Abyss, and now all four challengers in the KOTM match are here. Finally the champion comes running out and cleans house.
Rating: *¾

We get a short little video recapping the events of the King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary. In a shocking turn of events, the match sucked balls and Jarrett stupidly won the NWA World Title back for the sixth time. There, all caught up.

MATCH #5: Sting & Christian Cage vs. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner, TNA Impact, 7.6.06

Tenay and West talk about how much they hate having Jarrett as champion, and I could swear that I’ve had the exact same conversation. This is right after the brilliant decision by TNA Director of Authority Jim Cornette, who saw how Jarrett cheated, so he vacated the title, and then gave it right to Jarrett for no reason whatsoever two weeks later. Man, I HATE TNA sometimes. Sting and Cage attack the heels right away outside the ring and its brawl time. Sting puts on the chain mail and continues to beat on Steiner. Back in the ring we’ve got our opening bell. Cage and Jarrett come in and Cage continues to be on offense. Jarrett goes for the rana that he never ever could ever hit, and I wish he’d stop doing that. Cage takes a nasty bump from the top rope to the floor and we go to commercial break immediately afterwards. Now the heels are taking their heat on Cage. Sting gets the hot tag and goes to work on both his opponents. He hits the Stinger Splash and locks on the Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett. Steiner tries to break it up so Sting dumps him outside the ring. Jarrett hits a low blow and the Stroke on Sting, but Cage pulls the referee outside the ring. Cage and Steiner battle on the floor. Sting and Cage double team Jarrett and after a frog splash by Cage Sting gets the pin at 10:47. That was a decent if formulaic tag team TV main event. Steiner brings the belt in and nails both Cage and Sting. He puts the Recliner on Cage, who tries his best to make it look painful. Samoa Joe comes out and goes after Steiner and the crowd goes nuts. Sting and Jarrett are fighting on the floor now too.
Rating: **

MATCH #6: Sting vs. Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner – Victory Road, 7.16.06

The buildup to this match was actually pretty cool according to the video package. Both Cage and Joe are undefeated in TNA. Joe really stands out here and the more I see him in TNA the more it hurts me how much they’re hosing him right now. I can’t imagine why Cage has to wrestle in this match in order to earn a title shot, because he hasn’t gotten his rematch yet. Little things like that really irritate me. The crowd starts the match by chanting “Joe’s gonna kill you,” showing just who the most over man in the match is. Joe hits the STJoe on Sting early. Steiner and Cage are paired off outside the ring, until Steiner comes in and dumps Joe and goes after Sting. Cage comes in and clotheslines Steiner out. Cage and Joe are in the ring together now. They start trading blows as Sting and Steiner fight outside the ring. Now Sting and Steiner are in the ring and Joe and Cage are outside. Jeff Jarrett, wearing a camera man uniform, comes in and sprays gasoline in Sting’s eyes. The medical team comes out and brings Sting to the back, as Steiner beats on Joe inside the ring. We cut to backstage, where security is throwing Jarrett out of the building as Joe somehow made a comeback on Steiner but we couldn’t see it. Cage hits a nice spear on Joe for two. Steiner and Cage fight on the floor now and Joe hits a big dive to the floor, knocking down both men. Joe positions a table and tires to suplex Steiner from the apron to the table, but Steiner blocks it and actually hits a really nice DDT on the apron. He sets Joe up on the table and delivers an elbow from the apron and manages to land on his head from it. Back in the ring Steiner tries the Samoan Drop from the top rope and almost kills Cage with it. The crowd is just dead here. Everyone does some stuff to everyone, and Sting comes running back out with his head wrapped up. Cage hits the frog splash on Steiner but Sting breaks up the pin. Cage is pissed, and Joe comes back in and puts the choke on Cage. Steiner dumps them over the ropes and Sting hits him with the Scorpion Death Drop to get the pin at 14:09. So Sting only has to wrestle half the match to win. Both Joe and Cage should have won this match before Sting. There was some decent stuff in this match though, but the shenanigans and Sting winning drop it down a bit. Cage is pissed for a minute but then extends his hand to Sting and they shake on it. So Sting will finally get his title shot at Jeff Jarrett on the next pay-per-view.
Rating: **½

We move right along to a video package for the aforementioned Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett title match for Hard Justice. Jarrett has Scott Steiner in his corner, Sting has Christian Cage.

STING: THE CAREER

This is the interview portion with Sting, where he talks about growing up, getting into the business, all of that stuff. He talks about how little he knew about wrestling, and that Hulk Hogan was the only real wrestler he knew of. He talks quite a bit about his days in the UWF and NWA/WCW, really putting over Ted Turner. He pauses periodically to talk about some of his old garish jackets. He talks about Vince McMahon contacting him when WCW folded, and surprisingly he says that Vince was good to him. He says that The Rock effectively buried WCW when he asked who Booker T was. He says ultimately he didn’t trust how Vince would use him once he got there. He says that TNA is a good chance for him to give back to the business. In that case, I would suggest maybe putting someone over once in a while and not burying every single person you lay your hands on, Steve. He has delusions that TNA is somehow competition to Vince, and that ends that segment.

BONUS

– First is a music video, using clips from his entire TNA run, including 2003, which I thought TNA may have actually chosen to forget. The visual effects here are pretty annoying, and the song is absolutely atrocious.
– Next we have Sting: On His Peers. He really puts over Ric Flair, and even says some complimentary things about Jeff Jarrett. He calls AJ Styles his brother in Christ and says he has unbelievable ability. Lex Luger is a long time close friend. Hulk Hogan is the greatest of all time. Goldberg is misunderstood by many. He was a mark for Randy Savage. He says Bret Hart has a great finishing hold, and also says he stole the look for his jacket. Next he says that Kevin Nash is one of the best bumpers for his size.
– The third bonus is called TNA Stars Look Back. David Young used to watch UWF tapes back in his youth. Sonjay Dutt used to watch Sting with his father. Mike Tenay remembers the Clash of the Champions match with Ric Flair. Elix Skipper liked him too! Tenay says his favorite Sting match was against Hogan at Starrcade ’97. It truly is one of the worst and poorest booked matches I’ve ever seen. That was Chris Sabin’s favorite match of Sting’s too. Sonjay loved the Clash match with Flair too, and he was there live when Sting faced Hogan at Starrcade. David Young’s favorite was the Great American Bash 1990 when Sting won the World Title from Flair. AJ Styles says he met Sting first when he was working security for WCW. Skipper and Don West have fond Sting memories as well. AJ got to wrestle him back in 2003. Young says that Sting did not need WWF at anytime. AJ says it’s nice to have another Christian around all the time.
– Next we have Sting: Moment of Truth. This is Sting telling the story about the movie, which if you’ll remember from earlier in this paragraph is called “Sting: Moment of Truth.” We even get to see scenes from the movie, which looks pretty ridiculous.
– Sting: The Face Paint is our next feature. I’m sure he would never forget his face paint on the biggest show in TNA history and ask Samoa Joe if he had any.
– “Prior to his full time return to the ring in 2006, Sting made a special appearance for TNA Wrestling at the June 2003 Anniversary Show. In the main event bout, Sting teamed with Jeff Jarrett to face AJ Styles and Sean Waltman. The following is the complete match from that night…” Sting also wrestled Jeff Jarrett on November 5 of that year, teamed with Styles to face Jarrett & Lex Luger on November 12, and beat Jarrett in a non-title match on December 17. The match from November 5 was a title match that Sting won by DQ but did not win the title. In 2006 Sting lost the World Title via DQ to a rule that was from the “early days” of TNA. That’s consistency, baby.

BONUS MATCH: Sting & Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles & Sean Waltman, TNA First Anniversary PPV, 6.18.03

This would be Sting’s first match on US soil in over two years, since the last episode of Nitro. Sting and Styles fight in the ring while Jarrett and Waltman fight outside. Sting goes for the Scorpion Deathlock early but Styles gets the ropes. Sting hits a bit of a dive to the floor. Fucking Vince Russo joins the commentary team and I have to listen to him talk. Roles are reversed now and Jarrett and Waltman are in the ring. Jarrett puts on the figure-four. AJ hits a beautiful springboard legdrop to break it up. AJ then goes to work on Jarrett and the referee finally has control of the match. Tenay gets all uppity with Russo, who says “bullshit” a few times. Jarrett gets dominated for a few minutes until he makes the hot tag to Sting. He hits Stinger Splashes. Sting locks the Scorpion Deathlock on AJ, but Waltman hits Sting with the baseball bat. AJ then puts the sharpshooter on Sting. Sting then makes the hot tag to Jarrett, who shows pretty good fire. The referee goes down so Russo tries to interfere, which brings Raven out, and Shane Douglas follows him and they brawl on the ramp. Back in the ring Jarrett hits the Stroke on AJ but there’s no referee to count. Jarrett hits a Stroke off the middle rope and that’s enough to pin Styles at 11:49. Raven and Douglas are back brawling in the ring. Russo attacks Jarrett right after the bell, but Sting and Jarrett are able to hit Russo with the bat, and he barely sells it. Sting, Jarrett, and Raven all raise their hands. The match was a bit overbooked especially with the presence of Russo, but it had some fun stuff in it.
Rating: **¾

– Finally, we have a slideshow set to another really annoying hard rock song. And that’ll do it for bonus features.

The 411: Well, it’s not their fault that they don’t own any Sting footage from NWA or WCW, but it really does hurt the effectiveness of this disc. Personally, I was never really that into Sting and I think he’s really hurting TNA more than he’s helping at this point, so this DVD was pretty frustrating for me to watch. Personal feelings aside, this is a well put together DVD and a pretty through look at his run there, so I can at least recommend it on some level. It’s just not one of my favorites.

Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]