TNA Should Be Wishing That Sting Goes to WWE

Bad for TNA
Photo Credit: TNAWrestling.com

The big free agent name on everyone's tongues right now is Sting. The Icon has been rumored to be WWE-bound by some sources, but others have denied it. While his image has been taken down on TNA's website, people are claiming that he's close to re-signing with the Orlando-based fed, with the profile removal a ruse to add more surprise to his eventual resurfacing. Given his star power and history with the fed, it would be a no-brainer, right? You'd think so, but I propose that the best thing that could happen for TNA right now would be Sting changing his mind and signing with Titan. In fact, the best thing that could have happened to TNA was Kevin Nash and Booker T signing with the WWE instead of coming back to rehash the Main Event Mafia as the counterweight to Immortal in the main angle.

TNA desperately needs to create new stars. An entire reunion of the Mafia would reinforce that the younger guys can't carry a storyline. Having Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner in tow as members is okay seeing that you need to have some veteran back up. Angle is arguably on the back end of his prime, so he's still got some power left as a draw. Steiner is a good veteran type, a guy who still has good matches and name recognition. But as long as guys like AJ Styles and Crimson get to be front line resistance, then the angle is going to be a success in getting new faces over as the guys who can give TNA what it's been longing for since Impact got to Spike: an identity.

However, if Sting were to come back? Yeah, you know that it'd all change. You know there'd be the same ambiguous "What side is he on?" angle that they've run with him ever since the nWo days. Or he'd get the star treatment, and he'd just be one face too many for them to fall back on as a crutch. At this point, he's one face too many, a guy who'll end up suffocating the growth of a guy like Styles. TNA can't keep falling back on the same old guys. They need the old blood to be bled out. Nash and Booker were a start.

Sting would only stagnate TNA more than it already is. Granted, the writing doesn't help, but that's another post for another day. However, in WWE, where they're actually building new stars (even if they're doing it ham-handedly), Sting can fade into the background and feud with Undertaker. He doesn't have to star on the show, because guys like John Cena, Randy Orton, Edge, The Miz, Sheamus, Triple H, CM Punk and Alberto del Rio are already there to do that. Sting would be a dream match player, working for nostalgia and basically getting to act out the end of his career as if everything was just gravy.

However, we all know that's not happening. TNA will bring Sting back because Sting really doesn't believe in working for Vince McMahon. TNA will think it's the best thing ever, and yet again, a push for Styles is potentially stunted. Of course, they could surprise me and actually go through with a youth movement, making Fortune and Crimson equals to guys like Angle and Sting, but TNA hasn't earned that trust from me yet. Hell, I'm not even sure that Fortune vs. the Hardys, Rob Terry et al. is going to be the main focus since now they can push Ric Flair against Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff yet again. And of course, Sting being there or not being there wouldn't have made a lick of difference in that department.

Still, it would have been nice to have seen TNA needing to go forward pushing newer stars to take their place along side Angle, Ken Anderson, Jeff Hardy and the other current crop of "prime" guys (although calling Styles a "new" star despite him being with the company since inception as a multiple-time World Champion is just symbolic of how shittily they've booked their fed in its history) as the wrestler portion of those inane management feuds. With Sting there, that's one fewer spot that can go to a guy like Styles or Crimson, and one fewer chance for them to really try and break free of their WWE-lite mentality.

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