I know less about early-90s WCW than I do about early-90s WWE, and that's saying a lot. I've watched some of the cruiserweight matches from '96-'97, and I know a bit about the dying days of the promotion in the late 90s (because the terrible bits of wrestling fascinate me almost as much as the good bits), but anything in WCW before 1996 is a mystery to me. So I went into this match pretty much clueless.
Something I do know, however, from my limited experience of him in the WWF, is that I'm a big fan of Vader. Or Big Van Vader, as he's called here. It sounds cool, but I'm slightly confused. What's the 'Van' all about? Are they trying to imply that he's Dutch? Is he some relation of Van Morrison? Either way, he's still a badass, even with his weird bandana, which does admittedly make him look a bit as though he's somehow cosplaying as Hollywood Hulk Hogan three years early. Harley Race is there too, as the unnecessary manager. Vader bellows "TIME FOR WAARRR" on his way to the ring, and I remember why I love him so much. Every aspect of him is utterly believable in the role of the monster, from his brutal offence to his yelled, barely coherent promos.
Sting is out next. My only experience of Sting comes from his appearance at WrestleMania 31 and an action figure of him wearing a weird silver breastplate that I had as a child, despite never having watched wrestling in my life (I just liked the cool figures). In other words, I only know Sting in his emo-phase. This was my first experience of Sting: the Surfer Dude with Attitude. I'm a big fan of the facepaint, but I don't really get the gimmick. Aren't surfers supposed to be laid back? Sting, with his knock-off Eye of the Tiger entrance music, seems anything but. He looks like he means business though.
The match starts with standard David vs. Goliath stuff (not that Sting is small by any stretch of the imagination, but pretty much everyone looks tiny next to Vader). I'm a big sucker for matches between wrestlers of unequal sizes. It's one of the most basic stories in wrestling - how can the little guy beat the big guy? - but I still find it one of the most compelling. There's a reason it's in the Bible. There's something timeless about it. Sting goes for punches on Vader, but he shrugs them off and yells "NO PAIN!". It's an effective (if unsubtle) way of getting the message across... I think more wrestlers should provide verbal feedback on their current physical condition. "SLIGHT TWINGE!" "MODERATE PAIN!" "ABSOLUTE AGONY!" "CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" etc.
Vader fires back with some body slams and then a couple of awesome military presses onto the ropes. One of the things I love about Vader is how believable his offence looks. I don't need my wrestling to be realistic 100% of the time -- there's a reason I watch wrestling and not MMA -- but sometimes you just want to watch one human being beat the crap out of another. And Vader provides that in spades. One of my favourite matches of his, though it's by no means his best, is his encounter with the debuting Ken Shamrock at In Your House: A Cold Day in Hell in 1997. It's a real glimpse into how pro-wrestling works. Shamrock comes in all guns blazing, hitting legitimate MMA kicks to Vader. At one point Vader, the same guy who once popped his own goddamn eye back into its goddamn socket during a match, yells "ease up", which gives some indication of how hard Shamrock was kicking him. Eventually Vader gets fed up and lamps Shamrock as hard as he can with one of the stiffest lariats in history. The whole match looks absolutely brutal, and shows how adept experienced wrestlers normally are at avoiding injuring their opponent.
Anyway, Vader brings plenty of that stiff offence here against Sting, hitting him with clotheslines which look as though they'd decapitate a normal human being. Sting retaliates though, with a rolling koppo kick no less! (Like wot that Tyler Bate chap does nowadays.) I'd always assumed that Sting was like Hulk Hogan: beloved because of his amazing charisma, but with limited technical ability. But I'm impressed by some of Sting's moves here. He hits a nice german suplex (even more impressive considering Vader's size) and then follows with a slingshot plancha! Admittedly I don't think he gets all of it, but Vader sells it generously.
By this point, Vader's mask has come off, and I wonder: is there actually a match where Vader's mask doesn't come off? It seems to be attached with blu-tack and sellotape. Underneath, Vader has possibly the weirdest haircut in wrestling, looking like a half-shaved bear. I think it kind of suits his character though. It looks as though he's taken a razor to to his own head, possibly without the aid of a mirror, and just gone to town on his hair. He looks unhinged.
Sting misses the splash but hits some nice big boots and then a DDT on Vader. I find it interesting that the DDT is being used as a transitional move even by this time. Based on the grumblings of many older fans, who lament its inability to finish matches these days, I always assumed that it had only recently become a throwaway move, but it doesn't even merit a cover here. Maybe the old Nostalgia Goggles are at work, or perhaps the relative power of moves just changes as they cycle in and out of popularity. After all, the piledriver, which is outright banned in the WWE and often finishes matches elsewhere, used to be a transitional move which was regularly kicked out of.
Sting sets Vader up on the top with impressive ease, and commentary (which is great by the way - was pleasantly surprised to hear JR's voice) questions how he'll be able to pull off a superplex. He manages it by modifying his technique so it's more of a snap superplex, or even something closer to a DDT. Either way, it looks really cool, and really gets across the weight of Vader, as well as Sting's power and innovation.
Sting applies the Scorpion Deathlock! I'm saying this now: I don't think it's very good. Maybe it's just Vader's size, but his legs are barely crossed when Sting cinches it in. It's certainly not a patch on Bret's Sharpshooter. Vader gets to the outside and Sting misses a Stinger Splash, crashing into the guardrail. Back in the ring, Vader takes over and hits a big jumping splash. He goes for the pin, but leans back too far and Sting slips out. Vader is not a happy bunny. He shouts something loudly enough for the camera to pick it up. The only word I hear is "SHIT". I'm not sure if he's still in character and annoyed that Sting kicked out, or legitimately angry because something went wrong. Either way it's scary. He gets Sting into a headlock and he's very obviously outlining the next portion of the match to him, so maybe it was the latter...
Vicious lariat from Vader to a seated Sting. Miraculously, Sting's head is still attached to his body, and he attempts a lovely sunset flip, and Vader tries to sit on him but misses. The crowd are into this, and firmly behind Sting. I realise that I am too, even though I started the match rooting for Vader. Sting has a real fire about him though, which is infectious.
Vader goes back to the headlock and obviously calls for Sting to suplex him out of it. His blatant calling of spots is starting to get slightly distracting now that I've noticed it. It's not something you see very often these days (except in Cena matches), presumably because things are planned more in advance. Vader gets back in control with lots of punches to the head. Sting is actually covering himself and trying to ward off the blows, which is something that so few wrestlers do. It makes it that more believable. He's also selling the punches perfectly, wobbling around the ring as though his legs could give out at any minute. There are few things I love more than great selling, and this is some top-draw stuff. There's some nice psychology here, which commentary picks up on: Sting is letting Vader tire himself out so he can counter-attack. Sure enough, Vader's punches start to get weaker, and Sting soon fires back with some of his own. This time, Vader's in 'SOME PAIN' and eventually goes down to the mat.
Sting hits an impressive Samoan Drop (at least I think it is - JR calls it a fallaway slam, but I'm fairly sure it isn't), and then a splash from the top rope. Harley Race is here though! I'd completely forgotten about him. He doesn't really add much to this. Vader takes advantage of the distraction with a chokeslam and then hits a great second rope splash. Ouch. He goes up again, this time to the top, and dives, but Sting is on his feet and catches Vader (sort of) into a powerslam (sort of) for the three count. It looks a bit ropey to me (Vader basically hits a somersault senton and Sting just follows him down), but that didn't bother me because it was such a creative finish. It also fits the psychology of the match really well: all the way through, Sting used Vader's own weight against him, letting him tire himself out and then taking advantage.
Concluding thoughts: I really enjoyed this match. It mostly moved at breakneck speed, with only a couple of strategic pauses to ramp up the tension. Vader is just a beast, and all his strikes look like they really mean business. All credit to Sting though: he really won me over as a babyface here, and I liked what I saw of him. I'll definitely have to check out more of his stuff. There was a solid story to the match too, even without knowing much of the background to it: Sting, the valiant hero, had to weather the storm of Vader's offence until the bigger man was tired, and then capitalise.
(I'm not going to do the ever-controversial star ratings, because those are for proper critics and that's not me. It would be presumptuous to rate wrestling when I only discovered it three years ago. It would be like someone rating movies when they'd only ever seen Shrek. Instead, I'll just give a short summary of my overall opinion and whether I'd watch it again.)
Verdict: Fun and fast-paced. Well worth a watch.
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