Originally posted on 03/30/2015:

Quote Originally Posted by Reload View Post
Was a way better card than expected. I had no hopes up but several of the key matches were done well.

I still think they should have kept the belt on Brock a bit longer. Rollins deserves it at some point but the timing still seems a little early.

The Sting v HHH chain of events was really something. Another case where the 1-1 match buildup on paper did not have much, but the way the got everyone else involved made this score big.
I thought the opposite of it actually. Now remember, I'm an old fogie that's been watching this entertainment since 1981, so I might have a biased opinion toward Sting here. I think this match personified why Sting never went to WWE in the first place. The McMahons will always hold contempt for the WCW days. Reasonably so, because WCW did everything they could to actually put them out of business, and were unsuccessful. Sting could have easily jumped to WWE like the rest of the roster, but I think he knew that he wouldn't have as much control of his career than he did by moving to WWA, and eventually TNA. He probably would have gotten a good 2-3 year push, and then would have been cast aside because of his age. Not only was he allowed to call his own shots, he did a great job being a "company man" for a second wrestling organization (TNA) even though the product stunk like WCW's when they were at their end.

Back to the match. After seeing the final result, I can see why they put Sting against HHH, instead of the much ballyhooed match with The Undertaker. They wanted to screw WCW while they were in the grave. This could have been a "screw it to the authority" segment, but instead it became a comical piece to remind everyone why WWE is still here, and everyone else is either not on par, or is gone. This angle was much more serious going up to the match. Then they decide to make it a "take us down memory lane" moment. Everyone knows the NWO guys are HHH buddies. Nothing with this angle worked. Why not have Rowen, Ziggler, and Ryback come out to Sting's defense? They were the ones that actually had a debt to pay back to Sting. The reason is obvious. This was a match made to feed Vince, Stephanie, and HHH's "We won, you lost" ego, and get it out of the way early in the card so HHH and Stephanie could get their kicks doing a Rock segment later in the card.

It shows why Sting made the decisions he made. Not only did he prolong his career by about 10 years by going again to the competition, but when he knew it was time to hang 'em up, he finally played his WWE card, and got him a DVD deal, a video game deal, a match at WrestleMania, and probably a spot in the HOF next year. He let the WWE have their moment because he knew it wouldn't hurt his career, and even more to me, it shows the good soldier he always was with the other organizations. He did everything on his terms. I didn't get the outcome I wanted, but I got a personal reminder of how the McMahons are, and what a great asset to the wrestling world Sting is/was.