A year, a Hall of Fame induction and a retirement later, the WrestleMania 31 match between Triple H and Sting remains one of the most controversial and anger-inducing in recent memory. How are you gonna wait this long to bring in Sting, just to have him lose to Triple H in a story that almost ignores the Stinger completely in favor of a D-Generation X vs. nWo battle? Why are Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan helping Sting? HOW DID STING CUT A SLEDGEHAMMER IN HALF WITH A BASEBALL BAT?
It’s not just fans who were unhappy. Both Stone Cold Steve Austin and Ric Flair criticized the match, with Austin putting it best: “If you’re going to bring Sting in, put him over.”
One person who was totally fine with it? Sting. In a conversation with Sports Illustrated Extra Mustard, Sting said folks were too worried about the result and that he had a great time just being there.
The quote:
“People took the loss personally, but in this business, you have to learn real quick not to take anything that personally. For me, it was a memory just being in Levi Stadium in California, my home state, with that crowd there.”
I guess the big difference there is seeing the match from the point of view of a performer who got paid a lot of money, and got to have a fun match featuring a bunch of legends on wrestling’s biggest stage in front of tens of thousands of people, as opposed to the POV of a regular wrestling fan wanting to be entertained by a thing that makes sense and feels right. Sting vs. Triple H is one of the dumbest Mania matches ever, but it’s also one of the most absurd and entertaining, so your mileage may vary.
Don’t take it personally. Triple H vs. Booker T at WrestleMania, though, take that one super personally.
