The Icon is Finally a Hall of Famer

WWE Hall of Fame … … … IT’S SHOWTIME!

WCW closed its doors in March of 2001. After that we had years of speculation on what Sting, arguably the biggest name to spend his entire career down in Atlanta, would do next and when he would make his WWE debut. When that monumental moment finally occurred at the 2014 Survivor Series, it was an inevitability that his debut would ultimately lead to a Hall of Fame bid one day.

Welcome to that day!

Announced earlier today, the WWE has inducted the biggest star from their biggest competitor, Sting. With how big of a WrestleMania this is supposed to be this year, a top-tier name for the Hall of Fame ceremony the night before was needed – and WWE nailed it.

Sting made it to the NWA in the late 80’s and really came on the national scene when he defeated Ric Flair at the 1990 Great American Bash for his first World Heavyweight Championship. The Stinger would go on to win a total of 9 NWA/WCW World Heavyweight Championships throughout his career.

Granted not every moment Sting was involved in would exactly be considered monumental…I mean, the man did take on the 4 Horsemen with his tag team partner … RoboCop. You can’t put the blame on him though. He did what he could to keep the fledgling NWA show somewhat entertaining – though it was obvious that nothing could help the direction the NWA was headed at the time.

Possibly the biggest moment in Sting’s career came in 1996 when he traded in the neon tights and paint for the crow-based character that we are familiar with today. From September of that year through January of 1998 Sting became one of the most anticipated parts of Monday Nitro as he battled the nWo … without saying a word! Literally! Not one word!

In 2011, Triple H challenge The Undertaker to their WrestleMania match and the The Dead Man accepted, all with both men remaining silent. This was heralded as one of the best moments in recent Raw history.

Take that moment and multiply it by over 60 (weeks) and you have the impact that Sting had made during this run!

Shortly after that though, WCW started to go downhill and several stars started leaving the company and heading to WWE. Sting stayed put though. No one proved to be more loyal to WCW than Sting did. He took the reins of the company and ran with it until the many many captains of the ship allowed it to sink.

This induction continues the WWE’s streak of inductee someone that is long overdue for a spot in the Hall of Fame. In 2013, the gap was finally closed between WWE and its longest reigning champion in history as Bruno Sammartino went in. The following year the spotlight shown in The Ultimate Warrior in New Orleans. The Macho Man finally got the call for last year’s WrestleMania and now Sting is finally taking his rightful place alongside the business’ greats.

While this is just the first inductee, WWE is off to a great start. The speculation is on as to who will join Sting in this year’s class. It will probably be a few weeks before more inductees start to be announced. Until then, just know that WWE got the headliner right for such a big event-The Man Called Sting.

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK OF STING AS THE HEADLINER OF THIS YEAR’S HALL OF FAME CLASS? WHO SHOULD JOIN HIM THIS YEAR? WHO SHOULD INDUCT HIM? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @FROM_THETOPROPE AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!