TNA Region, Fourth Round, 3 Stages of Hell: (2) Sting vs. (3) Bret Hart

[klunderbunker]

This is a fourth round match in the TNA Region. It is a 3 Stages of Hell match, held at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. One week has passed since the third round, so some injuries or fatigue may be a factor.

Rules: This is a two out of three falls match. Each round has a different gimmick. The first fall is a tables match, the second fall is a street fight won by pin or submission, the third fall is a cage match, won by pin, submission or escape.

#2. Sting

Vs.

#3. Bret Hart

​

Polls will be open for five days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[DarksideEric]

I think this is a tough match to call since these two men are basically close to equals I would imagine, save for Sting having a stronger legacy.

I'm going to vote a bit personally rather than objectively since it is such a close match (for me anyway).

Sting takes the tables match.

Bret takes the Street Fight and the Cage.

To my knowledge, Bret has always done fairly well (if not really well) inside both situations.

I like both competitors, but since it's they're fairly equal to me I have to go with my personal favorite.

 

[Mac Attack]

The way I have it going down is that Bret Hart would win the Tables match as I believe he has a better record than Sting in them, Sting wins the Street Fight with his bat cause that's more of his thing and these always go to the third fall, and I feel like Bret would win the Steel Cage match as I have shades of his Yokozuna match going in my head, however it be really close I think.

 

[Bernkastel]

To me it really wouldn't matter who would win what fall, because Sting should take the match pretty easily. Bret is overrated in the fact that he wasn't that big of a star and his biggest claim to fame is the fact that he was "screwed." Sting was arguably WCW's biggest draw in the 90's, and was right up there with Austin and Rock as far as being a lucrative money maker. Sting even remained relevant to a degree as he was still active and competing, and exposed to a television audience. Even 15 years later fans are still clamoring to see that one match between Sting and Undertaker even if both look like death.

I may not have liked the fact that he got past Santo, but I've got to give Sting his due here. He's a much bigger star than Bret and deserves the win.

Voting Stinger.

 

[nightmare]

Stinger takes this one. Bret was great & very methodical, but when Sting gets going he is a force that far better than Hart have rarely been able to take down.


Face paint worn & blood starting to dry- Sting moves on to the next round after a tough & edge of your seat cage match.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Sting defeated Hulk Hogan less than 100 miles from here in a Steel Cage (a piece of apparatus, the Hulkster was no stranger too in has career) at WCW Malice In The Palace. He also defeated Hogan in the same type of match in Hogan's position of power (the North East) in Boston at WCW Boston Brawl. The Stinger also brought down another Steel Cage specialist in Ric Flair at WCW Starrcade '90 in that exact environment.

For me, stip and location both point to the Stinger!

 

[HBsam31]

To me the stipulation favors Sting. Sting was also a bigger star than Bret. Sting was one of the biggest stars WCW had for a time. In Bret's defense he carried WWE on his back after Hogan, Savage, and Warrior were gone, but I think Sting would be able to win 2 falls out of three against Bret. What a match this would be, but Sting moves on.

 

[X]

Man I guess I'm in the minority that's voting for Bret here than. I love Sting, and he was a huge draw during that 97 feud with the NWO, but I feel like the stipulation benefits Hart if anyone. Hart is used to wrestling long matches going back to his Stampede days and they used just as many gimmicks there too. Sting is great at gimmick matches no doubt (his strap match with Vader comes to mind) but I see no reason why the Hitman couldn't win it. No he wasn't quite the draw Sting was at his peak, but I'd say he was definitely the better all-around worker. Battle of the sharpshooter vs. scorpion death lock, and I'll take the Sharpshooter thank you very much.

 

[nightmare]

Sting took down a gang of misfits on a weekly basis, using a baseball bat. So the street fight portion against Bret would be no problem. Add his impressive wins in the cage, I give the last fall to him over Bret.


I love the Hitman, but this has Sting written all over it.

 

[DarksideEric]

Sting took down a gang of misfits on a weekly basis, using a baseball bat. So the street fight portion against Bret would be no problem. Add his impressive wins in the cage, I give the last fall to him over Bret.

I love the Hitman, but this has Sting written all over it.

Bret's beaten the Toughest Son of a Bitch in what equates to a Street Fight, the Submission Match.

I think it's a really, really close match regardless of who actually wins.

 

[Tastycles]

It's a tough one, and I think in terms of credentials and so forth, it's pretty much level pegging. Therefore I'm just going with what I prefer, and that's Sting, who in my opinion is a highly entertaining performer.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Bret's beaten the Toughest Son of a Bitch in what equates to a Street Fight, the Submission Match.

I think it's a really, really close match regardless of who actually wins.

Actually, he met Austin in a street fight... didn't work out so well...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ml4p_raw-21-04-1997-austin-vs-bret-hart_sport​

Considering that this was a pre-prime Austin, that doesn't bode well for Bret against an in prime Sting.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

WCW was known for its gimmicks when Sting was in his prime, cage matches and street fights were a lot more common in WCW than in WWE in the early 90's (when I consider both guys at their prime) and from what I know neither guy has been in a tables match (although to win should be fairly easy for both). On the gimmick front I think I have to give Sting the advantage, although Bret isn't a stranger to Street Fights or Cage matches.

Up to this point Bret has had an easier schedule than Sting which plays a factor as Sting had a fairly tough match against Santo (although he beat Baba pretty easy), not to mention its a 3 stage of hell match so my guess is by the 3rd fall Bret will have an advantage over Sting based on that alone. I know Sting was a big name in his prime but he wasn't as big of a name as Bret, he wasn't as big of a draw as Bret either and that's the cold hard truth, Bret's a bigger name than Sting, end of story. I also think Sting is much more overrated than Bret Hart too, just my opinion. Say what you want about Bret's drawing but when Sting was on top WCW was routinely losing 9-10 million dollars a year, and Bret's audience never went from 10,000 to 500 like Stings audience did at a point when Sting was the top guy. These are important things to remember because it shows that Sting's name alone was never enough to keep the company profitable, Bret at times was able to make WWE profitable and it was at a time the WWE could have easily went under, around the globe Bret's a big draw, much bigger than Sting.

I always felt Sting was a good guy to cheer for, but ultimately he needed a hand, he needed someone to fall back on whether it was Flair, Cactus or Vader, Bret didn't have that problem and he often made his opponent better and more of a threat just by working with him, Sting's just not as good as Bret Hart in the long run, he's not as big of a draw, he's not as big of a name and although the stipulation favors him to a point, his match with Santo took a lot out of him and Bret is the type of guy that would exploit that to its upmost. All things considered I see no reason to vote for Sting.

Vote Bret. Don't let the "Bret is overrated" remarks misguide you to who would ultimately win this match.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

They should call this the Edge Invitational. Both guys are two of the most overrated and over decorated wrestlers in history. Very even match. For me it comes down to who had more meaningful title reigns so I voted for Bret.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

"Meaningful reigns" - Sting overcame the nWo, in the process galvanizing the whole WCW roster that the war wasn't lost. What meaningful reign did Hart ever have? Sting's most famous for winning World Titles against Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, Bret is most famous for losing World Titles to Shawn Michaels.

"Sting didn't draw" - Hogan faced many, many opponents as a face and a heel. When was WCW most successful? When he went up against Sting.
When did the WWF wrestle control from WCW in the Monday Night Wars? When Hart joined the nWo (1st time) and when he was repeatedly screwing Goldberg (when WWF passed and never looked back).

"Sting's more physically drained than Hart"... ! Sting has had a week to recover from facing a cruiserweight. Wrestlers perform night in, night out and Sting has worked programs against Flair, Vader, Hogan etc. I think he'll be just fine physically.

 

[DarksideEric]

Actually, he met Austin in a street fight... didn't work out so well...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ml4p_raw-21-04-1997-austin-vs-bret-hart_sport​

Considering that this was a pre-prime Austin, that doesn't bode well for Bret against an in prime Sting.

I know he met Austin in an actual Street Fight.

He also met Austin in a Submission Match, which is pretty much a Street Fight.

How did that turn out?

 

[Poop Master Flex]

"Meaningful reigns" - Sting overcame the nWo, in the process galvanizing the whole WCW roster that the war wasn't lost. What meaningful reign did Hart ever have? Sting's most famous for winning World Titles against Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, Bret is most famous for losing World Titles to Shawn Michaels.

Sting overcame the nWo? If by overcoming the nWo you mean getting pinned in the middle of the ring at Starrcade (even if the whole Bret thing overturned it) and joining the nWo Wolfpac only to be taken out by Bret Hart then yeah he sure overcame the nWo. Who did Sting lose the title to? Savage, an nWo member. Did Sting ever get that win back? No. He didn't overcome the nWo that's bullshit and his his HUGE match at Starrcade helped cripple WCW, it didn't do that company any good, at least the Montreal Screwjob helped WWE in a huge way when they needed the help.

Bret may not have had any huge title reigns (its not like Sting's were anything special either) but he had some big moments, big feuds and Bret would often overcome numerous obstacles to be on top. Even with guys like Flair putting over Sting huge, even with how much Sting was protected in the early 90's he never got as popular as Bret did at that time.

Sting had his big moment when facing Hogan, but it ultimately did nothing for nobody and caused much more damage than it did good and nothing he ever did before after comes close to what Bret did when he was on top and main eventing Summerslam '92 (like Bret did) is pretty damn good business.

"Sting didn't draw" - Hogan faced many, many opponents as a face and a heel. When was WCW most successful? When he went up against Sting.
When did the WWF wrestle control from WCW in the Monday Night Wars? When Hart joined the nWo (1st time) and when he was repeatedly screwing Goldberg (when WWF passed and never looked back).

Sting did draw....... when he had a bigger draw to work with, all of Stings biggest feuds he wasn't the top draw in that feud. Sting did draw with Hogan, big time, but the nWo was the most popular thing in wrestling at the time as well and the nWo is what ultimately got the WCW over WWE, NOT Sting! You know who another face that drew well during that time? DDP during his feud with Savage and it was DDP turning down the nWo that did it, he wasn't a second thought before then. Usually its the faces that draw, this isn't one of those times. In Sting's biggest feuds/moments, it was always the heel doing the lions share of the drawing.

"Sting's more physically drained than Hart"... ! Sting has had a week to recover from facing a cruiserweight. Wrestlers perform night in, night out and Sting has worked programs against Flair, Vader, Hogan etc. I think he'll be just fine physically.

El Santo is one of the most popular wrestler's in the history of Mexico and Sting also had to fight Baba (by no means a small guy) in the round before that. Bret's matches have been pretty much all blowouts too which suggests he's gonna be in better shape than Sting. All things considered its wrestling so its not gonna matter much however it would still go in Bret's favor.

Overall I think both guys are overrated but Sting is much more overrated in my eyes than Bret will ever be. Sting was a great wrestler but he wasn't a great wrestler on his own, he often needed a leader, Bret Hart is a leader.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

"Meaningful reigns" - Sting overcame the nWo, in the process galvanizing the whole WCW roster that the war wasn't lost. What meaningful reign did Hart ever have? Sting's most famous for winning World Titles against Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, Bret is most famous for losing World Titles to Shawn Michaels

I am not claiming to have any integrity when it comes to this tournament or life in general so it is easy for me to say that I didn't care for Sting's NWO program at all. It drained the life out of the show for me. It got stale fast and wasn't that interesting in the first place. I much prefer surfer Sting to any other Sting and more than Bret Hart but if we talk prime everyone credits Rafterman as Sting's prime.

Bret Hart's career is better than Rafterman.