Black Scorpion

Scott,

I fondly remembered late 80s into the pre-Hogan era of WCW from when I was a kid.  As such, I've been walking down memory lane by watching the PPVS and Clashes of that era.  I just finished the Great American Bash 90, with Sting finally takes down Flair for the title in a good-very good match.  The crowd pops huge for him, he's super over, and the very next big sow he's wrestling a Black Scorpion, only to discover it's not the "real" Black Scorpion.  Not to mention the Halloween Havoc magic show where Sting comes off looking like an idiot for not running over and saving the girl.  It had me thinking: WTF the WCW?  Was there someone who was going to come over from WWF and be the Black Scorpion before they ended up with Flair?  I mean, if they were going to end with Flair the whole time, there is way cooler ways they could have gone about the angle.  Thanks for all the free writing you've done over the years.  Been a long time reader since Wrestleline/Rantsylvania.

First up, apologies for leaving the creepy Weird Al picture up all weekend.  I didn’t realize I had left the shuffle feature turned off.  Hope I didn’t destroy my fanbase i the span of two days. 

OK, yeah, the Black Scorpion.  No, there was never any intention of bringing anyone over from the WWF, but that was what they were trying to make you think was going to happen.  The angle was built up by an infamous series of voice-distorted promos (done by booker Ole Anderson) hinting that the Scorpion was a partner from Sting’s past.  The marks were supposed to think of Jim “Ultimate Warrior” Hellwig, who teamed with Sting as part of Powerteam USA during their rookie year.  However, what they were actually going to deliver was The Angel of Death, who was also part of that team but not a particularly big star.   But as if that wouldn’t be disappointing enough, Angel pulled out before they could sign him, leaving them with no Scorpion and no viable payoff.  Because it was, you know, WCW. 

Now, for the fantasy booking portion of the post, I would have begged Eddie Gilbert to play the part, because he was a reasonably big star and used to team with Sting.  Rick Steiner also would have worked, but he would never have agreed to turn heel and fans wouldn’t have bought it.  Would have been sweet, though.