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Starrcade is just around the proverbial corner. I have little doubt that Hollywood Hogan will easily beat Sting and retain the world heavyweight title. Hogan is the most accomplished wrestler of his time, he has the most efficient organization in wrestling history behind him, and Sting simply isn't very good.
But the NWO got where it is due to excruciatingly detailed planning, so right now I'm sure Hogan, Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and the rest of the NWO braintrust are playing the "What if?" game. As in, what if Sting beats Hogan?
If Sting does manage to beat Hogan, the NWO must do three things:
*Prepare Hogan for an immediate rematch.
*Try to get Hall and/or Nash matches against Sting. I believe the NWO's greatest potential for a long-term world championship run is with Hall and/or Nash.
*Go recruiting.
The third demandment (Don't you just love the old Hoganisms?) is doubtless the most intriguing. I believe that, not including current NWO members, there are two men that would stop Sting dead in his tracks.
Ric Flair and Lex Luger.
Despite the longtime rivalry between Hogan and Flair and the obvious dislike Hall and Nash have for the Nature Boy, signing Flair would be a huge coup for the NWO. He is the greatest wrestler of all time, he is the 13-time world heavyweight champ, and he was the founder of the Four Horsemen, the obvious predecessor of the NWO concept.
And he has always been Sting's worst nightmare.
Go back to the spring of 1990, when Sting beat Flair for the world title at the Great American Bash in Baltimore. Everyone thought Sting had settled in for a long run with the belt, that he would be WCW's standard-bearer for years to come.
Didn't happen.
Flair tormented Sting with a fictional wrestler called the Black Scorpion for the rest of 1990. The Scorpion was actually played by several men -- including Ole Anderson, Barry Windham and the imminently forgettable Al Perez -- but when Black Scorpion wrestled Sting in a cage at Starrcade, he turned out to be Flair. Sting won that day, but his psyche was so shot that Flair beat him for the title in January, 1991, and pretty much dominated the belt for most of the next three years.
Flair is a bit long in the tooth, but he can play psychological games better than anyone, ever. Sting's killer mime persona wouldn't scare him one bit. Flair has beaten Sting many times before. He can beat him again.
Lex Luger is another possibility for the white-and-black attack.
Sting is obviously a man who can be thrown by betrayal -- Witness what happened when WCW fans and wrestlers mistakenly thought Sting had gone NWO after witnessing certain acts by NWO Sting (you know, the guy with the pec implants that's a star in Japan now). Sting flipped out. He disappeared for awhile, then came back as a nutbar. Seriously, look at that makeup. That outfit. Hanging out in arena rafters and under rings. The man might be tough, he might draw fans, but he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
That was accidental betrayal. Understandable betrayal. Betrayal based on a twist of fate, on mistaken identity.
Imagine if Sting's best friend betrayed him. Betrayed him in unmistakable fashion -- with, say, a metal forearm to the head and a human torture rack.
Luger would be a credit to the NWO. He can wrestle, he can fight, he's kind of sneaky, he's got weird hair, he's not afraid to come at you with a cheap shot. He calls himself The Total Package, which is wrong, that moniker clearly belongs to Buff Bagwell. But if the NWO got Luger, they'd have more packages than UPS at Christmastime.
Lex Luger is Sting's best friend.
If Luger turned, it would make Sting even crazier. Or maybe it would make him sane. Either way, he would probably be less dangerous.
So there it is, the NWO's post-Christmas shopping list: Flair and Luger.
I know what you're thinking -- Ric Flair and Lex Luger are long-time WCW guys. Why would they turn NWO?
Because they've turned so many times before.
Fans cheer Flair and Luger now. But they've been booed during their careers. Quite often, actually. Truth be told, they've turned so many times that it's a wonder they haven't corkscrewed themselves into the ground by now.
Flair and Luger are both totally self-centered egomaniacs who are both former members of the Four Horsemen.
Hmmm...selfish sons-of-guns who have someone managed to work quite effectively within the confines of a team concept before.
Sounds like NWO to me.
By the way, I would like to congratulate my main men Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for signing four-year contract extensions to keep competing in WCW rings. The ramifications of Hall having four more years are awesome. I mean, can you imagine the data he can compile with his Nitro survey over a four-year span? The level of statistical accuracy will be awesome. Score another one for the bad guys.
Happy holidays to all. Me writing for the NWO web site is like Curt Hennig -- too good to be true. For you, that is, lucky reader.
