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In August 1990, a masked wrestler called the Black Scorpion showed up in WCW and targeted Sting. The entire angle was shrouded in mystery and fans wondered who this mystery man might be. This was someone with a connection to Sting and someone who threatened to take his title. The entire angle blew up and fans anxiously waited to see who was behind the mask. However, by the time the angle ended, no one really cared anymore, and the kicker is that WCW never had anyone in mind for who was behind the mask when it started. The angle drummed up interest, but WCW didn't have a payoff for the fans. This caused it to end up as one of the biggest wasted angles in WCW during the early 90s.
The Black Scorpion Was A Mysterious Wrestler Who Was Targeting Sting
In 1990, Sting was the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. This was not a situation that WCW was used to at the time. Throughout the 1980s, the NWA built itself on having a heel world champion and babyfaces chasing them and trying to bring them down. It was the opposite of WWE, which had a babyface world champion, taking down monster heels one by one. WCW could have set up the same situation, lining up monsters for Sting to knock down, but they chose to do something a little different. WCW brought in a new mysterious villain, known as The Black Scorpion, who almost dominated that Sting title reign.
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WCW set it up as a mystery. Black Scorpion was Sting's greatest nemesis. However, he didn't want Sting to know who he was, so he could torment the world champion through his taunting. He knew everything about Sting from his past. They were supposedly friends at one time, and he knew all of Sting's strengths and weaknesses. The vignettes included taking Gordon Solie to a mysterious location to interview him blindfolded. He often showed up in promo vignettes where he rambled on long diatribes that would have confused The Ultimate Warrior. Not only that, but he had magical powers he used to control people and at one time. He even turned a man into a leopard. Things got ridiculous by that time, and fans stopped caring about who was under the mask.
WCW Had No Plan For Who Black Scorpion Was Going To Be
The fact that fans began losing interest in who Black Scorpion was ended up being a good thing. When Ole Anderson created Black Scorpion, he had no idea who it was going to be in the end. It was Ole Anderson who revealed the behind-the-scenes origin of Black Scorpion in WCW during his RF Videos interview. Jim Herd was running WCW at the time and Ole was the head booker. However, the two rarely agreed. Ole said Herd wanted dumb comedy and Ole wanted old-school wrestling. Ole decided to throw something on the list that made no sense - The Black Scorpion and Sting. He never expected Herd to buy into it, especially if there was no explanation for what this even meant. However, Herd loved the idea.
According to Jim Ross, Ole Anderson told him they would figure out who was under that mask later, and he honestly didn't even care who it was. That was the worst thing that could have happened to this angle. Sting won the NWA World Championship from Nature Boy Ric Flair and then learned one of his first challengers was Black Scorpion at Clash of Champions. The first Black Scorpion promo left some hints, including "California in '86." The fact there was a clue there, but the writers had no idea who was behind the mask, helped this angle fail from the start.
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The Black Scorpion Reveal Was A Letdown That Made No Sense
Some fans thought WWE Champion Ultimate Warrior was coming to WCW, but that wasn't going to happen. Another guess was Angel of Death, who worked in WCW and was part of the same bodybuilding team Sting and Warrior were in. He even wrestled Sting as Black Scorpion at some house shows. However, that likely would have been an even bigger letdown. Sting and the Black Scorpion first fought at Clash of Champions. After Sting won the match, he unmasked Black Scorpion. However, the man had another mask on and got away without his identity revealed. This wrestler was Al Perez, but he didn't want to keep portraying the character, so WCW dropped those plans.
Sting fought Black Scorpion at house shows. However, different wrestlers portrayed him in these matches. While Ole Anderson tried to figure out who Black Scorpion was, Sting feuded with Sid Vicious. Black Scorpion returned after Sting beat Sid and had more clues about his identity. This led to more vignettes where the villain began using black magic to scare Sting on several occasions. Finally, Sting beat Black Scorpion in a steel cage match at Starrcade and unmasked him. It wasn't someone from Sting's past. Black Scorpion unmasked as Ric Flair. This made little sense, but Flair said he was just messing with Sting's mind. In an interview, Flair said WCW wanted Barry Windham unmasked as Black Scorpion, but he stepped in and offered to play the role to protect Windham, believing it could hurt Barry's career. WCW fired Ole Anderson after Starrcade and no one mentioned Black Scorpion again.
