AEW’s Sting has recently spoke about his controversial “Joke Sting” character – and revealed that the character is closer to his heart than any of his previous gimmicks.
The former WCW Champion went through many gimmicks in his career, from “Blade Runner” Sting, to Surfer Sting and to Crow Sting. However, one of his most famous gimmicks is his take on Heath Ledger’s Joker from “The Dark Knight”.
This character, known as Joker Sting, featured him altering his face paint to more clown-like, adding a big red smile to his usually black and white makeup. He also acted more erratically, telling jokes and taking on more of a crazed persona, which is the antithesis of what Sting usually stood for.
The character, while a big diversion from how he usually acted, was a big hit with the TNA fans in 2011. He won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship during this time and was very successful, feuding with fellow stars including Kurt Angle, Hulk Hogan and Mr Kennedy in some of the most memorable moments in TNA history.
Dubbed “The Insane Icon”, this Joker Sting character was a very important chapter in the incredible career of The Stinger. Now wrestling alongside Darby Allin in AEW (and soon to take part in Keiji Mutoh‘s final match), he is nearing the end of career and has been looking back at some of the most entertaining parts of his time in wrestling.
In an interview with The Ringer, Sting recently spoke about the origins of the “Joker Sting” character and explained how the character was the most like him than any other iteration of his gimmick. He revealed how his own personality is more manic and comedy-orientated than his TV persona usually allows.
“That’s really an extension of me. Most people don’t see that unless you get to know me. But I do have a personality, and I love to have fun. That’s why I can do the “Orange Cassidy spots” with ease. I love that kind of stuff. But I don’t know, it was something that I felt like I needed to, again, evolve and try something different and step out of the box and take risks.
I did, and I had so much fun. That one there was [over] more than any other character over the years. You talk to somebody like Kevin Nash. Marcus Bagwell … Lex Luger … the Steiner Brothers. They’ll tell you. It was just kind of who I was. I was constantly doing impersonations, doing voices and accents.
I can remember playing cards with Randy Savage in the dressing room. Every hand I was beating him, and every hand I was playing the part of a different person. And I was just on him and on him and on him. And he got so mad because I was taking his money and he [yells] ‘Knock it off! I feel like I’m playing 10 different people. It’s not fair.’ I love that kind of stuff with the ‘Joker’ Sting.”
He mentioned how he took elements of his Joker character for when he competed against Orange Cassidy – doing the comedy kick spots that made Freshly Squeezed one of the most popular wrestlers in the world. You can see the video of their brief interaction during an episode of AEW Dynamite where Darby Allin wrestled Wheeler Yuta.
