Joker Sting recently reappeared in AEW, on the road to their biggest show of all time at Wembley Stadium.
After Darby Allin and Nick Wayne defeated the Gates of Agony on Dynamite, Swerve led his Mogul Embassy stable to the ring to attack.
That was when Sting appeared, with the subtlest “Joker” make-up and a new attitude, holding Prince Nana hostage behind the scenes.
In the promo, Sting said “This is real fun stuff. I’m directing movies. The Stinger is directing movies now, and I got a great leading man, and I’ll get into that in a minute.”
“Fox, this is for you. You better have eyes in the back of your head 24/7 from this moment forward. Why? Well because we have a coffin match in 9 days.”
Prince Nana then corrected Sting, saying it was 11 days until All In. Joker Sting then continued.
“Wembley Stadium. London England. 80,000 people yes! I love it! The red blood cells are already moving. Tell em leading man, tell em!”.
Nana then asked why Sting needed to speak to him, to which the WWE Hall of Famer replied;
“I’m glad you asked that question. Well, I guess the only thing left to say is, it’s showtime! It’s showtime, folks.”
This attitude was a clear reference to Joker Sting from TNA. Sting has always said how popular the character was in the UK, so it makes sense he would bring this persona back for AEW’s debut at Wembley Stadium.
Sting On The Origin Of Joker Sting
AEW’s Sting has recently spoke about his controversial “Joker 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.
Sting 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.
Sting revealed how his own personality is more manic and comedy-orientated than his TV persona usually allows, and helped make Joker Sting a big success in TNA.
“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.
Whilst Joker Sting has not made it’s way into AEW just yet, elements of the character have been seen on the program.
As mentioned, the interaction with Orange Cassidy had elements of the character, although only recently has the full brunt of the gimmick been seen.
In a recent promo with MJF and Darby Allin, Sting referenced the Joker Sting gimmick by name, when recanting many different times in his career.
His promo also had elements of the crazed character, which included throwing pompoms at MJF, claiming he “had a fever only pompoms could fix”.
Click the link below to learn more about this modern “Joker Sting” promo.
Hamish is a writer and podcaster and wrestling fan who is a key part of the Atletifo team.
After playing countless hours of WrestleMania X8 on the Gamecube, he discovered Rey Mysterio getting his head crushed by The Great Khali, and thus a love for professional wrestling was born.
He is also a Media Graduate, as well as writing for multiple sites about Premier League football and the culture of Wales – his home country.
