{"id":91801,"date":"2020-01-15T12:27:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=91801"},"modified":"2020-01-15T12:27:28","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T18:27:28","slug":"interview-highlights-nwo-sting-jeff-farmer-updates-what-hes-been-up-to-since-his-career-ended-wcw-locker-room-politics-time-in-japan-did-tna-contact-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/01\/15\/interview-highlights-nwo-sting-jeff-farmer-updates-what-hes-been-up-to-since-his-career-ended-wcw-locker-room-politics-time-in-japan-did-tna-contact-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview Highlights: NWO Sting Jeff Farmer updates what he&#8217;s been up to since his career ended, WCW locker room politics, time in Japan, did TNA contact him"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-786512530\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><em>Jeff Farmer, who wrestled most famously as NWO Sting (the &#8220;imposter Sting&#8221; on WCW Monday Nitro), spoke with James Walsh of Wrestling Epicenter this week about his time on WCW TV and what he&#8217;s done since. The following are highlights as transcribed by the show&#8217;s producers and provided to PWTorch.com. You can listen now at www.WrestlingEpicenter.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>\u2022On what he\u2019s been up to since leaving wrestling:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI retired a number of years ago and went back to school and got my Masters from the University of Miami. Now, I work for the University. I make a few (wrestling) appearances every now and then but not very many. My roots are in Japan and I actually was back there I wrestled there last year for (The Great) Muta and I think I\u2019m going over there this year as well. But, other than that, I pretty much have hung the boots up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On doing wrestling conventions:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, I haven\u2019t done too many of those. Scott (Norton), I\u2019m good buddies with Scott. He\u2019s invited me to a few. But, I really haven\u2019t done too many. But, when I was in Tokyo last year, I got to meet a lot of the fans. The Japanese fans are amazing and it was a thrill to get back in the ring after 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the Cobra character and if it was based on G.I. Joe or the Sylvester Stallone movie:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201c(Laughs) Great question! I started off in a tag team called Thunder and Lightning with my good friend Clark Haynes. The Cobra character, it wasn\u2019t really based on the Stallone movie. It was kind of a covert military kind of thing. I didn\u2019t really flush it out that well. But, I thought it was interesting. I would give a dog tag off to a kid in the crowd and then give a salute so it had some interactive components to it. So, I thought it was an OK character. But, again, I didn\u2019t really think about the future or even the back story. Of course, they did a little (back story) with (Craig \u201cPitbull\u201d) Pittman later. But, I thought it was an Ok character. I think it had potential. But, it was tough with the talent in WCW. Where do you put them? How much TV time do they get? But, again, it was a decent character. But, they didn\u2019t do that much with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On his feud with Craig Pittman having cool entrances:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYeah, I was under the ring one night and came up from behind him. It was fun. But, you had to have the right kind of backing for those things to really work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On looking a lot like Sting physically before he played the NWO Sting:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThat is exactly, probably, the reason Eric Bischoff asked me to do the NWO Sting. Steve (Borden, Sting) and I were similar sized and looked relatively close.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the prosthetics used to make him look more like Sting for the Lex Luger limo segment:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThey had an AFX guy, I think his name was Andre. He was working in Hollywood but he was doing side stuff for WCW. He took a mold of Steve\u2019s head, like of his facial features, and then they took a mold of my head. His forehead brows, like on his forehead, were bigger. Then, of course, I had lighter eyes and he had dark eyes. I had this prosthetic thing on my face to make it more like his face. It looked really close! But, after a while, we dropped the prosthetics because we didn\u2019t need it because of the paint. No one was looking at our skills to see if they were a match. And then, the contacts. The contects were terrible! I remember when I put those on, I had never worn contacts before. It was really difficult for me to see with those on! I remember when I went to attack Lex, it kind of moved and I couldn\u2019t see him. But, no one knew that part!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the original NWO really sparking the Monday Night Wars and \u201cAttitude Era\u201d as it is known now:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, I agree with you. It was amazing to be apart of. And, coming out as Sting at Fall Brawl and everyone thinkint it was Sting and the swerve, it was just a great time in wrestling to be a part of. The amount of attention, from the fans, that the nWo was able to generate! It was amazing! Credit to Hogan, Hall, Nash, and (Eric) Bischoff for the success of the group. It was really an amazing feat to see it make wrestling so popular.\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1250680089\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the NWO Sting character having more legs in the U.S. than it was given:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cThe character was great because it could have been like an evil twin like Batman or a Spider Man with Black Spiderman or whatever you want to call it, like a dark super hero and Sting was like a super hero. Of course, this was not any of my idea. Eric Bischoff told me if it leaks or gets out, they\u2019re going to squash it. Again, this was above my pay grade but the character could have been a pain for Sting and a thorn in hsi side for the long haul. Maybe, down the road, they could end up on the same side and there could have been a Sting tag team and they fight together. But, there were so many things they could have done with it, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the character not being a clone of Sting:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, initially, it was designed to fool everybody. But, after a while, you know, I never wore the singlets that he wore. I always had my own tights. On the face paint, I put in a few more lines so it would be obvious that I wasn\u2019t trying to be Sting, I was trying to mock Sting and be a bad version of Sting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the success of the character in Japan:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIn Japan, I was the nWo Sting and I did that character for years, like two or three years. I had hundreds of matches as nWo Sting. The Japanese fans knew that I was not trying to be Sting and it was its own character. In the US, it wasn\u2019t really presented that way at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On his likeness making it to the back cover of a Sting DVD because WWE couldn\u2019t tell the difference:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201c(laughs) No, no royalties! I heard about that. That picture, I think, was taken when I was in Japan. I think I had Hiro Saito in a little grip there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the NWO&#8217;s popularity in traditionally WWE markets:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, there was a war goign on! It was a great time. It was almost like a race because you had the ratings war, the buys war. And, you know, it was a great time for the boys too because if you were unhappy, you had a little leverage to go to the other side, maybe? I think that was kind of lost after the sale of WCW. You know? You have McDonalds and Burger King! You don\u2019t want to have just one choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On comparing his experience in the NWO in WCW and in Japan:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cFor sure. In WCW, there were a lot of little clicks and nepotism and you never really knew who was on whose side. In Japan, it was just straight forward wrestling. I would get there, my name would be on the board, I thrived in that environment much more than in WCW. It wasn\u2019t anybody\u2019s fault. It was just that there was a lot of talent in WCW and everybody was fighting for TV time and we (WCW) didn\u2019t really have space for it all. It was just a different time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On if he ever was contacted to reprise the \u201cSting\u201d persona in TNA:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cIf it was ever discussed, no one ever contacted me about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On AEW bringing wrestling back to TNT:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cI think it is great! I started a long tme ago and there were still territories\u2026 Wrestling was a lot different. More old school and I hate to say that because I know a lot of guys are like, \u201cOh yeah, it was old school when we did this and were on the road.\u201d I think you have a tremendous opportunity today with social media to reach so many people. If you think about it, you only had the time you were on TV to connect, get over, get noticed, or whatever you want to call it. Now, with social media, you could follow somebody when they go home, when they\u2019re at the gym, when they\u2019re doing something else. That allows you a celebrity status that you couldn\u2019t attain when you were only on television for a certain amount of time and that is all you had. Now, with social media, it is a completely different era for wrestling. I think that is a plus!\u201d<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-4199204597\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u2022On if he watches the current product:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, I really don\u2019t. I did for a while when I first got out of it but I found it really frustrating me! (laughs) Becausse, when you know the business, it frusterates you to see things. You know? I didn\u2019t enjoy watching it so I don\u2019t watch it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On the Bullet Club and New Japan\u2019s success now:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, I think it is amazing. I say I don\u2019t watch it but that means I don\u2019t watch it regularly. I wrestled Tanahashi when he was just a young kid and I saw he just won the Heavyweight belt. He\u2019s an amazing talent. Chris Jericho, he\u2019s a friend of mine who I\u2019ve known from WCW, I know he goes back there. It really is a resurgance of New Japan. Scott and I talk about it back when we were there with Muta and Chono\u2026 We really thought we were the pinacle, and for us I guess it was the pinacle, of New Japan. But, they have an amazing crop of young talent. We were, as you said, kind of doing it in isolation. Unless you bought a tape or bootlegged it somehow&#8230; Now it is a lot easier for everyone to see these guys and that is great because there is a lot of great talent to watch over there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2022On final thoughts on the NWO and their induction in the WWE Hall of Fame:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cYou know, I just want to thank everyone who came out and see me or watched me. It was a lot of fun getting to perform in fromt of them and trick them and have them hate me or whatever that was. (laughs) It was an amazing thing to be even a small part of. And, congratulations to those guys (Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Syxx) going into the WWE Hall of Fame! It was something I was, again, just glad to be a part of!\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>RECOMMENDED NEXT:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2019\/10\/07\/interview-highlights-bret-hart-talks-about-the-wwe-hall-of-fame-fan-run-in-incident-the-lost-match-with-tom-magee-return-to-caesars-palace-goldberg-injuring-him\/\">INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS: Bret Hart talks about the WWE Hall of Fame fan run-in incident, the \u201cLost Match\u201d with Tom Magee, return to Caesar\u2019s Palace, Goldberg injuring him<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3292613341\"><div id=\"pwtor-2296262055\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Jeff Farmer, who wrestled most famously as NWO Sting (the &#8220;imposter Sting&#8221; on WCW Monday Nitro), spoke with James Walsh of Wrestling Epicenter this week about his time on WCW TV and what he&#8217;s done <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2020\/01\/15\/interview-highlights-nwo-sting-jeff-farmer-updates-what-hes-been-up-to-since-his-career-ended-wcw-locker-room-politics-time-in-japan-did-tna-contact-him\/\" title=\"Interview Highlights: NWO Sting Jeff Farmer updates what he&#8217;s been up to since his career ended, WCW locker room politics, time in Japan, did TNA contact him\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,4247],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_etc","category-interview-highlights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/07\/WCWNItro_3x2logo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91801"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91802,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91801\/revisions\/91802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}