For many fans watching wrestling in the late 1990s and beyond, Sting is the wrestler with the trenchcoat and face paint inspired by the 1994 movie The Crow, with an all-white (or red) face with black accents. It’s an iconic look, and one that Sting has kept with slight variations since he debuted it in WCW way back in 1996. Because of that, it’s easy to forget what came before.

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From the late 1980s to 1996, Sting was no dark avenger of the night, but rather an excitable babyface surfer with bleach blond hair and colorful face paint. He achieved a lot during this run, so let’s take a look at the period commonly referred to as “Surfer Sting.”

10 Started In a Heel Tag Team

Fans of Sting — surfer or Crow — may be surprised to find out that the Stinger was not only introduced as a tag team specialist, but also as a villain. One half of the Blade Runners in the Universal Wrestling Federation (formerly Mid-South) alongside the future Ultimate Warrior, Sting was part of Eddie Gilbert’s heel group Hot Stuff & Hyatt International — that is, until Gilbert turned on Sting. After being rescued from a beatdown by babyface Chris Adams, Sting turned face himself, and began to don the surfer look that would define his career for several years.

9 Elevated By Wrestling Ric Flair In WCW

Backstage, Sting was slated for big things as a babyface singles star when Jim Crockett Promotions (later WCW) bought UWF, incorporating many of its performers into WCW television. WCW saw potential in Sting as well, and sought to elevate him to star status. What did it was the main event of the first-ever Clash of the Champions, wherein Sting challenged top star Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Title to a time limit draw and an indecisive jury. It was the relative rookie’s ability to fight Flair to a standstill that gave him a ton of credibility.

8 Four Horsemen Member

Even more surprising than his tag team origins is that Sting and Ric Flair actually teamed up in these early days. After Sting rescued Flair from an attack by Terry Funk and Great Muta of the J-Tex Corporation, Sting not only joined with Flair against feuding with the stable, but also became a member of Flair’s faction, The Four Horsemen.

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However, when Sting won a tournament to become #1 Contender to Flair’s World Title at Starrcade ‘89, Flair urged him to give up his right to challenge. When Sting refused, the was kicked out of the group, and their rivalry was rekindled.

7 NWA World Heavyweight Champion

An injury kept Sting from challenging Flair immediately after Starrcade, so his match and subsequent victory happened over the summer at The Great American Bash, with Sting becoming NWA World Heavyweight Champion for the first time. While lasting a solid 188 days, this reign had some memorably silly moments, like an impostor Sting being used as a decoy to defeat Sid Vicious. More disastrous was his title feud with the mysterious masked villain Black Scorpion, whom WCW would lazily reveal to be Ric Flair all along.

6 Friends/Enemies With Lex Luger

Aside from Ric Flair, Sting’s biggest relationship during his surfer days would be with Lex Luger, who filled in for Sting as Flair’s babyface challenger post-Starrcade ‘89. By this point, Sting and Luger had already had a rivalry, but ended up becoming friends and even challenged The Steiner Brothers for the Tag Team Title in a standout match at the first SuperBrawl pay-per-view. In 1995, Sting and Luger would finally capture tag team gold together, defeating Harlem Heat and holding the belts for 154 days.

5 Opposed The Dangerous Alliance

From 1991 to 1992, one of the top heel groups in WCW was the Dangerous Alliance, managed by Paul E. Dangerously. Mortal enemies of WCW, it was only natural that the Dangerous Alliance focused their efforts on a top face like Sting. It all led, as stable-based feuds should, with a WarGames match, and one that’s considered the best in WCW history, as Sting led Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, and Nikita Koloff against the Alliance’s Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, and Larry Zbyszko at WrestleWar ‘92.

4 Feud With Vader

After finishing up with the Dangerous Alliance, Sting was able to focus on his feud with the monster heel known as Big Van Vader. At this point Sting was World Champion, and their big title match at The Great American Bash ‘92 would end with Vader as the new champion.

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The two would clash numerous times in acclaimed bouts, with Sting beating Vader in a tournament at Starrcade ‘92 and Vader beating Sting in a non-title strap match at SuperBrawl III. They’d even trade the World Title at house shows, but Sting would fail to dethrone Vader and keep the belt.

3 International Heavyweight Champion

The forgotten WCW International Heavyweight Title would come into existence as a result of WCW’s split from the NWA, with WCW creating the belt and awarding it to Ric Flair. Sting would hold this title twice in 1994, first defeating Ric Rude for it and then defeating Vader to capture the belt after it was vacated. That second reign would last a month and end with a title unification match against WCW World Champion Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions 27, which Flair would win thanks to a last-minute heel turn.

2 Betrayed For A Four Horsemen Reunion

At this point, Flair has already turned on Sting at least twice, with another major betrayal to come. In 1995, Ric Flair was on the outs with former Horsemen buddy Arn Anderson, and Flair begged Sting to join him in a match against Anderson and partner Brian Pillman at Halloween Havoc. Sting reluctantly agreed, and the stage was set for the turn. Flair had been taken out in an early attack, forcing Sting to wrestle solo against the two heels — that is, until Flair heroically joined Sting, only to ultimately side with his supposed enemies, forming a new iteration of the Four Horsemen in the process.

1 Distrust Caused His Evolution Into Crow Sting

WCW’s landmark New World Order storyline in 1996 meant a lot of defections to the invading group, including top babyface superstar Hulk Hogan. It seemed like anyone could turn on WCW, and there was a pointed distrust among the WCW contingent directed at the Stinger, including from buddy/rival Lex Luger. This tension would come to a head in the WCW vs. nWo WarGames match at Fall Brawl ‘96, which featured not only (another) impostor Sting on the nWo side, but the real Sting beating up the entire New World Order and angrily walking out on his own team. At this point, Sting was already growing his hair out and ditched the bleach blond dye job, so when he resurfaced a month later in all black with white face paint, he was pretty much the Sting fans know today.