Brian Damage
In the mid-90s the nWo Sting was an important catalyst in turning the real life Sting’s character from blonde haired surfer Sting into The Crow inspired version. In this latest piece we ask Whatever Happened to Jeff Farmer, the man behind the nWo Sting facepaint?
Jeff Farmer started his wrestling career in the early 1990’s getting his first real big opportunity in 1993 as a part of a tag team called ‘Thunder and Lightning’ in WCW. Farmer was the Lightning half of that duo. The team really didn’t make too much noise and eventually disbanded with Farmer going to the independents before returning to WCW repackaged.
Farmer returned to WCW a year after leaving with a totally new gimmick. He would wrestle under the moniker of ‘Cobra.’ Cobra was a military gimmick and he was the mortal enemy of Sgt. Craig ‘Pitbull’ Pittman. The two would feud for a brief time…but once again, the character didn’t get over and Farmer found himself just floating around the rest of the year.
In 1996, when the nWo exploded on the scene, Farmer got his biggest break yet. In what was apparently suppose to be a one shot deal…Farmer dressed up and posed as Sting, making it look like Sting had joined the New World Order. Despite the brief cameo appearance by Farmer as Sting…it was extremely important spot…because it was the catalyst to turning the real Sting from a surfer type character into the dark and brooding crow character. The gimmick of the nWo Sting got such a positive response from fans…he was being used on television more and more. Every time the real Stinger changed his look and appearance…the “Bogus Sting” did the same.
The nWo version of Sting was never pushed hard as a serious wrestler and was utilized more as a pawn to try and rile up the real version of that character. Eventually, nWo Sting would go to Japan and join the New Japan version of the group. At the time, WCW had a working relationship with New Japan and often exchanged talent with one another. nWo Japan splintered into two separate factions in 1999 and the former nWo Sting changed his name to ‘Super J’ and joined the nWo Japan’s rival….Team 2000.
Farmer would remain in Japan until 2002, when he left New Japan and started wrestling back in the states for various indie groups on a more sporadic basis. So…Whatever happened to nWo Sting?!? Jeff Farmer retired from in ring action in 2005…but still occasionally makes appearances at conventions under the nWo Sting gimmick. Aside from that though, Jeff Farmer went back to college and studied medicine at the University of Central Florida. He now lives and works in Miami, Florida. Farmer is employed by the University of Miami’s School of Medicine where he works in research.
You can read all previous ‘Whatever Happened to’ piece here.
