An icon of 1990s wrestling, Sting started in the mid-1980s as a tag team specialist before embarking on a singles career that would make him the top babyface in World Championship Wrestling, where he’d have huge rivalries with Ric Flair, Big Van Vader, and later Hollywood Hogan and the New World Order. Expectedly, as a top star, Sting would hold a number of World Titles in his two major haunts, WCW and Impact Wrestling.

RELATED: 10 Differences Between Sting In WCW And Impact Wrestling

As far as match quality goes, Cagematch.net is a great guide thanks to its user-based reviews and ratings. Many of Sting’s top rated matches are multi-man affairs like War Games, but let’s take a look at the Stinger’s 10 best matches for world titles.

10 WWE Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Sting (WWE Night of Champions, 9/20/2015) - 6.80

WWE Championship: Seth Rollins vs. Sting (WWE Night of Champions, 9/20/2015)

Sting made his surprise WWE debut in November 2014, which led to a WrestleMania match against Triple H, but he stuck around afterward to feud with WWE Champion Seth Rollins. At Night of Champions, Rollins did double-duty, dropping his United States Championship to John Cena and then immediately defending the WWE Title against Sting in the main event. A strong but slow-based match, this bout resulted in Sting getting injured and staying out of the ring for five years until his debut in All Elite Wrestling.

9 NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting (Impact Bound for Glory, 10/22/2006) - 6.88

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting (Impact Bound for Glory, 10/22/2006)

After making a handful of appearances in the early days of Impact Wrestling, Sting became a permanent part of the roster in early 2006, and began to challenge for the company’s top belt, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, by the middle of the year. Initially unsuccessful, Sting put his career on the line for a potentially final shot at the belt, dethroning Jeff Jarrett at Bound for Glory. Cagematch users were impressed by this main event bout, which had Kurt Angle as a special enforcer, though there was no question of who was going to win.

8 NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting (Impact Sacrifice, 5/13/2007) - 6.90

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting (Impact Sacrifice, 5/13/2007)

In the main event of 2007’s Sacrifice, Christian Cage defended the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Sting and Kurt Angle in a three-way main event that ended with Angle coming out on top as the new champion. While Cagematch users complimented Sting’s efforts here, one of the great moments in the bout belonged to the other two competitors as Angle delivered multiple German suplexes to Cage.

RELATED: The 10 Wrestlers With The Best German Suplexes Ever, Ranked

Notably, this night marked the final televised bout Impact would hold for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, as the National Wrestling Alliance would break ties with Impact Wrestling that evening. From there, Impact would establish its own World Title.

7 Impact World Heavyweight Championship: The Main Event Mafia vs. The Front Line (Impact Final Resolution, 12/7/2008) - 6.95

Impact Wrestling: TNA Front Line vs. Main Event Mafia

If there’s one thing late period WCW booking taught fans, it’s that multi-man matches with a singles belt on the line are rarely a good sign, as they were often an excuse for questionable overbooking or David Arquette winning a belt. December 2008’s Final Resolution, however, offered one of the better instances of this match type, as the Main Event Mafia teamed up to keep the belt on Sting as they took on AJ Styles, Brother Devon, Brother Ray, and Samoa Joe, with Joe ultimately eating a Scorpion Death Drop for Sting to retain.

6 Impact World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley vs. Sting (Impact Sacrifice, 5/24/2009) - 7.19

Impact World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle vs. Mick Foley vs. Sting (Impact Sacrifice, 5/24/2009)

This main event four-way match for the Impact World Championship offered a unique situation: it was an “Ultimate Sacrifice Match,” where every challenger had to put something in the line in order to take part in the bout, with the wrestler who takes the fall losing said sacrifice. With his career on the line, Sting had the most to lose, but by pinning Main Event Mafia cohort Kurt Angle, not only won Mick Foley’s World Title, but also Angle’s leadership of MEM.

5 NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW The Great American Bash, 7/7/1990) - 7.58

NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW The Great American Bash, 7/7/1990)

Since reaching main event status in the late 1980s, the NWA World Heavyweight Title eluded Sting at every turn — including at the very first Clash of the Champions — until 1990, when he finally dethroned rival Ric Flair at The Great American Bash. With Flair doing his typical heel work and Sting’s babyface friends running defense against the rest of the Four Horsemen, Cagematch users have deemed it a pretty typical North American pro wrestling match, but the historic win in front of a rabid crowd appears to make up for any shortcomings.

4 Impact World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Sting (Impact Bound For Glory, 10/14/2007) - 7.65

Impact World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Sting (Impact Bound For Glory, 10/14/2007)

The 2007 edition of Bound for Glory main evented with Sting challenging Kurt Angle for the World Title in an 18-minute effort that ended with the Stinger becoming the new champion. While, like other matches on this list, there’s some criticism regarding the interference — this time by Karen Angle and Kevin Nash — Cagematch users generally consider this bout a strong conclusion to one of Impact’s best shows ever.

RELATED: Every Sting Match At TNA Bound For Glory, Ranked Worst To Best

Because, as stated, the NWA cut ties with Impact a couple of months prior, this win marked Sting’s first reign with the new Impact World Title, which would end two days later at a taping for the weekly Impact Wrestling.

3 WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader vs. Sting (WCW The Great American Bash, 7/12/1992) - 7.88

WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Big Van Vader vs. Sting (WCW The Great American Bash, 7/12/1992)

In the early 1990s, one of Sting’s biggest rivals was Big Van Vader, a tremendous monster heel who proved to be a sensation wrestling for New Japan Pro Wrestling, who dethroned Sting as WCW World Champion in their first major singles encounter at 1992’s Great American Bash. Cagematch users give the bout high marks for not only the stiff, intense violence, but also what many of them term a “David vs. Goliath” story, which impressively keeps the babyface Sting looking good even in defeat.

2 WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting (WCW Monday Nitro, 4/26/1999) - 8.42

Sting vs. Diamond Dallas Page

While 1999 would prove to be a less-than-stellar year for WCW thanks to incidents like the “Fingerpoke of Doom,” there was still a possibility of seeing a quality match in the promotion before Vince Russo showed up. On this late April episode of Nitro, Sting dethroned Diamond Dallas Page as World Champion in an awesome 20-minute effort that Cagematch users describe as “pay-per-view quality.” Later that evening, DDP would win the belt back in a shorter and less-well-received four-way main event.

1 NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Sting (WCW Clash of the Champions 1, 3/27/1988) - 8.78

Sting Wristlock Ric Flair Clash Of The Champions

For Cagematch users, Sting’s best world title match would be his ultimately unsuccessful challenge for Ric Flair’s NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the first-ever Clash of the Champions TV special. There, the career rivals wrestled a strong match that led to a 45-minute time limit draw. On top of that, a special jury meant to ensure there was a winner found themselves unable to agree on who won the match, Flair retained without having to beat Sting, who was elevated to main event status with this bout.