The Vigilante. The Icon.

Call him whatever you want, but WWE superstar Sting deserved every right to be named a 2016 Hall of Fame inductee, even if he's only wrestled in a couple of matches while making very few appearances in the company.

Sting was the greatest wrestler that never worked for Vince McMahon until his shocking entrance at Survivor Series back in 2014. Ever since, WWE fans have been disappointed with the poor misuse of the Icon.

Sting, truth be told, deserves much better respect than what the WWE gave him. Losing his first two matches and only making so many appearances is not what the WWE Universe wanted. We wanted to see way more of The Vigilante.

But, as we all know, Vince McMahon is no easy man to con-VINCE. He takes care of business and it's up to the fans to just appreciate any (rare) moment we get to have of Sting.

He was the biggest star in WCW history, there should be absolutely no debating that. He was one of the greatest TNA performers of all time as well and earned a Hall of Fame spot over there. Any company he goes to, Sting succeeds.

That is why no fan should be bothered by his Hall of Fame induction. He's simply too legendary for the world's largest wrestling promotion to keep out of the Hall.

Sting's neck injury against Seth Rollins at Night of Champions surely off-tracked any storylines WWE had for him in the long run, but the man himself told Ric Flair that he had another match in him. Fans can only hope we get the dream match of him and The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 32.

In honor of the Icon, here are the 15 greatest moments of Sting's career.

16 15. End of an Era

Before The Crow gimmick, Sting donned short blonde hair and wore bright-colored trunks while sporting bright colored face paint. These were the early days for Sting, when things weren't so dark.

However, Sting ended this reign in awesome fashion. When the New World Order storyline came along, they had Jeff Farmer dress up as Sting and fooled everyone into believing that The Icon, was joining the nWo.

Fortunately, that wasn't the case. And Sting exited the bright-colored gimmick by having an angry tirade on the microphone, where he proclaimed his innocence before saying "From now on, I consider myself a free agent."

He then left the ring, and a new era began.

15 14. The Crow Begins

During an October, 1996 edition of Monday Nitro, the era we all came to love Sting by emerged.

Sting came out and beat up his impostor, while the nWo looked on. They asked him to join their alliance, and he considered the offer, saying that nothing was for sure. As a result, fans were left to wonder what he would do.

It took a little bit of patience, but the fans would find their answer. But this is where he had the long dark hair, the trench coat, and white and black face paint to go along with his iconic baseball bat weapon.

The best part? He wasn't even getting started.

14 13. Drawing the Line in the Sand

There were plenty of things that WCW did right to make sure they would win the ratings war against WWE such as brining Sting out to whip the nWo in front of thousands of screaming fans. Because, hey, everyone loves seeing the enemy get crushed.

After members from the nWo won a match at Uncensored 1997, their celebration was short-lived, as Sting came out and hit Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Randy Savage with his bat and Scorpion Death Drops, finishing off Hulk Hogan to end the night.

This was the episode where Sting proved his loyalty to WCW, showcasing that he would NOT join the villainous alliance.

13 12. First WWE Match

via cagesideseats.com
via cagesideseats.com

The only thing that was wrong with the booking of this match at Wrestlemania 31 is that WWE didn't let Sting win his first match. To me, it's obvious that Vince McMahon didn't want his son-in-law to lose to a former superstar from a rival company.

Still, Sting turned back the clock to give us one of the most impressive performances of his career against the Cerebral Assassin, Triple H.

Bringing back D-Generation X and the nWo gave us fans the epic battle we wanted to see, and this match had it all. Even though the booking was done wrong, it was still awesome to see Sting debut in the WWE like this.

What a match.

12 11. Bound For Glory 2006

Another one of Sting's legendary career moments was arguably his greatest with TNA, when he faced off against Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Title.

Should Sting have lost, he would have had to retire. Of course, there was no way he was going to lose this match. TNA knew they'd make a huge mistake if they really forced him out the door.

He beat Jarrett in his infamous submission move, using the Scorpion Deathlock to win the title. It was his second stint with the championship.

11 10. Defeating Ric Flair at Great American Bash

Sting was now in his 30s and it was the prime moment for him to finally make a name for himself.

Enter wrestling veteran and ageless wonder Ric Flair, who stood in the way of Sting at the 1990 Great American Bash.

Despite Flair's repeated slaps to the chest and attempt to force Sting to submit to his Figure Four Leg Lock, it wouldn't be enough to beat him.

Sting reversed the submission attempt and was able to roll over and pin Flair to finally win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

All great paths have a beginning, and one could argue that this was the match that officially took Sting's career to new heights.

10 9. Bringing in His Own Army

During an October, 1997 segment of Nitro, Rowdy Roddy Piper was being jumped by the gazillion members of the nWo. Same old storyline.

However, Eric Bischoff and compaany got creative with this storyline. The nWo and fans saw a bunch of people dressed as Sting slowly make their way towards the ring, leaving plenty of confusion as to what was going on.

One by one, a bunch of Stings came out to rescue Piper, before the real Sting unmasked himself to show who he was.

And alas, the nWo members scattered away, fearing The Vigilante.

9 8. First Raw Appearance

Sting made his epic debut on the January 19, 2015 segment of Monday Night Raw in epic fashion.

With Seth Rollins, Big Show, and Kane facing off against John Cena Cena in a Handicap match, it had appeared as though Cena was helpless in winning this match. But that all changed with Sting's Raw debut.

He appeared on the titantron set, came out to taunt them, distracting The Authority and allowing Cena to roll up Rollins for the victory.

Talk about arriving fashionably late.

8 7. Beating Vader

The rising superstar, before his Crow appearance, was just getting started in main-event status when he had captured his first ever WCW Championship.

However, his first reign as world champion was not easy, considering he had to face the 450-pound Vader. Luckily for Sting, this wasn't the man from Star Wars who had the force with him.

Still, fans were surprised when Sting defeated Vader at the Omni Coliseum. The more impressive part? Sting fought through the match despite cracking his ribs.

7 6. Winning the Inaugural Battlebowl

At the 1991 edition of Starrcade, Sting, along with 19 others, had qualified for the Battlebowl Battle Royal event, which included 20 other men who had failed to qualify.

Battlebowl consisted of a ten tag team matches where the randomly selected teams would square-off with each winning team qualifying for the Battle Royal.

So yeah, it was a pretty big deal when he won the 20-man event. So here's how it all went down.

With just a few men remaining, it came down to Sting and Lex Luger. Rick Rude tried to sabotage Sting's chances of winning, but Luger wasn't able to take advantage of it. As a thrilling battle went down to the wire, Sting clotheslined Luger, his future ally, out of the ring to win the battle royal.

6 5. Joining and Leaving The Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen may be the greatest wrestling alliance of all-time, and certainly one of the fan favorites in the history of the sport.

This group went through multiple factions, breaking up and reuniting with different members throughout the years, but when Sting joined up in 1989, it was a shocker to wrestling fans.

Though his time with the Horsemen was short-lived, it did reignite the perennial rivalry between Sting and and Ric Flair. This is because the Nature Boywas personally responsible for kicking Sting out of the group.

5

4 4. Clash of Champions I

Out of all the times Sting and Flair fought, this was arguably the greatest of them all, when they faced off at the first ever Clash of the Champions.

Sting would enter as the challenger as he would attempt to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from Flair.

Two future Hall of Famers wrestled to an incredible match which ended in...nothing more than a draw.

It's not as boring as it may sound at first: A 45-minute draw between these two incredible performers.

Let's be honest, how awesome is it to see 45 minutes of pure action from WCW's greatest starts ever?

3 3. Final WCW Match Against Ric Flair

via wcwworlwide.tumblr.com
via wcwworlwide.tumblr.com

With the Monday Night War over, courtesy of Vince McMahon buying WCW, there was time for one last show.

WCW closed the book in an incredible way: Having Sting face the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, in the final match of the company's history.

Sting defeated Flair by submission, and the two had a great moment by embracing the ring. WCW got it right by letting their biggest star close it out beautifully.

2 2. WWE Debut

via rollingstone.com
via rollingstone.com

Say what you want about the high ranking on this list, but Sting's long-awaited arrival inWWE was over a decade overdue.

In a critical match where The Authority faced off against John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Ryback, Big Show, and Erick Rowan (Team Cena).

Ziggler was almost done and out of the match, until Sting's entrance music came on, and he came out to the crowd. It was a moment to behold.

With Triple H trying to interfere on The Authority's behalf, Sting hit Triple H with the Scorpion Death drop and put Ziggler on Rollins for the pinfall, giving Team Cena the win.

Though we haven't seen much of Sting since, this was a fine moment in his career that we waited forever to see.

1 1. Starrcade 1997

via cagesideseats.com
via cagesideseats.com

In what may be the finest and most impressive match of his career, Sting and Hollywood Hogan faced off for the world title at the 1997 Pay-Per-View, Starrcade.

The storyline was Hogan fighting for the nWo while Sting fought for his WCW teammates, becoming the nWo's biggest rivalry and competition.

This finish was exciting as ever. Hogan appeared to have captured the title, but Bret Hart came in and accused referee Nick Patrick of counting too fast, so he ordered the bell be rung for a rematch.

The events were, in a way, a parody of the infamous Montreal Screwjob, and Sting won the title by forcing Hogan to submit to his Scorpion Deathlock.

Seeing WCW celebrate on his behalf just went to show how huge he was for the company, and the way fans celebrated. The nWo vs. WCW storyline remains the best in wrestling history, and Sting won the title at an all-time high moment against arguably the greatest wrestler of all-time.