[1998-05-25-WCW-Nitro] Chris Benoit vs Booker T

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

It's Best of 7 time! I always thought this series was overrated, even before Benoit murdered his family. This was a good match, though, far better than I remembered, especially in the final few minutes. Benoit wins a match! Now that's a rarity.

[Childs]

Loss mentioned in another recent thread that Benoit wasn't a guy who made matches feel big, and I agree if we're rating him on a scale with the greatest stars of all time. But he was a guy who made mid-card matches feel bigger by going so hard and making every moment feel like a battle. We've seen it all year in the wreckage of an increasingly shitty promotion. Booker, to his credit, went right there with him, bringing a different kind of athleticism to the mix. They started their series with a hell of a match, cutting a great pace and packing a bunch of momentum shifts into a relatively compact duration. I'm looking forward to more.

[soup23]

I am really looking forward to rewatching this series as Benoit has been great in 1998 so far. This is such a smart concept and I'm baffled why it isn't utilized more. What an easy way to build up some intrigue for the network by having a best of seven culminate on Main Event. Anyway, this was a good opening match with each person setting the table but going for some big moves to gain the early advantage in the series. I especially liked Booker going for the Harlem Hangover and Benoit taking full advantage of clinching in the crossface for the win. Good start here. (***)

[Zenjo]

The start of their playoff series. I'm glad this wasn't an annual tradition because it's overkill. None too thrilling early on as Benoit works a dull control segment. Did pick up quite a bit in the latter stages, and the Crippler get's the win thanks to inflicting more total damage.

[PeteF3]

A lot of chinlock-centric offense from Benoit, which was disappointing and dragged this down a bit. But the *long* finishing sequence with all the countermoves was pretty choice and they had me guessing as to the result on a number of different occasions. Not an outstanding match but a darn auspicious start for this series.

[TravJ1979]

I don't think I followed this closely at the time, but seeing them here, and writing this after seeing all seven, this was an overrated series. However, they both worked hard and did a good job. This helped Booker T tremendously.