[2000-03-29-WCW-Thunder] Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T

[Loss]

More Bischoff and Russo talk from the announcers! To this point, Vince Russo had never, ever been a television character, at least not using his real name. The average fan DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS AND DOES NOT CARE. What is wrong with this company? Using his name to hype WCW as changing for the better means nothing, and using heel Eric Bischoff's name definitely doesn't. He was around for the rise, but he was also very much around for the fall. Tenay brings up the illustrious and nameless and faceless and elusive and mysterious and convenient and non-existent EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE that sometimes morphed into a CHAMPIONSHIP COMMITTEE. One of my favorite asinine WCW things. The Harris Brothers can't even do a proper run-in. These two do work decently well together, but they have yet to have a match given much time. Overbooked for no apparent reason. This wasn't bad for putting Booker over, but why not just give him the pin? It's about now that I remember just how bad WCW got around this time and how much I'll be rooting for its demise by this time in 2001, even if it was ultimately a devastating thing to happen to pro wrestling.

[soup23]

The Russo and Bischoff hype has gotten out of control. These two have good chemistry but weren't able to display that due to the Harris twins liberally interfering. The match overall felt disjointed and it feels like WCW is counting down the days to the Nitro reboot where they will try something new again. *1/2

[GSR]

The lucky ladies (Midajah, Kim and Tylene) get to watch the ‘Chosen One’ do his stuff tonight, as he’s allowing them to stay at ringside inside of sending them to the back. Jarrett tries to jump Booker before the bell but he ducks out the way and peppers him with rights. A spin kick misses completely but Jarrett bumps for it anyway. He goes for the axe kick, but the Harris brothers are out and pull him from the ring. Jarrett distracts referee Charles Robinson as the twins double team him and drop him throat first onto the guard rail. They throw him back in the ring but Jarrett is only able to get a two. Jarrett crotches himself and again distracts the official to allow one of the twins to climb up on the apron and nail Booker with a clothesline. He ducks a back elbow but is then caught with a sleeper. Booker shoots him off to the corner and pummels him with a series of rights. He whips him to the opposite corner, comes charging in, slides to the outside, grabs Jarrett’s feet and pulls him backwards posting him. Booker with a missile dropkick and Jarrett rolls to the outside. One of the twins grabs Booker’s ankle, Robinson goes over to try and regain some order, but behind his back Jeff nails Booker with the U.S. title belt. Just like on 3/15 Booker gets the shoulder up for a near fall. Jarrett with a Figure Four, but Booker kicks him off and he collides with Robinson knocking him down. He goes to crack Booker over the head with his guitar, however he catches and plants him with the ‘Book End’. Robinson with the count and one of the twins pulls him out the ring at two. The Harris’ are done with interfering from the outside and get in there to attack Booker, giving him the win by DQ. Great reversal on a ‘H-bomb’ attempt as he flips all the way over and nails them with a double dropkick sending them both packing.

 

I groaned as soon as I saw the Harris boys were out as I knew what was coming next. Their interference is tedious and predictable, and while there were some nice moments in this (the posting, the ‘H-bomb’ escape), the sooner Jarrett is away from them the better. The match was very reminiscent in parts to the one they had on Thunder on 3/15, whilst the finish was overbooked and cheap.