Booker T winning the WCW Title in 2000

[OGBoardPoster2005]

What was yours and others reactions at that time?

For me, I had started watching wrestling only a few weeks prior to the show and as a young Hulk Hogan fan was excited to see Hulk challenge for the belt, not really having any context into WCW or anything going on during that time.

I couldn't imagine how jarring it was for Booker to be GI Bro feuding with Kanyon for the weeks leading up to suddenly reverting back to Booker T and winning the WCW Title for the first time.

Also, what were your thoughts on Book getting the nod, then and now?

[CeilingFan]

It was the final great moment for WCW.

[tafkaga]

There was nobody on the roster whose future I was more excited about than Booker T's, so I was excited about it. I was just as excited about getting the title away from Jarrett, who I never saw as a main event talent.

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Apr 9, 2024 9:05:05 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

It was the final great moment for WCW.

Its the closest to a WWF caliber Main Event in that time.

Booker/Jarrett even though it was on the fly, had this big match feel to it and the finish with Jarrett coming off the top with the guitar only to be hit with a Book End was a great final spot. They executed that spot well

[DSR]

Was already a Booker fan for a good couple years there, so I was excited.

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

It was a bit abrupt given that Booker T was a midcarder right up until that shoot promo gone wrong, but as someone who stilled followed WCW while everyone else around me either just went WWF only or stopped watching citing all the old farts, it was nice to see a beloved young babyface actually break the glass ceiling for a change.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Apr 9, 2024 9:05:05 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

It was the final great moment for WCW.

Yeah, I think it's the last time WCW had a crowd pop in sheer jubilation at the end of one of their shows. And even though it's softly praising both Vince Russo and Johnny Ace (Christ), I think it did set up a couple of pretty decent weeks of WCW television. There was a clear effort to have longer, better-constructed matches in the Nitros and Thunders immediately following Bash at the Beach. Booker felt fresh in the main event, and the shows had a new energy to them.

The problem was that it was something like the fourth "new beginning" in just nine months and the second in which most storylines just arbitrarily started over again and the good vibes didn't last. But I'll never put that on Booker's performance during this time.

[willywonka666]

I was watching this with my brother and when it was clear Hogan wouldn't be back, my mind immediately thought that Booker T would be a great champion, and then the match occurred that night so I was satisfied

[thirteen3]

I lost access to WCW around that time and was exclusively WWF. I only knew he was WCW champion when he Buff had their match on RAW. "Oh, good for him" 11 year-old me thought. "Now where's Goldberg?"

[Jindrak Mark]

I didn't have access to Nitro/WCW at the time and must have not even had the internet yet. I bought wrestling magazines as a kid though and they were usually a month or so behind what was happening on TV. I remember reading about Booker becoming champ and the Russo/Hogan stuff and being so confused. Last I knew Booker lost his T in a crappy feud with Stevie Ray and didn't appear he was going to be main event level anytime soon.

[Mozenrath]

I was happy for him, but man, no way could I have predicted how like for every good thing he got to do as champion, they gave him like just as many awful angles or feuds. Even Jarrett might have a better track record, and I say that as someone who thinks his buddy Russo was doing him few favors.

[msc]

I'd been watching Nitro for about nine months at that point and it felt massively abrupt as he'd been treated as a lower midcarder that entire time. Hell he'd lost on ppv to Ahmed Johnson a few months earlier.

I could never take him seriously as a main eventer until well into his WWE career.

[Jindrak Mark]

Apr 9, 2024 9:05:05 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

It was the final great moment for WCW.

I also liked the Goldberg/Steiner match at Fall Brawl and Steiner winning the title at Mayhem.

On paper they actually had a strong upper card roster at the time that could have led to a prosperous era with better booking. Goldberg. Steiner. Booker. Jarrett. Storm. Awesome. Kanyon. And Nash/Sting/DDP were still really over with fans too.

[rainandlava]

It felt good to see him win (especially after the whole mess with the feud with Stevie Ray or that G.I. Bro angle) and he was starting to grow on me, but it felt somewhat overshadowed by the whole fiasco that was Hogan vs Jarrett at that PPV.

[Jindrak Mark]

Apr 10, 2024 20:53:12 GMT -5 rainandlava said:

It felt good to see him win (especially after the whole mess with the feud with Stevie Ray or that G.I. Bro angle) and he was starting to grow on me, but it felt somewhat overshadowed by the whole fiasco that was Hogan vs Jarrett at that PPV.

It didn't help that literally the night after he won the title they seemed to turn him into a Rock-lite character. In fact the whole Booker-Steiner feud which I still think was one of the better things in WCW 2000 felt like them trying to make their own version of Rock v HHH which was so successful that year.

Booker randomly started dressing like Rock with sunglasses and flamboyant shirts. Steiner started using the lead pipe as his signature weapon like HHH had his sledgehammer. "Don't hate the player, hate the game" was basically a shot at HHH. I think Booker was already using the Book-End/Rock Bottom but as a signature then all of a sudden it becomes his finisher. I really doubt all of this was coincidental.

[Cry Me a Wiggle]

Apr 10, 2024 21:53:39 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Apr 10, 2024 20:53:12 GMT -5 rainandlava said:

It felt good to see him win (especially after the whole mess with the feud with Stevie Ray or that G.I. Bro angle) and he was starting to grow on me, but it felt somewhat overshadowed by the whole fiasco that was Hogan vs Jarrett at that PPV.

It didn't help that literally the night after he won the title they seemed to turn him into a Rock-lite character. In fact the whole Booker-Steiner feud which I still think was one of the better things in WCW 2000 felt like them trying to make their own version of Rock v HHH which was so successful that year.

Booker randomly started dressing like Rock with sunglasses and flamboyant shirts. Steiner started using the lead pipe as his signature weapon like HHH had his sledgehammer. "Don't hate the player, hate the game" was basically a shot at HHH. I think Booker was already using the Book-End/Rock Bottom but as a signature then all of a sudden it becomes his finisher. I really doubt all of this was coincidental.

Yeah, Russo had a tendency to just do what worked in WWF or, failing that, try to fit the square pegs into the round holes. In the initial booking months with Ferrera, it was presented as “the Powers That Be” coming in from the WWF and forcing it on WCW. But from April 10 on it was more or less played straight.

It’s a shame, because solo midcarder Booker was my favorite iteration of his, and neither catchphrase-spewing Rock-lite nor the comic buffoon of WWE ever came close to his 1998-1999 run.

[Starshine]

A real genuine feel good thing. Also helped that I wasn't really aware of the whole Russo/Hogan thing besides what was shown on TV, and wouldn't learn of the full extent of it until years later.

[Bang Bang Bart]

Apr 9, 2024 9:05:05 GMT -5 CeilingFan said:

It was the final great moment for WCW.

Kinda funny it fell on the same night as the infamously low point of WCW in 2000 with Hogan’s tomfoolery.

[The Thread Barbi]

I watched him from his Harlem Heat days. It was a deserved culmination of a lot of hard work.

[chronocross]

I wasn't following WCW that closely in July of 2000 but I was happy to hear Booker won the WCW Title.