On one hand this felt rushed and in some ways like a Nitro main event. On the other hand, keeping a 2000 Nash match under 10 minutes is probably a smart move. Nash dominates early and is methodical but effective. He takes off a turnbuckle pad and ends up going into it and blades. Nash didn't blade much so the visual was cool. Why use that instead of the cage provided for him, Ill never know. Nash keeps looking for the jack knife and Booker is able to reverse out of it, hit the Book End and win the title as Tony and Co. quickly sign off the air. Overall, a good show for Russo but the work and effort from the wrestlers were there for a great one. **1/2

Booker just doesn't have the charisma here that they push him as having. He doesn't have some big crossover connection with the crowd as much as they try to claim he does. He deserves to be in the spot and I can't think of a better alternative for this time really, but something about him in this spot feels bit forced and flat. So surprisingly, I found myself thinking that Nash came to play ball here, relatively speaking. He blades. They work a few spots cleverly around the exposed buckle (although Soup is right that it's pointless -- they should have used the cage). Nash bumps relatively well for Booker's awkward offense, including his missile dropkick that barely connects. And they kind of just go through the paces, but doing that is better than the average Russo offering, so the match was okay. The crowd was fairly into it. The result was the right one. Perfectly fine. After the match Madden says Booker T is starting to approach some of the great world champions of all time. That might be a tad bit of hyperbole.

 

**1/2