Booker T vs Bret Hart (WCW, 2-22-1999)

WCW Monday Nitro, Sacramento, CA

This is a No. 1 contender match for the U.S. title, now held by Scott Hall, who beat Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl IX.

Hart and Booker jaw a bit to start, Hart trying to shove Booker but kinda failing at that. Booker shoves Hart to the corner in a C&E, clean break. This is first hour of Nitro so we have Larry Zbyszko instead of Bobby Heenan. Zbyszko whining that you’re not allowed to punch your kids in the mouth anymore.

Hart kips up after being taken down, goes to a hammerlock, Booker with a back elbow and Bret leaves the ring. Booker invites Bret back in, but Hart is on a walkabout. C&E, Booker to a hammerlock, then a side headlock. Really cranking on it. Hart sends Booker off the ropes, Booker with a shoulder and then an armdrag takeover. Hart bails out again.

Booker doesn’t follow, waits on Hart to come back, then starts a rally crap like it’s a midwest indie show. Hart backs Booker to the corner, no clean break as Bret goes to the body. Forearm to the head. More body shots. Snapmare, rear chinlock. Over to more of a side headlock now. Booker slapping and kicking and stomping around. Back up, elbows to get out, Bret cuts that off with a shot to the head. Choke in the corner now.

Hart goes for a corner-to-corner whip, Booker reverses and clotheslines him in the corner. Off to the other side, another clothesline. Hart begging off, kick to the gut, axe kick connects, Booker’s cover gets two. Booker to an armbar quickly.

In the satellite truck, we catch up with Disco Inferno. Great. Disco’s gonna pirate the signal later. We fully focus on this, entirely cutting away from the match.

Anyway, we come back and Hart gets a two count off what I think was a vertical suplex. Sign in the second row: WATCH RAW. At this point, probably.

Hart with some kicks. Hart with a double sledge from the second rope. Russian legsweep from Bret. Cover gets two. Hart to the second rope again, drives the elbow down. Cover gets two again, just a one-hand pin there.

Hart dumps Booker out to the floor and follows. Elbow to the back of the head. Right hand back from Booker, and another. Hart gets a chair and jabs Booker in the gut. Referee just watches that happen. Great job, Chuck Robinson. Headbutt to the back from Bret, and another. People in the front row are very aggressive telling all the wrestlers that they suck. You don’t see that so much anymore.

Back into the ring. Hart with the side backbreaker. Headbutt to the abdomen. Choke in the corner. Booker whipped corner to corner, but he gets an elbow up on Bret, whose approach wasn’t exactly a charge. Zbyszko wants Flair to whip his son for joining the nWo.

Both guys down here, count reaches six. Hart up with an eye rake. Tony calls Booker “Stevie Ray,” Larry quickly corrects him, and then Tony leaves the booth for his interview with Ric and David Flair.

Hart still on the attack, we’re down to Tenay and Zbyszko. Two legdrops from Hart. Then a springboard stomp off the second rope. Hart with another choke. Hart going for the sharpshooter, Booker cradles him for two.

Hart right back on the attack with a boot to the ribs. Then the rake over the top rope. Booker swings blindly, hits nothing, and Hart goes back to the body. Scoop slam from Hart. Bret with the figure four now. Two count with the shoulders down. Bret continues to crank, Booker trying to rally the crowd, gets some support, and almost rolls the hold over, but Bret gets him back toward the center for another two count. Booker finally turns it over and Bret is right by the ropes, so it’s broken quickly.

Bret shaking the leg out a bit as he gets up first. Hart with another choke against the ropes. The man loves to choke people. Booker off the ropes, ducks a clothesline, and hits the flying forearm.

Both down, up at the same time, and Booker kicks him in the gut, hits the spin kick and drops Hart. Side slam from Booker. Spinaroonie up, Booker’s feeling it. He’s waiting on Bret to get up, then decides to go up top, so Hart runs over and crotches him on the top turnbuckle. Hart up with Booker, hits the superplex, and a beauty at that. Both down again.

Count is on, it reaches eight but Hart is up. Hart immediately goes for the sharpshooter, gets it, but Booker has the ropes quickly. Hart not breaking, takes a full four count. Stomp and an ass splash from Hart. Booker reverses a whip, Hart goes for a sunset flip, Booker blocks and cradles down for the win! Hart just sort of accepts the defeat, no attack or anything.

Rating: 3/5. Solid match, which was getting to be the standard for Hart, for better or worse. Mostly worse. He was still plenty good enough to do better, but at this point WCW had really lost the plot with him, the nWo vs Ric Flair stuff was ruling the show, Goldberg was still a big piece, and Bret was more lost in the shuffle than at any point since coming in. Here he’s used to give Booker T a big clean win, which is fine in most ways but speaks to where Bret is at in his career and with his standing in the company.