This day in wrestling history marks a curious time in WCW history as not only a new champion was crowned, but it continued the reboot of the company that was implemented a week earlier by Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff
On April 10, 2000, Russo and Bischoff came to an agreement of sorts that the company needed a reset and to do that they vacated all of the championships in WCW.
Six days later on April 16, 2000, Jeff Jarrett faced “Diamond” Dallas Page at Spring Stampede to conclude the championship tournament and lay claim to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
The right champion
While the reboot and vacating of the titles is looked on with mixed feelings from fans, Jeff Jarrett was the right person to win the title that night.
His love for the business and the respect he has for it can’t be questioned, and that made him the perfect choice in many ways.
As Vince Russo said in an interview on Pyroandballyhoo.com blog on May 6, 2014, “He was a great wrestler, could talk, get heat, and he was dependable.”
While it was mean to help stabilize WCW during a turbulent time, as the WWE would purchase them a year later, it seemed like there was a chance for things to settle down with Jarrett
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for this and Russo’s above quote).
“The WCW Title has lineage to the NWA Title I’m now holding and I main evented 7 PPVs in a row. It was an honor and it was something during a time of real chaos within a company. The thing I enjoyed the most is getting in the ring and you didn’t have to worry about all the headaches and hassles. You got to go out and perform.” Jeff Jarrett The Interactive Interview, April 2003.
Out with the old
Jarrett’s victory was also a statement that the company would move forward with younger talent as he represented a new faction, The New Blood, that was younger wrestlers while Page was part of The Millionaire’s Club, made up of the older generation.
One of the highlights of Jarrett’s multiple runs at the top came against Hulk Hogan where he laid down in the ring and Hogan pinned him with a boot on his chest at Bash at the Beach.
Russo came out in a profanity laced tirade about Hogan using his creative control clause and that Hogan’s title wasn’t the real one and Jarrett would face Booker T later in the night for the real title.
Booker T won and Hogan never appeared in WCW again. Hogan has been credited with saying of the incident, “That’s why this company is in the damn shape it’s in—because of bulls— like this!”
That match is still debated as to whether it was scripted or a shoot, but in the end WCW was failing and they needed more than a steady hand to lift them up.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sgaEw5GyFg
