#7
WrestleMania XIX
Triple H def. Booker T
By 2003 Triple H had formed Evolution, a faction made up of him as the leader, Ric Flair as the iconic mouthpiece, Batista as the muscle, and Randy Orton as the future of the business. The group's primary goal was to keep the World Heavyweight Championship around the waist of Triple H.
As a long-time fan of WCW, and a new WWE convert at the time, I was heavily invested in this match as a teenager. To his credit, the Game was a masterful heel, and the constant interference of Ric Flair and his other Evolution comrades was perfect for drawing consistent, main event level heat. But it was the distasteful, somewhat racist treatment of Booker T that really built him up as an underdog babyface who – in theory – was primed to win this match. Some say he should have won.
After running through another WCW favorite, Scott Steiner, Triple H then spent two months running down the legacy of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and questioning Booker T's merit as the face of a company, giving his criminal past. The idea was that Booker five title wins were discredited, due to the fact that the likes of David Arquette at one time held the belt as well. This entire match was built up for the future Hall of Famer to upset the Game and bring honor to the legacy of WCW. Unfortunately, he did not.
The actual match was a war, with both guys pulling out everything in their arsenal. Booker T even hit an uncharacteristic senton splash from the top turnbuckle. In the end, after several instances of interference from the "Nature Boy", Triple H was able to hit the Pedigree and pick up the win.
