08/10/2008 TNA Hard Justice 

TNA World Title Match/Weapons Cage Match: Samoa Joe (C) def. Booker T in 12:51

This match is eighteen years old today, so that’s a reminder of how old some of us are now. Jesus. On paper, the stip did nothing for me because I didn’t expect much convincing violence. Instead, they probably went a little over the mark by repeatedly hitting each other in the skull with unprotected weapons shots, including a chair. There was a moment where Joe bladed, and it was one of the few times TNA felt like an actual alternative to WWE in the era, so the match deserves credit for that. There were a few believable nearfalls at the end, and the two men built a good match when Booker had Joe set up for the axe kick. The lights went out, and when they came back on, Joe whacked Booker with the silver guitar. This was all to set up Jarrett coming back, but this was also a rough payoff to a good main event. Even when they did things right (the blood), they could still consistently find a different way to fuck something else up. It’s truly impressive. **3/4 

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