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WWE's Monday Night RAW has hosted several iconic matches since its debut in 1993. While the classics are still celebrated on the internet, fans also remember many duds for all the wrong reasons.
Booker T's WCW Championship match against Buff Bagwell from the RAW episode of 2nd July 2001 is considered one of the worst bouts in the show's history.
The WCW title clash was a trainwreck from bell to bell, and Jim Ross recently opened up about backstage reactions to the match on the Grilling JR podcast.
Jim Ross revealed that Vince McMahon was thoroughly unhappy with the match and the WWE boss felt it wasn't up to the company's usual standards. JR added that the forgettable contest even played into Vince McMahon losing trust in the WCW project.
WWE initially had high hopes with its WCW invasion angle, but the hype quickly fizzled away for various reasons. Jim Ross stated that the company booked a match between Booker T and Buff Bagwell as WWE viewed the duo as capable of putting on good matches.
Jim Ross added that the RAW debacle at Tacoma initiated the slow demise of WWE's massive WCW plan:
"He (Vince McMahon) was not happy. He felt like it was below our standards. But the match was not good, and it just didn't move the needle. As a matter of fact, it took it to the other direction, and Vince lost a lot of confidence in the fact we might be able to do something with WCW because we put two guys who we thought could have a really good match. Booker T was one of the best ever. It just didn't work that night, and he was not happy. And, of course, the slow death began in Seattle or Tacoma, wherever the hell it was," Jim Ross revealed.
Jim Ross on Arn Anderson and Scott Hudson's commentary pairing for WWE RAW
Jim Ross was not at the commentary table at the show in Tacoma as Arn Anderson and Scott Hudson took up announcing duties that night.
JR recalled that Arn Anderson didn't experience a smooth transition to commentary despite the Four Horsemen member's exceptional promo skills. The AEW announcer also explained that Scott Hudson and Arn Anderson were unfamiliar with each other's work before WWE paired them up for TV:
"Scott Hudson had a lot of experience there in Atlanta in that area. Smart guy. Good guy. And Arn was one of the great promo guys. You found out real quick that there is a distinct difference between doing promos and doing commentary. Major difference. But we thought Arn was such an impressive talker that he could do the commentary, that he knew the game and the insides and all that stuff. So I don't think either one of those guys had a chance to work together. I don't remember if they had a chance to do a run-through of any kind. So how they could be expected to be really, really good is kind of beyond me, to be quite frank," Jim Ross explained.
WWE has an entire article on its website dedicated to Booker T and Buff Bagwell's infamous match, and that should tell you all about its unfortunate impact.
Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
