During a match with Bret Hart, Booker injured his knee and missed several months. When he returned, he quickly regained the TV Championship from Scott Steiner, who would, in turn, defeated Booker in the finals of the WCW United States Championship tournament. By the end of 1999, Booker had convinced his brother, Stevie Ray, to leave the nWo and the reunited Harlem Heat won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three more times.
However, the team didn't last and eventually Harlem Heat split up and began to feud during 2000, Stevie Ray reformed Harlem Heat with Big T, and had lawyer J. Biggs strip Huffman of his right to use the letter "T" as part of his name. Stevie Ray and Big T would dub themselves Harlem Heat 2000. Throughout this period, Huffman was referred to simply as Booker.
When Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff formed The New Blood, Huffman would eventually completely change his in-ring name, joining General Rection's military-themed Misfits in Action faction as G.I. Bro reprising his gimmick from his days in the WWA. He regained his more popular alias shortly before his World Title win.
Huffman was elevated to the main event in 2000; Lane Huffman has speculated that this could in part have been due to a number of racial discrimination lawsuits filed against WCW. After WCW booker Vince Russo grew disgruntled with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan's alleged politicking, he fired Hogan during the live broadcast of Bash at the Beach 2000 and announced an impromptu match between Jeff Jarrett and Huffman for the now-vacant World Title. Russo supposedly picked Huffman because he claimed Hogan used his political stroke to keep him out of the Main Event scene. Huffman won the match, in the process becoming the second ever African American champion in WCW, after Ron Simmons. He was then defeated by Kevin Nash. He regained the title a few weeks later in a steel cage match with Nash, but would again lose the title, this time to Vince Russo himself in a cage match (Russo was speared out of the cage by Goldberg, and won the title), Russo vacated the title and Booker won it for the third time in a San Francisco 49er Box Match against Jeff Jarrett.
Booker's next feud was with Scott Steiner, to whom he would eventually lose the title. Steiner would go on to be WCW's longest reigning champion in years, whilst Booker was briefly out with an injury. Booker returned to the roster and defeated Rick Steiner for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, and on the final episode of Monday Nitro, defeated Scott Steiner to win the World title for the fourth time.
Huffman won a total of twenty three titles in WCW, making him the most decorated athlete in the history of the organization. Booker was also the reigning U.S. Champion and WCW Champion when he accepted a contract with the WWF.
However, the team didn't last and eventually Harlem Heat split up and began to feud during 2000, Stevie Ray reformed Harlem Heat with Big T, and had lawyer J. Biggs strip Huffman of his right to use the letter "T" as part of his name. Stevie Ray and Big T would dub themselves Harlem Heat 2000. Throughout this period, Huffman was referred to simply as Booker.
When Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff formed The New Blood, Huffman would eventually completely change his in-ring name, joining General Rection's military-themed Misfits in Action faction as G.I. Bro reprising his gimmick from his days in the WWA. He regained his more popular alias shortly before his World Title win.
Huffman was elevated to the main event in 2000; Lane Huffman has speculated that this could in part have been due to a number of racial discrimination lawsuits filed against WCW. After WCW booker Vince Russo grew disgruntled with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan's alleged politicking, he fired Hogan during the live broadcast of Bash at the Beach 2000 and announced an impromptu match between Jeff Jarrett and Huffman for the now-vacant World Title. Russo supposedly picked Huffman because he claimed Hogan used his political stroke to keep him out of the Main Event scene. Huffman won the match, in the process becoming the second ever African American champion in WCW, after Ron Simmons. He was then defeated by Kevin Nash. He regained the title a few weeks later in a steel cage match with Nash, but would again lose the title, this time to Vince Russo himself in a cage match (Russo was speared out of the cage by Goldberg, and won the title), Russo vacated the title and Booker won it for the third time in a San Francisco 49er Box Match against Jeff Jarrett.
Booker's next feud was with Scott Steiner, to whom he would eventually lose the title. Steiner would go on to be WCW's longest reigning champion in years, whilst Booker was briefly out with an injury. Booker returned to the roster and defeated Rick Steiner for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, and on the final episode of Monday Nitro, defeated Scott Steiner to win the World title for the fourth time.
Huffman won a total of twenty three titles in WCW, making him the most decorated athlete in the history of the organization. Booker was also the reigning U.S. Champion and WCW Champion when he accepted a contract with the WWF.
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