Booker T (@BookerT5x) is a WWE Hall of Famer currently calling the action each week on NXT. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Reality of Wrestling in Houston, TX to discuss his time in WCW, WWE and now NXT, the recent partnership between NXT and TNA, the iconic supermarket brawl with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and how much the damage cost, being paired with his wife Sharmell on TV, winning King of the Ring and becoming King Booker, his rivalry with Edge over a shampoo commercial at WrestleMania 18, whether or not he will ever have one more match and more!
Quote I’m thinking about: It doesn’t take talent to show up on time and work hard.
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On Reality of Wrestling:
“The Reality of Wrestling is something that I thought about many, many years ago when I first got in the wrestling business. It was an underground sport, it is not something you can just get into. So I wanted to give young people a chance to actually be a part of something, but the reality of it is you got to work your ass off for everything here at Reality of Wrestling. Nothing is given to you. We’ve had guys that have been here for many, many years that have worked on their craft and didn’t get it in the beginning. They could have easily left but they stuck it out and those are the guys that excel to the next level. That’s the reality of it. Here at Reality of Wrestling, I lead by example. I’m one of the first guys to get in and get the job done and I’m one of the last guys to leave just to make sure everything is done properly. So is Reality of Wrestling is just a little bit of everything.”
On still being in great shape:
“I’m blessed, but it’s all about just action, as well. It’s just staying on the move all the time. I mean, I’m on my way to Jacksonville here in a little while and then got to turn around and go to Vegas, and then turn around and go to Orlando, then back home for a minute. But then when I’m home is all about still staying on the grind, working with my partner Brad Gilmore with the ESPN podcast, as well. You know, it’s just all about staying relevant and sometimes staying relevant means you got to do the little bitty things. I love it, though.”
On one more match:
“Well, I’m never gonna retire. I’m definitely gonna get back in the ring at some point in time to do something. But it’s gonna be here, in Reality of Wrestling, or in Saudi [laughs].”
On the return being another Royal Rumble spot:
“You know, I think that spot was a great swan song for me doing it at that time, it was one of those unexpected entries. It was a moment, it’s kind of hard to really create those moments, duplicate those kind of moments, replicate that. So I think Rumble for me, I’m not looking to do anymore. “
On NXT rising stars:
“The talent that’s coming in NXT right now that I’m high on, he’s not gotten really his full shine right there is Lexis King. He’s gonna be here this weekend. The kid is definitely cut from the same cloth as the old man. The old man was innovative and before his time. I mean, he’s here all the time as well. But to see him from the perspective to where he didn’t have to listen to me, but he sits and listens, he takes it all in, sucks it in like a sponge because he wants to be the best and he knows that is not something that’s going to happen overnight. It’s something that he’s going to have to put in time. But like I tell him, you put in the time when you get there, everything else is gonna pretty much play itself out. If you put in the work, nothing else matters. Talent trumps everything, cream rises to the top. So to be able to work with someone like Lexis definitely has been cool. And then I watch a kid like Wes Lee, who when I first came into NXT and I saw him. I watched his matches and I thought he was just a regular flippy guy like most of the smaller guys, but I watched this kid and I look at guys and base them on whether they can fight. I was never really a good wrestler. I mean, I was a good wrestler. I was okay, but I was a good fighter and I was a really good performer. I was a really, really good entertainer. And when I watched Wes Lee, no matter who he works, no matter how big, how medium, how small, he goes out to perform at that next level, so yeah, man there’s a few guys down there on the rise.”
On Bron Breakker:
“I can see his dad and his uncle, he’s a hybrid. And then I’ve watched him grow and get more comfortable over his time as well. He went to the main roster I think pretty much at the right time. No sooner, no later, I think perfect timing for him to actually make his way in and make his mark and have his moment. When he hit the ropes one time in NXT, he hit the rope so hard the ring actually shifted a little bit, it moved and I was like wow! So I talked about that got a little bit of stuff like that. He’s found something that’s so small, but it’s his signature. Boom. He’s out of the blocks. It is so awesome to see this kid make it to the WWE and do something his dad and his uncle really didn’t get a chance to achieve. I’m talking about that WWE run, and really have that WrestleMania moment. He’s gonna have a hell of a future, and he’s going to look back and say, Man, Dad, I did it.”
On the NXT and TNA partnership:
“Well, back then in 2008 I couldn’t see that. Just because 2008 TNA, they were rumbling, they had a lot of steam behind them. Like they would make a big play to perhaps be that next competition. AJ Styles, Joe, Roode, all those guys, Awesome Kong, Sting, Steiner, it was nuts as for talent roster went back there. But now I can see it just because TNA is not a threat. I think being able to cross-promote and work with someone, a company like TNA I think benefits the talent more than anything. I think it helps the company stay alive in their markets, they’re gonna dig out a hole, they’re not gonna go anywhere now, I mean, just because they see the collaboration. So I think is a good thing for everybody, just because everybody is not going to be able to work in WWE at one time and be able to get shine and it’s just not going to happen. But look at Jordynne Grace, as far as what she’s doing at the Rumble. It was a huge moment for her as well as coming to WWE is not going to be for everyone. It’s just the way it is. Jordynne Grace, she’s the standout. She doesn’t look out of place at all. She’s a star by any means no matter how you look at it. She’s a bonafide star. And when you got guys like that, that need to be looked at like Moose. I say you give them a shot. Yes, I say because it’s only going to be good for business.”
On the resurgence in popularity:
“It’s crazy. I think I am. The first person is just coming around the corner, they said ‘Booker T! I saw you on NXT!’ NXT has revitalised me, it definitely has given me a lot more fire, that exuberance that I think I needed. Working on the main roster. I couldn’t get that. I couldn’t get that at all. But working with the young guys, working with the young talent, seeing them grow, being able to mentor them as well. I think that’s been the coolest part for me, with MXT I’ve got a certain crop of guys that have gravitated to me and you know, we network we do film study, you know, we go over stuff, what I think works. It’s amazing how these guys still make the old man feel good. So it’s pretty cool.”
On Bash at the Beach 2000:
“Maybe a week or so before I found out that I might become a World Champion, but it was like a tentative thing. And I was like, That ain’t gonna happen. A lot of people don’t remember I wrestled Canyon earlier that night, so I was like, can I just go home? It’s not gonna happen. And they kept telling me stick around, stick around, it’s gonna happen. And it was a night that it seemed like it was just a dark cloud, over the arena over everything, you know, so I want to be anywhere other than in that arena.”
Was it awkward backstage?
“It really was, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with me other than I knew it was about to be my moment and then Hulk pulled the creative control card. And for me, once that happened, I was like, it’s not gonna happen. So I was like, I actually, I can’t remember who I talked to, I say, Hey, is it alright if I just get my stuff out and get up out of here, and it was like, stick around, trying to work this out. I found out 10 minutes before, that I am winning the World Heavyweight Championship. But I had a professional that I was working with, Jeff Jarrett. Jeff Jarrett was so professional and going out there and doing His work. And he just got me around and, you know, put a title on me, it was an amazing night.”
On WWE informing the grocery store about the Booker T and Steve Austin brawl:
“Yeah, they let them know there was gonna be some damage. They were all for it. I just went back to the area and walked through the neighbourhood, it’s a dollar store now, but in the same neighbourhood, but there was so cool. It was so happy to have us there. You know, we did about $15,000 worth of damage.”
On what caused the most damage:
“I think the produce section, the vegetables and stuff. They would have to get rid of everything, all the fruit, all that stuff, they would have had to get rid of all that stuff. So I think that was the biggest area. Because that whole section we wiped out. But it was so much fun. I just grew out my dreads and I had eggs, milk, and flour in my hair. But you know, that’s show business, Lights Camera Action. That’s the beauty of the beast. That’s the part that I miss. I don’t miss the wrestling, other than the moments, but the show side of it, making the fans feel a certain way, man it is so great.”
On a WCW Mount Rushmore:
2I got a picture on my wall at home and somebody painted it. And it’s the Mount Rushmore of WCW. And it’s Goldberg, Sting, Dallas Page and Booker T. And I go for my time that’s my Mount Rushmore.”
On the Buff Bagwell match:
“Buff Bagwell did get a chance. I mean, he really did. I know there’s a lot of stories. They tried to bury me. I was just like everybody else, I was no different. But the one thing that was different about me, I was prepared for them to try to bury me. I knew exactly what it was going to take to make it in WWE, as well as I knew I was just as good as anybody in WWE. I was talent, man, there’s no way they could deny me other than saying, I would have been blackballed they weren’t gonna do that, because I was gonna make as some money, I was gonna sell some merch, I was gonna go out and perform at the highest level, every night. They weren’t gonna have to worry about if Booker T was going to show up, it wasn’t gonna have to worry about if Booker T was going to be able to perform tonight, that wasn’t gonna happen. I knew I had to make it in the locker room before I had a chance to make it in the ring. So it was a lot of elements that, coming from WCW, a lot of guys thought it was going to be easy. They really thought making that transition was going to be easy. And they found out that nobody there was going to give them anything, they’re going to have to earn it. A lot of guys just weren’t in a position already to put themselves through that.”
On bringing in Sharmell as an onscreen character:
“At one point I actually talked to Vince and said that’s it I’m gonna wrap it up. It was right after Sharmell and I got married, actually. I said, I’m gonna wrap it up. I think it’s time, just got married, I don’t want my wife to be at home while I’m on the road. And then Vince goes well, why don’t we hire Sharmell? Well, that would fix the problem. So they hired Sharmell and brought her on. I tell you, I really [did] just like my best work, Sharmell and King Booker that run solidified my whole existence in this business it really did. I mean that run, I wouldn’t say it overshadowed my career or anything like that, but it definitely highlighted my career in the best way when it should have. The King of the Ring tournament is tricky. Winning that thing and going on and making it something. I think I’m the only king to become the Heavyweight Champion and win the Heavyweight Champion as king. That’s never happened before, because it’s not for you to have that moment. But for me, like JBL said I was like Hercules. It was a time for me to where it really solidified my wrestling career because now people looking at me as royalty. Still to this day, people still call me King. Which wasn’t the master plan in the beginning or anything, but wrestling is is something that you can make whatever you want it to be, if you are willing to go that extra mile. And as King Booker, there was nothing that I wasn’t willing to do.”
On the WrestleMania 18 match against Edge:
“It was one of those things where we had to do something because the match actually was supposed to be a hair match. It was supposed to be I cut my hair or Edge was gonna cut his hair. That was what they approached us with at first. At least they approached me with that. I don’t know if they approached Edge with that, but they approached me with it. The first thing I said was ‘Is Edge cutting his hair? Because I’m not cutting mine.’ I just grew out my dreads and I really had become attached to them. I think they could have fired me before I cut my hair. I wouldn’t want to cut my hair at that time for anything. They couldn’t give me a big enough payoff to cut my hair at that time. They couldn’t have just told me to do it, so they squashed it and then they came up with this idea of a shampoo commercial because Edge wouldn’t cut his hair. It still was a moment, I look back on it and it was cool working Edge more than anything. Edge wanted to do the Spinaroonie in that match so bad. He didn’t do it. Because he just could not figure it out. But he worked on it all day in the arena. He had strawberries on his elbows and on his knees but he still could get it. But he tried so hard. But for me just working in his in his hometown. Like you say, that’s what I get out of it. That’s what I remember. It wasn’t one of my greatest highlight moments at WrestleMania but it was still a great moment.”
What is Booker T grateful for?
“My health, my family and still having a zeal for life.”
