On the latest “Hall of Fame” podcast, Booker T talked about the accents he was doing when he was in TNA. Booker received some criticism at the time for phoning it in while he was with them.
“It was just something that I was trying my best to entertain myself in TNA,” Booker said. “When I got to TNA, I really had high hopes to really, really be able to capture some moments in that company and after about two weeks, I realized none of that was gonna happen, so I just started acting a fool. I really did. I really started acting a fool. I’m actually ashamed of myself for some of the stuff I did in TNA. I really am because I knew it wasn’t going anywhere and I lost my zeal for really going out and performing the way I think I always had before that.”
“I lost my motivation. I had a two year contract and I lost my motivation. I’ve been watching Last Dance. I’m at episode nine, and to watch Michael Jordan’s drive, he was like a tyrant. He wanted nothing but the best from the guys that were around him. I know when I went to TNA, I felt I had that same feeling as far as, I’m going to push these guys to really see exactly how far they can go because I knew I had some young talent that I could really, really go out there and maybe create some magic with. Then when none of that happened, I lost my passion just because I knew it was out of my hands. It was out of my control. There was nothing I could do with it. I was nowhere near that circle of people that was running it or anything like that. So I just literally just said, man, I’m going to come pick my check up, I’m going to try to have some fun, and try to create something at the same time, and when these two years are over, we’ll move on.”
Booker T said he had no intention of coming back to WWE when he left in 2007:
“When I left WWE, I wasn’t expecting to ever go back. It wasn’t a thought process in my mind as far as I’m leaving WWE, I’m gonna go over here, and maybe I’ll find (my way back).I literally thought that was the end of my WWE career, my WWE run, and totally had no expectations of going back to the company or anything like that, but when the opportunity came, I was like, oh heck yeah. When they asked me to do Tough Enough, I was like, man, I’m all in. It’s something I could do. It’s something I could transition from the ring to actually coaching and what not. I already got a school, so I’m already known for coaching, so this is perfect. That led to the commentary thing and analyst and whatnot. I’ve been there ever since.”
Booker T’s favorite time in his wrestling career:
“In 2006 when Sharmell came on board in WWE, and the reason she came on board is because I didn’t want to do it anymore, and Vince McMahon said, ‘Let’s hire Sharmell.’ We came together and then I became King and she was Queen. That was the best time of my wrestling career. That was literally the best time in my whole wrestling career, bar none, us two together against the world. I remember Sharmell and I, I think we were in Philly, maybe. We slept in the car because we didn’t want to get a hotel room because we had about five hours before we had to catch the next flight. We were like, let’s just sleep in the car. You know, like, ‘Baby, what do you think?’ She’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s do that.’ When you got a woman like that, you like, that’s ride or die, man. I tell you man, so many nights she was watching my back riding down the highway. She would drive for me, make sure I got there so I can prepare to get ready to go out there and do it again the next day. It was the best frickin time in my whole wrestling career, the whole 30 years.”
Booker T’s thoughts on some main roster talent coming to NXT:
“I like that idea of being able to merge, you know, main roster, like Superstar talent, to come down and work with, you know, some of the NXT talent without developing them too quick to move to RAW. Instead of moving to RAW, instead of going up to that level, can someone come down to this level to bring these guys up to this level? I talk about that kind of stuff all the time. It’s like, in general, like talking to somebody in the hood, talking to somebody that’s younger, you know, you got to go down to their level in order to be able to bring them up to your level. I like that idea. That concept, I think, works because you got a lot of guys in NXT that they got a lot of talent, like a lot of raw talent, but they don’t even understand what it means to work with one of the main roster guys. Then they get in the ring and merge with them, and then they see such a huge difference as far as the way the guy works, the strength, everything, is gonna be a little bit different. It’s like a college player playing against an NBA player. It’s gonna be a huge, vast difference between the two. So I say yeah, I like the idea as well as being able to bring that star power like a Seth Rollins to NXT for that one night. The rating should be up just for that one night knowing there’s gonna be a main event with Seth Rollins in there, or whoever that comes from the main roster. I think it’s definitely a big jump, a great, great move.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
