Booker wrestled for TNA from 2007 to 2010 and if he could go back, he wishes he had worked harder during his time in TNA. He thinks that a lack of direction from the company was a big part of why he didn’t.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, he said the African accent he used during that run started after he watched The Last King of Scotland, starring Forest Whitaker.
“When I went to TNA, I had such grand expectations. I really, like, wanted to change how, you know, that company was viewed. I had a lot of young talent to do it,” Booker said.
Booker said he felt no one in the company was paying attention. Booker said he never cleared the accent with anyone.
“So I’m like, ‘Damn, you know, nobody’s telling me anything. S***, I might as well just start making up something.’ So after watching the movie, I say I’m gonna just start talking with an African accent. I didn’t run it by anyone. So I said I’m gonna run it to see how long before somebody say something. Nobody ever said nothing. I’m like, hell, what kind of operation is this? Because I don’t know, if it was my company, I would come to Book, ‘Could you kill the African accent?'” Booker said.
“I was just entertaining myself again, just like doing commentary in the back,” he added.
Booker said he looks back on that period with some regret.
“A lot of people liked it, but I always say, I wish I would have worked harder. I wish I would have really worked harder and tried to. I don’t know. I don’t know. I just feel like that part of my career, I wish I could change a little bit,” he said.
The WWE Hall of Famer was asked whether it was a case of not caring because no one else seemed to.
“I know 100% that’s what it was. You know, I mean, no one, no one. It was really no direction,” Booker said.
Booker said he disagreed with Dutch Mantell after word spread that Booker had been lazy in TNA. He said he raised the issue with his Hall of Fame podcast co-host Brad Gilmore.
“Dutch was one of the guys running things, and he never came to me one time and said, ‘Hey, Book, stop doing the accent,'” Booker said. “And Dutch came back and go, ‘I just want to apologize. He’s right,’ because no one ever gave me any direction in that company, you know.”
Booker said he eventually decided to enjoy himself, and pointed to the wrestlers he worked with.
“But I got to the point to, I just, you know, man, let me come to work and just have some fun, and you know, I got to do some cool stuff with AJ, Samoa Joe, Bobby Roode, and those are the guys I really, really wanted to work, and look where all those guys ended up,” Booker said.
“All of them ended up in WWE,” he added.
