The latest “Hall of Fame” with Booker T and Brad Gilmore is up now on all podcast apps and on YouTube. Booker gave his thoughts on some of the big wrestling stories of the week, including Samoa Joe winning the AEW World Title and The Rock’s return on Monday Night Raw. He also responded to Ahmed Johnson’s recent comments.
Booker T’s thoughts on Samoa Joe winning the AEW Championship:
“I guess it was about three months ago we were talking about what’s gonna happen with Samoa Joe in AEW and I said, ‘I feel like Samoa Joe is going to be the World Heavyweight Champion in AEW’, because Tony Khan is just that type of guy. He’s gonna make sure it happens for some Samoa Joe. I just believe, you know, Joe put in the work. No doubt. Joe was that soldier to say, ‘Okay, I’ll man this ship over here in ROH’, but as soon as Samoa Joe came over and enacted his claws and said, ‘Hey, I’m here’, boom, they put the title on him. I just felt that way and the reason why is I just felt like it was rewarding for Samoa Joe to give him his props because Joe is that guy, man. He is that true soldier, He’s that dude. He’s been grinding and grinding and grinding for so long. He’s deserving of it. He really is.”
Booker went on to say, You can say Samoa Joe and anybody just about that knows the wrestling business is going to know who that is immediately. He’s that good. He’s been around that long. He’s not just been that good in the ring, he’s been that good outside of the ring as far as interviews and promos. He’s been that good from a commentary perspective. Samoa Joe is literally, like, all around. He could pretty much do it all. So he is the perfect guy, as well as when Joe works, you believe it. I mean, you believe it, no doubt, you know, so for me, he’s the perfect guy for the job and I’m just glad to see Samoa Joe finally get his flowers.”
On the Rock returning:
“It’s got a buzz. Everybody is talking about it. I think that’s modus operandi. I think that’s what that is more than anything. For me, you don’t want to let that thing simmer too long, you know, because, The Rock, you know, time waits for no man. That’s just the way it is. So for the Rock to get it done, you know, this would be a great time for it, for Roman as well. Roman is in his prime, at the height of his title reign. It’s not gonna get any higher than this. So if it is that time to pull the trigger, hey man, pull the trigger.”
Booker T on Ahmed Johnson challenging him to a fight and a debate:
“What can he debate me on? I’ve achieved more in my professional career and my life than Ahmed, than Tony Norris will ever achieve in his life. You’ve read my book, ‘From Prison to Promise.’ You read my book and it tells you my whole story and for me to end up where I ended up and landed on my feet, it’s amazing. It’s amazing, all through hard work and determination and just believing in myself, you know, but someone like Tony Norris, we have nothing to debate about, as well as, I think I read that he challenged me to a fight. I do want to address that because I ain’t running and I ain’t hiding or anything like that. I think he invited me to his dojo to fight me, which we’re gonna go over here in a few seconds and you clean it up, but he said he invited me to his dojo. I can say this. I’m not going to sue Tony Norris if he was to run up on me and hit me or do something like that. I’m not going to sue. If Ahmed Johnson sees me and I see him and it’s on, it’s on. Alright. I’m just gonna say that, but I’m not going to go somewhere and engage in, you know, combat (he laughs) because that’s just not something I do at this age. It’s just not appropriate, but there again, I’m not running and I ain’t hiding or anything like that, but there is no debate. Tony Norris is nothing more than a lowdown, notorious, lying, piece of you know what. That’s all I’m going to say on that. That’s all I’m going to say. You know what? I got one more thing to say. You gotta clean this up. You gotta clean this up because Ahmed Johnson said he wants to know where all this stuff started from. He said I started it with him. Ahmed Johnson actually went on record and said that he tried to sabotage my career in WCW in a match. This is something that he said on record and he doesn’t know where this started from. So Ahmed Johnson needs to check himself, you know, and get his records right. Maybe he doesn’t remember this stuff. Maybe he’s getting old. I tell my wife to check me when I don’t remember stuff. Check yourself, man.”
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. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.
