Booker T’s latest “Hall of Fame” show is up now on YouTube and all streaming platforms. Booker commented on some of the news of the week and something that he says happened with CM Punk backstage at NXT.
Booker T on Thunderbolt Patterson being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:
“That’s pretty awesome. I actually said a few words about Thunderbolt Patterson going into the Hall of Fame. He’s going to actually be there live and in person, a guy that’s paved the way for me. Thunderbolt Patterson was the guy who perhaps was in the main event of a show and he couldn’t even sleep in a hotel in that city that night just because he was a black man. I’m sure those trips up and down that highway back then was definitely a sight to see for someone like Thunderbolt Patterson trying to make his way in this business. He had to go in the back door more times than he had to go in the front door, but he endured that for someone like myself, so I give Thunderbolt Patterson all the praise in the world for going out there and paving the way for someone like myself. I really do. I appreciate it.”
On turning down Dark Side of the Ring to talk about Buff Bagwell:
“We’ve heard about the WWE run as far as Buff Bagwell’s standpoint. It just didn’t work out, the match that him and I had in Tacoma, Washington. That has come up a lot of times. Dark Side of the Ring reached out to me to be a part of some of these series and episodes but I turned it down just because me, personally, anything that happened with Buff Bagwell and I, anything that I gotta say about Buff Bagwell, it’s private. It’s something that’s internal and it’s something that him and I know and I’m not going to expose it or put it out there or anything like that just because I don’t think the world really needs to know what happened with Bagwell and I that night or anything like that, so the way it’s written is the way it’s going to be told from here on out. I won’t have anything to say about it.”
“Let me speak on one thing just to clarify, just to back up Bagwell on a couple of things. That night, Bagwell and I had to go out and work. It was literally the first time two WCW guys were in the main event. I do remember agents talking to me and telling me exactly what they didn’t want me to do. They told me to look straight at the camera, go out, and work. Don’t shake nobody’s hands, and that was my thing, going out happy, shaking hands, high-fiving. They told Bagwell the exact same thing. Go straight out, just go to work, and don’t even think about the fans. That was something that I found very, very odd. Kind of suspicious. We weren’t put in a position to succeed back then in WWE. None of the WCW guys were. We were put out there to fail. We were put out there to get our asses beat and for WWE to plant that flag and say, ‘Man, we won this war. We got the best wrestlers in the world and we just proved it with these two guys in the ring right here’, so that part of Marcus Bagwell’s story is 100% true. Was it the greatest match that I’ve ever had? No. Was it the worst match I ever had? I don’t even think it was the worst match I’ve ever had, but I do know, no matter what we did that night, those fans in Tacoma, Washington didn’t give a damn about Booker T or Marcus Buff Bagwell. It was a rough night.”
Booker T was asked if he saw CM Punk Tuesday at the NXT tapings:
“I did. I saw Punk. (he laughs).
Brad Gilmore asked, “What’s funny?”
Booker T said, “We’ll talk about that off the air, but I almost had a little run-in with CM Punk. The internet might want to pick that up. Me and CM Punk almost got into it at NXT this week. “
Brad Gilmore asked him if he will tell him later and Booker T responded, “We’ll talk about it later. I don’t want to put it out there because they’re going to pick it up and run with it, but yeah, I’ll talk to you about that off the air.”
Booker T talking about NXT Stand and Deliver:
“It’s gonna be good as well as there might be a couple of surprises you don’t want to miss out on. I’m not going to say anything, but there might be a couple of surprises, big, big, big surprises on that day.”
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.
