Booker T has pushed back against the idea that a lack of house shows is why modern professional wrestlers are not developing properly.
On the latest episode of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T was asked about comments made by Maven, who argued that the reduction in house shows is why wrestlers are not improving and why botches are becoming more common on television. Booker T said he respects Maven but disagrees entirely with that assessment.
“I just don’t agree with them at all, just because you really can’t compare wrestling from when we came up to the wrestling that the guys are doing today. It’s no way. You just can’t compare it. It’s like apples and oranges. For me to be able to get in the ring with Ricky Steamboat and not have to say a word and just listen, and he take me all the way to a place that I never could have imagined a dream taking myself, and I get out of the ring feeling and feeling like I actually know how to do this now, that right there is not something that can happen today the way the guys learn it”
Booker T argued that the real problem is not the absence of house shows, but the absence of proper teaching and the veterans needed to provide it.
“I just feel like house shows is not the reason why talent is not getting to the peak where they should. I think it’s the lack of veterans being able to go out there and guide them and show them. We lost a lot of carpenters along the way. We lost a boatload of carpenters who should have been teaching this next generation, but a lot of this next generation, I’m just being honest, they’re teaching themselves.”
He also pointed to the independent scene as a place where bad habits are forming and going unchecked.
“You go out to an independent show, you may not even know who the promoter is. These guys are going out there, and they’re trying some of the craziest stuff you ever can imagine to get noticed on TikTok or something, opposed to learning the science of professional wrestling. The shows have no rules. They can just go out there and do anything. It’s not about them learning. It’s about the promoter and the show and somebody gets some money that night. It’s not about learning or anything. It’s not about professional wrestling. A lot of times on a lot of these shows, when you pick up these bad habits from the beginning, how far can you actually go in this business? Are you going to make it to WWE? Are you going to make it to AEW? Are you going to go to Japan? No, you’re not.”
Booker T framed the issue as fundamentally one of education and said having the right foundation from the start is what separates performers who reach the top from those who do not.
“If you don’t know the channels that take to make some really, really good braised ribs, trust me, you ain’t gonna make them. And that’s what this thing is, knowing the playbook, understanding it, and being able to go out there and do it. We got so many teachers out there that’s teaching this, perhaps that perhaps shouldn’t be teaching it, because it is a certain way of teaching this. And I’m living proof, because my teacher that taught me from the beginning put me off on the right path, literally, a straight line from the beginning. You might get ‘this is awesome’ if a guy jumps on top of his head too, but those guys aren’t going to be working in the main event at WrestleMania. That’s what I’m talking about, learning this and learning it the proper way.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Hall of Fame with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
