Booker T says a wrestler warned him early in his WWE run that taking a nap in the locker room could get him heat, and he responded by telling Jim Ross he would be napping in his car.
Booker told the story on The Hall of Fame podcast with co-host Brad Gilmore, in an episode about ribs and backstage heat.
“I always think about the first time when I got to WWE and I was in the locker room and I was nodding off,” Booker said. “This guy came in, he was so scared and he goes, ‘Hey Book, I wouldn’t do that around here if I was you.’ And I go, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘Taking a nap? That’s not cool. You can get a lot of heat.'”
“Let me test this theory because I’m going to take a nap or they’re going to have to fire me,” Booker said. He said Jim Ross was the one who signed his contract, so he told Ross, “If anybody’s looking for me, I’ll be in my car taking a nap.” Ross said, “All right.”
“Me taking a nap is me preparing for tonight,” Booker said. “No one ever said anything to me about taking naps, you know, my whole career.”
Asked if heat was real, Booker said yes, and he said it bothers him when wrestlers say they stayed quiet about how they were treated because they were afraid of losing their jobs.
“That irks me, man. It really irks me,” Booker said. “I’ve been willing to get fired a lot of times, you know, as far as the business go. The only thing you could do is fire me.”
Booker said he never got heat with the boys because he cared more about the people in charge. “I didn’t care about getting heat with the boys because they wasn’t writing the checks,” he said.
He also recalled one rib from shortly after he and Stevie Ray signed with WCW. Booker said he gave a kid $20 to buy him hot dogs at a house show, and the food and his change disappeared. He said Chris Benoit walked by with mustard on his mouth and denied eating them. By the time Benoit’s match ended, the hot dogs and money had reappeared. Booker said he never ate them and never found out who did it.
“I was so mad my headache had went away,” Booker said.
Booker also said on the episode that his relationship with Triple H has always been business, not friendship.
