Booker T has addressed the longstanding criticism regarding his WrestleMania 19 loss to Triple H. According to Booker, it is the one finish in his career he would change, but he still considers reaching that main event a win.
Triple H retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Booker at WrestleMania 19 in 2003. Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Booker said a win was never discussed.
“You know, to answer the first point first, that would be the only match in my career that I could honestly say, maybe, you know, if I could change that finish, you know what I mean? I’d change it, but no, there was never any talk about me winning that match. You know, from the beginning, I never went into that match thinking I was winning. But there again, I’ve never gone into any match thinking that. I just never got involved in that side of it,” Booker said.
Booker said he knew how many fans wanted to see him win.
“I knew so many people wanted me to win, and I love those people for it,” he said. “And then I got in the main event and I didn’t win. I go, man, I should have wished I would have won too.”
Booker said fans may not fully understand what reaching that point meant to him.
“I get it, you know, because it’s something that’s fictional to them, but it’s real to me. And when I say that, I mean, you know, I lost my dad when I was 10 months old, and I lost my mom when I was 14, you know, quit school and got locked up in prison, you know, and then I come out and find myself in the main event at WrestleMania. I think that’s a win,” Booker said.
“I think that’s a win. And any kid that’s looking at it, I needed them to understand, you know. I’m that kid that went through all that trial and tribulation, but yeah, I found myself being one of the best wrestlers in the world, you know, in a main event at WrestleMania, and I came that close to winning it, you know, my sixth world title,” he added.
Booker held the WCW Championship five times before WrestleMania 19. Booker T won his sixth world title in 2006, when he became World Heavyweight Champion as King Booker.
“Took some years, man. Yeah, it was a few years after that as King Booker,” he said.
Booker also recalled a conversation with a WWE office staffer after the match. That person told him that they thought Booker should have won that night.
“I remember one of the office guys. I was walking down the hallway, and you know he walked past me. He goes, ‘Book, you should have won that tonight.’ And I go, ‘I appreciate it, man,'” Booker said.
