WWE fans are divided on Booker T’s commentary style; some love it, and some don’t.
Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Booker said his commentary started backstage in WCW. Booker T credits Michael Cole for his commentary career and says he was relieved the first time WWE took him off the announce desk.
“It goes all the way back to WCW. It’s just one of those things to where every time we was on the road overseas, I was the commentator in the back for the boys, you know, in front of the monitor, you know, and I just would be having fun, and I would, you know, give guys different names, and I would name their moves totally different names, you know, and I would just be like way over the top with it, you know. So it was just, you know, something I did to pass time, and the boys liked it, you know,” Booker said.
Booker said he did the same thing in WWE. It turns out Cole approached him as his in-ring career was winding down.
“And then when I was wrapping my career up, Michael Cole, he came to me and he was like, ‘Man, I want you, like, you know, start doing commentary and, you know, get on the commentary team.’ I can’t do that, and he was like, ‘Nah, man, I think you can do it, you know,'” Booker said.
“And Cole’s been, you know, Michael Cole. I love Michael Cole. He’s always, he’s been my biggest supporter. I wouldn’t be doing commentary if it wasn’t for Michael Cole putting me on the team and trusting me for some damn reason, and I would screw up so many times,” he added.
Booker recalled one slip on live television. That slip was dropping the f-bomb.
“One day on television, I go, ‘I want to see a f***ing fight,’ and I’m like, ‘What the hell?'” Booker said.
“I didn’t mean for that to come out, you know. He goes, ‘What did you just say?’ And I go, ‘What? What did I just say?’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ I didn’t even realize I said it, you know,” he said.
Booker said he expected to be removed eventually, and that he was happy when it happened. He said it took as long as it did because Cole kept trusting him.
“He just kept trusting me, and I was like, I just didn’t understand, and a lot of times, you know, I was like, you know, I just know they’re gonna, like, you know, take me off the team sooner or later, and sooner or later that day came for me. You know, I was doing SmackDown, I was doing Raw, and then they came to me one day and they go, ‘Book, you know, we’re gonna take you off commentary, but we’re gonna leave you on the kickoff show,'” Booker said.
“And then I go, ‘Guys, I was gonna come talk to you guys about it,’ and I was so happy that day. Corey Graves thought I was crazy because they took me off the team, and I was so happy because I just knew I wasn’t ready for that. I knew I wasn’t, you know. And then they end up putting me back on again, you know, and they end up taking me off again,” he added.
Booker now calls NXT, where he said Shawn Michaels told him to be himself.
“But when I came to NXT, you know, Shawn Michaels was just like, you know, just be you. Whatever you want to do, just do it,” Booker said.
