Booker T may not have had the successful career he had if he stayed too focused on going to WWE first.
On the Hall of Fame Podcast, Booker discussed which Hall of Famer’s spot he thought he would be able to take in the early 90s if he had signed with WWE first instead of WCW.
“Yeah I had thoughts of going to WWF when I became G.I.Bro back in the day,” Booker stated. “I was like, ‘Man, I’m going to take Sgt. Slaughter’s spot. That’s gonna be me, I’m gonna be the next greatest American hero’. And then me and my brother, we start tagging, and WCW actually called first.”
Looking back, Booker winding up in WCW may have been the best thing that could have happened to the Houston native. While with WCW, Booker was able to rack up 10 WCW World Tag Team Championships alongside partner and real-life brother Stevie Ray as they were a team known as Harlem Heat. Booker also won the WCW Tag Team Championship with Test, however, that was under the WWE banner after they had bought out WCW.
Booker also went on to win WCW World Heavyweight Championship five times while under the WCW banner. He would eventually win a sixth World Title when he defeated Rey Mysterio for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash in 2006.
Booker was also able to hold tag gold in a major promotion one last time alongside former WCW rival, and current partner at the time, Scott Steiner. He and Steiner held the TNA Tag Team Championships for 91 day after defeating Beer Money Inc. for them.
In 2013, Booker was inducted into the Hall of Fame and was then inducted a second time in 2019 with his brother, Stevie Ray, as Harlem Heat. Booker is one of eight men in the history of WWE to be inducted more than once. Booker’s wife, Queen Sharmell, was recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame a couple of months ago during WrestleMania 38 weekend.
Booker T owns a wrestling school where he has taught talents who have signed to major promotions such as AQA in AEW and Roxanne Perez, who just won the Women’s Breakout Tournament in “NXT.”
If you use any quotes from this article please credit the “Hall of Fame” podcast with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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