Booker T was determined to make anything written for him the best it could be and now, he is a two-time WWE Hall of Famer.
The next round of WWE’s A&E programming will be centered around Booker T. Booker was one of the first names to opt-out of his major contract to take a chance on joining WWE in 2001 when WCW went out of business.
Reflecting on his career in an interview with Yahoo! Sports, Booker opened up about making whatever was written for his character work as best as possible. Oftentimes, legends of the caliber of Booker T have worked unscripted but Booker T says he preferred looking at the script and making minimal changes to fit his personality but making sure that he took everything and made it the best that I could possibly be.
"I’ve always been the guy that was all about the script. Give me the script, crappy or not, I’m going to make it good and change a few things. No matter what position I was in, mid-card, main event, whatever, it was all about going out there and getting the work done. That really started in WCW. I was a guy who would go out there and perform and rely on nothing else but my own work. There was no buddy system, no kissing up, it was all about taking whatever role it was and making it something special. That’s what I challenge these young guys to do now. Take whatever character you have and make it what you want it to be."
Booker T also has the legacy of being one of the most highly decorated black professional wrestlers of all time. Now, with Bobby Lashley as WWE Champion and Bianca Blair and Sasha Banks headlining WrestleMania, Booker T says it's awesome to see how far wrestling has progressed in terms of representation.
“It’s really, really awesome. I always said Bobby Lashley was the heir apparent to Booker T. When I left the company I thought Bobby was going to pick up the baton and run with it. He came back and proved that he was there to do it on another level. I’m loving what him and the Hurt Business are doing right now. Bianca Belair and Sasha Banks, I can’t say anything negative toward those ladies because they have gone out and done it their way.
“I think about the way I did it and may have paved the way, but then I think about how there were so many guys that paved the way for me. Guys like [Junkyard Dog], Ron Simmons, who I had the opportunity to look up to. What I learned from them is that if you are going to do it, do it right. You are a role model.
“During my career, I remember I was in the park I used to go to as a kid and a child actually saying to me — I wasn’t the biggest star back then — that he wanted to be like me when he grew up. I still to this day think about those kids who are looking up to me. That’s what the biography is going to speak to more than anything. You’re going to see a kid who went down a road, lost a lot, suffered, but was still able to find his way back.”
The next round of WWE programming on A&E will be this Sunday, May 9, 2021.
