Booker T Provides His Mount Rushmore Of Black Wrestlers

Everyone who's anyone in professional wrestling has had to lay out their personal Mount Rushmores in the business lately. Booker T was called upon to assemble his list of all-timers last year. But on his podcast "The Hall of Fame," he was recently asked to put together one more — this time only featuring Black wrestlers. Booker T took a trip down memory lane to find his best of the best.

"Probably No. 1 would be Bobo Brazil, just because he was a trailblazer," Booker said. "I'm sure Bobo had to go through all kind of crap, dealing with them folks back in the day trying to just get a break. So I give Bobo big props for paving the way for me." Brazil was a 7-time WWWF United States Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994.  

"No. 2 would be JYD, the Junkyard Dog. They don't come no bigger than Junkyard Dog," he continued. "This dude was a trailblazer and he was a major star — on cartoons and stuff back in the day."

"Ernie "Big Cat" Ladd definitely would be a guy who was a monster in the business. Monster! Tony Atlas would be No. 4. Tony Atlas — man that dude was a brickhouse. A brickhouse! And the one Black guy who [doesn't] get a lot of praise," he added, "just because his mouth got him in a lot of trouble. Because he wasn't afraid to just tell you like it was, because like Mama says, 'It be's that way sometime. Have mercy on his soul.' 'The Iceman' King Parsons. Yeah, that's my list."

Ladd, the Junkyard Dog, and Atlas are all part of the WWE Hall of Fame as well, having been inducted in 1995, 2004, and 2006 respectively. Parsons, who has not thus far, was a major player during the time of territories in wrestling, making his name primarily with the NWA and WCCW.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Hall of Fame Podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription