Booker T Shares Reaction To Thunderbolt Patterson's WWE Hall Of Fame Induction

There were many memorable moments to come out of WrestleMania 40 weekend, including the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday night. And while plenty of attention was paid to the induction of Paul Heyman, the ceremony closed with the induction of Thunderbolt Patterson, the 1970s wrestling legend who spent his career battling racism and attempting to improve working conditions for wrestlers, including trying to start a wrestler's union, which led to Patterson being briefly blacklisted.

On the "Hall of Fame" podcast on Tuesday, fellow WWE Hall of Famer Booker T talked about Patterson's induction. Revealing that his family had attended the same church as Patterson and that he had gotten to chat with Patterson before the ceremony, Booker discussed how much Patterson influenced his career, and how important his induction was.

"To see Thunderbolt Patterson actually make that walk, get up out of the wheelchair, make that walk, and say 'Man, I'm standing up on this stage,'" Booker said. "'I'm [going to] show that I still got it.' It was a touching moment for me, because Thunderbolt paved the way for me, for guys like me, guys that looked like me. And I know he didn't have it as easy as I did. I know his route was much, much tougher than my route was. 

"For me to actually be sitting there, watching Thunderbolt Patterson, which was one of the reasons, of course along with Paul Heyman...why I wanted to be at the Hall of Fame. It was definitely an experience, for me, to be in the room to be in the room with Thunderbolt Patterson, one of the greatest of all time, one of the greatest to ever did it. One of the brothers that I can say paved the way for me."

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