WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T Stands By Jade Cargill Comments, Invites Debate
In assessing Jade Cargill's recent performance and injury in a triple threat main event on "WWE SmackDown," WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently asserted that she needed to better protect herself. He also stated that Cargill is still "fresh off" her run in All Elite Wrestling, where likely she wasn't given a chance to learn about professional wrestling in depth. A report from Fightful Select later indicated that talents within WWE, AEW, and TNA were "baffled" by the latter remark –something Booker himself has since addressed on the "The Hall of Fame" podcast.
"I want to know who those baffled WWE, TNA and AEW wrestlers are," Booker said. "I'm willing to talk and challenge and debate with any of those guys. I don't look at myself above or below any of the guys that's in the business today, guys in the past or future, none of that. I'm serious. I feel like we're all on the same level. My thing is I respect the young guys. Say, for instance, a company like AEW, and I don't see anybody over there that's working in the main event, that's been in the business two years or three years. The Young Bucks, those guys got time in. The Kenny Omegas, Edge, Christian, most of the guys over there on that roster got years of experience in this business. So when someone questions me, I'm going to look for your credentials first and foremost.
"I understand when someone who comments who's never been in the business and they can look at two years in the business and think that's a really, really long time. But one of my peers that's been in the business, I think they know what two years is."
In September 2023, Cargill left AEW after a 500-plus day reign as TBS Champion and making her professional wrestling debut in the company 2.5 years earlier. Later in the same month, WWE confirmed that Cargill had inked a deal with it, leading to her WWE in-ring debut at the 2024 Royal Rumble.
Booker Says He Knew 'Very Little' In First Two Years Of His Own Career
Two years out from signing with WWE, Cargill is now a two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion and a top star on the "WWE SmackDown" brand. She's also competed in two WrestleManias, earning wins in both appearances. Still, in the grand scheme of things, Booker believes Cargill remains a work in progress.
Based on his prior in-ring experiences, Booker argues that two years is not a long time in the wrestling industry, hence his previous remark about Cargill still being "fresh" out of AEW. "I know at two years in the business what I knew, which was very, very little," he said
Early in his career, Booker recalled wrestling in-ring veteran Dusty Wolfe, who had several years of television experience under his belt. Though Wolfe had actually rarely emerged victorious in his own matches on television, Booker found Wolfe's insight valuable, so much so that he personally asked Wolfe to guide him through their forthcoming bout, which Booker was slated to win.
"I learned so much in that match listening to Dusty Wolfe," Booker said. "I appreciate Dusty Wolfe. Wherever you are out there, Dusty, I appreciate the knowledge that you gave me to actually hopefully give to some other young guy one day, which I know I did. That's what being in the business is at that stage. If you ain't got your ears open learning from someone like a Dusty Wolfe, you're going to be swimming upstream. I can almost guarantee you that in Jade's first two years, she didn't work with anyone like Dusty Wolfe."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Hall of Fame" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.