Booker T Speaks - TNA Departure, Issues W/ Brother, ECW

Former WWE, WCW and TNA performer Booker T. appeared on The LAW this past Sunday night to promote his appearance at the 11th annual 'Gathering of Juggalos' next weekend at Cave in Rock, Illinois. Booker T. will be taking on Tracy Smothers as part of Bloody Mania 4 on Saturday night – for more information check out https://www.juggalogathering.com.

On departing TNA in 2009
I wasn't happy for many different reasons mainly the reason I wasn't happy was because I wasn't wrestling and wasn't performing. I was there for two years and probably had three real matches. When I first came to TNA my thing was I wanted to help them grow, I wanted to be out there in the middle of the ring performing with Sting, Jarrett, Steiner, Hall, Angle, A.J, Samoa – all of them and I didn't get to do that in that two year period and show them what Booker T. was really made of and I didn't get that chance because of the writing in TNA. I always felt that's where TNA was lacking a little bit, I won't say a little bit – a lot more than WWE. As far as business goes, WWE has a staff, they have several people putting together a show and when you have one person trying to put together a two hour show it's very hard.

On his final months in TNA
Well I didn't want to waste myself so I felt I should leave instead of just stay there and be in the background, I didn't come to be part of the background and be a part of a group or anything, even though the Main Event Mafia was hot and it could have been hotter if it was done right. I felt the Main Event Mafia could still be going now, it's similar to Nexus Vs WWE. That's really a formula you can't go wrong with, it's something in life – the young guys always want to take the older guys spots. I felt TNA didn't capitalize on it.

TNA's branding
I felt they took a huge step back when they got rid of the six sided ring after investing seven years in it and making people believe they were a different company and went back to being the same as everybody else. That was your signature, your staple and there were a lot of complaints from people saying they couldn't work in it properly and I know exactly what the problem was because I worked in it – it was just too small. They should have made it two feet bigger on each side and it would have been perfectly fine for Hogan to get in and work as opposed to changing the look of TNA to make it look like WCW. WCW is dead and it will never come back and it should be that way because life is evolution, we go forward not backward.

The ECW reunion show
I know a lot of the ECW guys – RVD is literally my best friend and we're really tight and doing the ECW thing, it's a nostalgia thing but it's not done the right way and more importantly not done for the right reasons and it's done for a TV rating and that's not what they need to be focusing on. The ratings will come if you put your time into the product and stay on the grind when it comes to focusing on where you're trying to go as opposed to coming in and figuring it out on the fly and it all goes back to having a staff that is coming up with different ideas and you can bounce them off wrestlers who have been in the ring wrestling, that can go up top and give it a 'yea' or 'nay'. You've got to be able to agree to disagree without having animosity and have egos involved when you're trying to run a business and when I was there it didn't feel like it was being run like we really wanted to win and I'm not saying I wanted to beat WWE but I wanted to be the best wrestling company out there and it has nothing to do with WWE.

Comparisons of the Nexus invasion to the WCW invasion angle
You've got a lot of young and hungry guys out there and with WCW you had a lot of young guys that wasn't hungry, that didn't really care about the business. Those guys got real lazy and there were only probably two of us that could go out and perform at that time, everybody else was in their zone and weren't prepared for WWE and the take over by WWE, no one was prepared for that but I was saw it coming long before it came.

Current problems with brother Stevie Ray
Me and my brother have a feud going, hopefully one day it works itself out. I still love my brother, it ain't nothing like that but until he can come to grips on certain things and I can come to them it will be a little rocky. Maybe he will hear this or not, but I've got a couple of twins in the world if you want to get them a hollar they're in the hospital at St. Luke's.

Another potential run with a national promotion
I would not say that I won't be in the big spotlight again – I've got some stuff brewing just keep your ears open and maybe coming up real soon. Booker T. is not over yet, I'm still going to go out there and perform like I said, do my thing, like I always do and make my fans jump.