Booker T Names Who Is The Future Of The Pro Wrestling
Former 5x, 5x, 5x, 5x, 5x, WCW World Heavyweight Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently sat down for an interview on an episode of Rasslin' with Brandon F. Walker, to discuss Booker T's A&E documentary.
During the podcast Booker T was asked who he thinks the best wrestler in the WWE is right now. Booker quickly answered the WWE Champion Roman Reigns and said he has been giving the same answer for the last few years.
"Roman," answered Booker T. "But I've said that for the last, maybe, three years easy. Roman is the best guy in the business. Just because he's a guy that goes out and performs at a very, very high level. But everyone that works with Roman, they have their best match [with him]. They come up to another level. They may never have a match like that ever again. But when they're in there with Roman, Roman goes out and does everything he needs to do from a professional's perspective, from a general perspective, to make everything about the match and give the fans what they want. So, he's my guy. He's the number one guy in the business right now."
Booker T was then asked about the future of the wrestling industry, and who he thinks will be at the top of the business in a few years. Booker T named Adam Cole as the guy he sees reaching the top of the wrestling business, which he has discussed in the past.
"For me, I'm really looking to see how far Adam Cole breaks out," shared Booker T. "People always compare him to the Shawn Michaels' type of worker. I really think a guy like Adam Cole, even being a small guy, is going to be able to work so much bigger than his actual size. He is [so much] like a Shawn Michaels. I saw the match with [Adam Cole and Keith Lee] and he was wrestling a big guy and performed well with him. That match that those two guys had, I was blown away! [I was blown away by] the size difference, and how it still looked like it was really competitive at the same time."
Later in the interview Booker T was asked about what he considers to be the greatest match that he ever had. Instead of giving one match, Booker T named a series of them.
"Chris Benoit vs. Booker T, the best of seven series" answered Booker T. "Those matches were undeniable. [They're] some of the greatest matches in the history of the business that anyone could ever see. Any young kid can go watch the matches and say, 'Wow!' When I was coming up Steamboat and Savage, I always wanted to imitate that match and go out and duplicate it. I got a chance to do it seven times with Benoit and it was really great stuff."
Booker T was also asked who was his greatest opponent in the WWE. This time Booker T gave the name of two legends of the industry.
"Maybe Christian," recalled Booker T. "Me and Christian had a really, really good chemistry. Of course, working with Kurt Angle was a really, really great time."
Booker T then went on to tell a funny story about a match between he and Kurt that had an unexpected ending.
"But Kurt and I, it's a funny story there," laughed Booker T. "In the blowoff match him and I had after he was stalking Sharmell. It was one of those matches I wanted to be able to talk about for many years later. We got going in the match. He had shown me this Olympic move in the back that he wanted me to do in the ring that night. I was like, 'Okay, cool!' So, I practiced it a couple of times and we did it in the back.
"Then we got in the ring and it was about twelve or fifteen minutes into the match and I hit him with that move. It was called the spladle. And the referee, Charles Robinson, counted 1 – 2 – 3. We still had ten minutes left in the match. Aw man, both Kurt and I, we both look at Charles Robinson at the same time like we wanted to kill him. Then I've got to raise my hand, like, 'Are you kidding me?' Then we never got a change to wrestle each other after that."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Rasslin' with Brandon F. Walker with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.