Booker T On Renee Dupree Calling Goldberg “Unsafe”, Former WWE Star Beating Dupree Up
Recently, former WWE star Rene Dupree revealed an incident with Goldberg where he dislocated his collarbone. Dupree then said, "Yeah he's the sh*ts. He's horrible, many wrestlers will tell you that." On a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore, two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T reacted to those comments.
"I hate even commenting on stories like that because I try to stay out of the middle of, sometimes, just personal beef, professional jealousies," Booker T admitted. "I always say, if I was any one of the guys in the locker room and I saw Goldberg coming in and getting a push and the next day, he's freaking a millionaire and he's the hottest thing on television, on late night talk shows, I'd be so envious. I'd want to be him knowing that he hadn't put in the time that I have, but the one thing that I'm not going to do is hate on the guy.
"I can't do it because like I said, I wish I would have got put in that position when I was coming up and got it, I wouldn't say given to me, but placed in a position where all I had to do was grab it. I would have loved that, and then when I hear people like Rene Dupree, who had an opportunity, this guy had opportunities just like everybody else, and I'm sure he wishes that the company will bring him back at age he is and put him in an angle with one of these young guys and pay him a nice check for it.
"I would imagine so. I could be wrong, but when I hear talk like that, as far as, 'He broke my collarbone.' The time to speak up about that collarbone thing was back then and say, 'Bro, what the hell are you doing? Are you about to hurt me? Hit me like that one more time and see what happens. We can fight.' I'm just saying that's what I would have said. I wouldn't be talking 15 years later about how bad it hurt. I just hate to hear people talk like that. I'm sure he wishes he was the person in that spot where he was the guy in that spot."
Booker T continued as he expressed his respect for Dupree. However, he questioned Dupree making these comments years after the incident.
"When I hear a guy like that disparage a guy like Goldberg and call him crap, like I said, I hate talking about stuff like this, but when you put yourself out there, Goldberg's a friend of mine," Booker T noted, "I'm gonna defend him on this. I've always been fond of Rene Dupree as well, but when I hear him talk like this many years later, I'm very surprised because this is the same guy Bob Holly beat up. I wouldn't even call it beaten up, assaulted, and he didn't even try to fight back, beat him to the locker room all the way out the back door out of the building. And he never tried once to fight back... Some people should just lay out when it comes to making comments like that.
"If you had a beef with Goldberg back then, you should have spoke up about it. I don't remember one time Goldberg not defending himself or anybody saying, 'Goldberg, man, I'd just walk all over him.' I don't remember anybody getting into Goldberg's face and treating him in that nature. For someone to get treated in that nature and to throw dirt on a guy, Goldberg's a tough guy. Anybody that walked on the football field that could play on that gridiron with those guys, you are damn tough.
"Whether you can beat somebody up in a fight or not, that's another story, but are you going to wimp out when it comes to confrontation? I don't think Goldberg is that guy. Is Goldberg the greatest wrestler that ever put on a pair of boots? Perhaps not but to hate on him because the company is using Goldberg? Hate on the company, don't hate on Goldberg because if you was Goldberg, you would do the exact same thing."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.