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28.3.24 0357
The W - Pro Wrestling - Booker sticking around for 2 more years
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Kawshen
Liverwurst








Since: 2.1.02
From: Bronx, NY

Since last post: 5402 days
Last activity: 3662 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.23
PWI sez:

Booker pretty much talked about his recent re-signing with WWE for two more years, which is somewhat surprising especially since there were rumors that he was retiring and also due to the fact that he had recently opened up a wrestling academy with his brother, and former tag partner, Stevie Ray. When asked about the academy, Booker talked about the fact that it not only was a wrestling school, but it also was offering classes in self defense and mixed martial arts. He also said that it was his way of helping to keep kids off the streets, especially after his troubled past. He really felt that this was his way of giving back to the community. The funniest parts of the interview came when Doug kept calling Booker “Mr. T”. However, after the interview Joe set him straight by doing what he always does when Doug does something crazy, by calling Doug an idiot.




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redsoxnation
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Since: 24.7.02

Since last post: 3923 days
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#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.87
If only he hadn't speculated about retiring two years ago, perhaps Booker might have had at least a brief World Title run. Of course, now that he is pigeon holing himself into another 2 years left in his career window, his chances for a run at the top still are minimal.
Mayhem
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Since: 25.4.03
From: Nashville, TN

Since last post: 2438 days
Last activity: 251 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.16

Hey, I'm sure he's getting paid pretty well.

Didn't he just get married? Maybe that's why he decided for 2 more years. :)



BABY BOY MAYHEM

Summer 2005
Tenken347
Knackwurst








Since: 27.2.03
From: Parts Unknown

Since last post: 41 days
Last activity: 3 days
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.85
I don't know, it kinda sounds like either the company decided to shell out in order to keep Booker around a few more years, or Booker was being intentionally facetious when he said he was retiring, in order to inflate his asking price. Either way, I figure the big deciding factor here was a nice two year payday for Booker.
Tribal Prophet
Andouille








Since: 9.1.02
From: Winnipeg, MB, Canada

Since last post: 2936 days
Last activity: 2196 days
#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.85
    Originally posted by redsoxnation
    If only he hadn't speculated about retiring two years ago, perhaps Booker might have had at least a brief World Title run. Of course, now that he is pigeon holing himself into another 2 years left in his career window, his chances for a run at the top still are minimal.


Yeah, I thought back then that he might get a quick run with it at first, but each month that went by made that a lot less likely. Hopefully he gets a chance now for a while too and the same thing doesn't happen to him again.

Good to know that he's sticking around for a bit. I don't think it has anything to do with him wanting more money, or them offering him such a huge amount that he's sticking around without wanting to. The big reason he said '2 years' back then was that his knees were in pretty bad shape. I'd guess that two years came and went and he figures "Hey, that wasn't so bad, I guess I could do a couple more".


Tribal Prophet



Dahak
Frankfurter








Since: 12.5.02
From: Junction City OR.

Since last post: 5470 days
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#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.19
I like Booker T and think that HHH really should have let him have a title run 2 years ago.
Saying that though I think that Booker is being kept around pretty much just so that TNA can't sign him. Booker is a fairly well liked wrestler with a LOT of titles in him career. Just the type of person that the Jarretts would love to sign. Plus Booker has had some pretty good matches with Jeff Jarrett (hah I just did my JJ spelling to make sure I spelled his last name right). Since Booker will probably at least cause VKM to break even, is also a "in case of emergency break glass" potential world champion, and not working for TNA Vince would be stupid to not resign him.



Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.
CANADIAN BULLDOG
Andouille








Since: 5.3.03
From: TORONTO

Since last post: 3989 days
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#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.27
The decision to have Booker NOT go over Triple H was one of the biggest letdowns I've ever seen at a WrestleMania. But at this point, I just can't see him getting a major title run. I don't think he's past his prime or anything -- it's just that the momentum he had a couple of years ago seems to be gone.



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Mayhem
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Since: 25.4.03
From: Nashville, TN

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#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.16

And to add to that, he's arguably the biggest star WITHOUT a Wrestlemania match this year & we're only 8 days out.



BABY BOY MAYHEM

Summer 2005
El Nastio
Banger








Since: 14.1.02
From: Ottawa Ontario, by way of Walkerton

Since last post: 43 days
Last activity: 28 days
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#9 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.33
"Dahak: I like Booker T and think that HHH really should have let him have a title run 2 years ago."


Yeah, Triple H personally made the sole decision to have Booker not get the title. He was the only one involved with the process . They are called booking "commitees" for a reason. Creative "team". Notice the plural? More than one person is involved with that.

Personally, I'm glad the Bookman is sticking around. Capable of anywhere from good to great matches, can work well with a variety of people, and great on the mic. He'll get another run on main event I'm pretty certian. Especially if they do a post Wrestlemania draft so some fresh opponents can be found.



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Andouille








Since: 8.6.02
From: Canada

Since last post: 2541 days
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#10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.89
I'm happy. Booker T is a charismatic, family-friendly character who can be depended upon for good matches when they're needed. I wouldn't class him as a guy who can make gold out of garbage, exactly, but when you need him to raise his game he really does a good job of it. I thought he really helped Cena out a lot in most of those best of five matches.

I don't think anyone has been bungled as many times as Booker T. The latest example was his last heel run on Smackdown, which were some of the better matches in wrestling for a while there, until of course they put him with 'Taker.



Hot Virgins-The World's Most Steadily Shrinking Commodity
BigSteve
Pepperoni








Since: 23.7.04
From: Baltimore, MD

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#11 Posted on | Instant Rating: 2.38
    Originally posted by El Nastio
    "Dahak: I like Booker T and think that HHH really should have let him have a title run 2 years ago."


    Yeah, Triple H personally made the sole decision to have Booker not get the title. He was the only one involved with the process . They are called booking "commitees" for a reason. Creative "team". Notice the plural? More than one person is involved with that.


Let's put it this way. If Triple H wanted to let Booker T get a run with the title, you can damn sure believe that Booker would have another World Title Reign to add to his resume.



History of the WWE (angelfire.com)
Kevintripod
Knackwurst








Since: 11.5.03
From: Mount Pleasant, Pa.

Since last post: 23 days
Last activity: 4 days
#12 Posted on | Instant Rating: 3.22
Now he can run out and buy "His and Her" Hummers for Sharmell and himself.



"This just got a hell of a lot better." - Stifler, American Pie
Matt Tracker
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Since: 8.5.03
From: North Carolina

Since last post: 121 days
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#13 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.55
Is it too late for Booker to return to tag-team greatness? Either roster needs a solid team,and here's a guy who was the shining star of Harlem Heat for, what, ten years?

I admit, he's definitely good enough to remain a singles star, but he hasn't taken a significant singles feud in a while. His WM push wasn't about winning the title as much as it was Triple H losing it. Steiner and Nash had the same momentum in their title feuds; they just didn't get the WM match.



"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Dahak
Frankfurter








Since: 12.5.02
From: Junction City OR.

Since last post: 5470 days
Last activity: 5123 days
#14 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.19
    Originally posted by El Nastio
    "Dahak: I like Booker T and think that HHH really should have let him have a title run 2 years ago."


    Yeah, Triple H personally made the sole decision to have Booker not get the title. He was the only one involved with the process . They are called booking "commitees" for a reason. Creative "team". Notice the plural? More than one person is involved with that.

    Personally, I'm glad the Bookman is sticking around. Capable of anywhere from good to great matches, can work well with a variety of people, and great on the mic. He'll get another run on main event I'm pretty certian. Especially if they do a post Wrestlemania draft so some fresh opponents can be found.


Jesus calm down. Yes I know that the WWE booking committee is made up of Vince, Linda, Steph, Shane, Kevin Dunn, JR, HHH, and some others I either don't know or can't think of off the top of my head. I am not a HHHater I was just using brevity.



Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.
JustinShapiro
Scrapple
Moderator








Since: 12.12.01

Since last post: 1764 days
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#15 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
You need not even apologize since, ATWON*, Hunter got the title change nixed, citing "two world title changes on one show dillutes their impact" and "I have to be kept strong for Goldberg in June."

* (according to Dave)
Phantom
Frankfurter








Since: 17.3.02

Since last post: 5819 days
Last activity: 5795 days
#16 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.46
    Originally posted by JustinShapiro
    You need not even apologize since, ATWON*, Hunter got the title change nixed, citing "two world title changes on one show dillutes their impact" and "I have to be kept strong for Goldberg in June."

    * (according to Dave)
See, I don't even have a problem with keeping the title on HHH. What annoyed me about their match was how HHH kicked out of both the Scissor Kick and the seldom-used Harlem Hangover, only to take his sweet time in covering Booker to score victory after a single Pedigree.
CANADIAN BULLDOG
Andouille








Since: 5.3.03
From: TORONTO

Since last post: 3989 days
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ICQ:  
#17 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.27
What annoyed ME about the match is that all signs pointed to Booker going over (eg the racist crap) in the lead-up to the match and it was all for naught.

Kind of makes we worried of how WM will play out this year, although I'm definitely digging the Triple H character more now than I did two years ago....



Heenen! Kimala! Volkov! And...er... Jesus.... it's Letters From A Nut VI in the latest Inside The Ropes
Check out my Year-End Awards voting!!!
The official Canadian Bulldog Blog, Website, and Merchandise Center.
Dahak
Frankfurter








Since: 12.5.02
From: Junction City OR.

Since last post: 5470 days
Last activity: 5123 days
#18 Posted on | Instant Rating: 1.19
Exactly Bulldog. The stupid crap about Booker's HS arrest record. Lawler saying dumbass things. All signs pointed to Booker winning the title.
Instead we had HHH keep the title and then had one of the worst years. To be fair it's not like Steiner or Goldberg are great opponents.



Marge I am just trying to get into heaven not run for Jesus.
redsoxnation
Scrapple








Since: 24.7.02

Since last post: 3923 days
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#19 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.87
With a few years hindsight, it can be seen that Vince and Co. weren't completely sold on Booker as a main eventer. His World Title match against Trip is buried in the mid-card at Mania. In the first six months of 2003, a decrepit Scott Steiner had two PPV World Title matches against Trip, despite the fact that they were boo'ed out of the building in the first match at the Rumble. A crippled Kevin Nash had 2 PPV World Title matches against Trip, one of them being a HITC match. Booker had the match at Mania, but rather than a second World Title match on the next PPV as the other opponents in that time period had, Booker had to settle for a 6 man PPV match against Trip on an extremely weak PPV.
JustinShapiro
Scrapple
Moderator








Since: 12.12.01

Since last post: 1764 days
Last activity: 1416 days
#20 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.46
The planning and booking of the Booker/HHH title match is really funny in terms of how all of the decisions were made and changed based on what every other top star in the company was doing.

Steve Austin and Rock are coming back for Wrestlemania 19. Rock and Goldberg have become friends, so Rock wants to set up a match with him. Austin will wrestle Triple H. The groundwork-in-worked-reality for Austin/HHH is laid when Hunter makes references to "pulling an Austin" and walking out on Raw, when Austin wins Superstar of the Decade at Raw X at HHH walks out, and when Austin takes fake-shoot-shots at him in his Raw Magazine Exclusive Interview.

Hulk Hogan also agrees to come back for a Mania match with Vince McMahon, ironically cutting his dear friend Eric Bischoff out of the match and the big payday. Rock and Hogan have a natural rematch to do, and Rock, I believe, comes up with the idea that Vince will screw Hogan to set up that match and turn Rock heel. Hogan would then bring in brother Goldberg to take on Rock at Mania.

WWE doesn't work out a deal with Goldberg in time for him to wrestle at WM, so they go with Austin vs. Rock. They move Rock to Raw, telling TNN and UPN that after Mania, Rock and Austin will have switched shows, with Austin going to Smackdown (after Bischoff fires him from Raw) because he loves working with Angle and Benoit and to build to the controversial held-off match with Lesnar. WWE continues to iron out the deal with Goldberg with the idea that Rock will stick around an extra month to do the match. With Austin and Goldberg on separate shows, they're kept apart to set up the dream match down the road. If Rock beats Austin at Mania, Goldberg beats Rock at Backlash, and Austin beats Goldberg in their eventual match, then all three guys go 1-1 in the megamatches and should all be happy. Unfortunately, after coming back to TV and doing physical angles, Austin realized that his neck was too trashed to continue as an active performer, so he had to give up all of his post-WM wrestling plans and become the co-GM character. Benoit misses out on a big spring program with Austin for the second time in as many years and, with the demotion of Paul Heyman as SD head writer, also loses his planned WWE title run as part of a threeway feud with Lesnar and Angle.

But back to the beginning of the year. Since Austin is wrestling Rock, Triple H needs a Mania opponent. He wants to wrestle Kevin Nash, natch, but Nash isn't ready to return in time. With Scott Steiner dead two minutes into their Rumble match and Shawn Michaels in a longterm feud with Jericho, Booker T gets the call, having surpassed Rob Van Dam as the cult hero of Raw thanks to the combination of Van Dam being killed off as someone who can be believed in and Booker connecting with the crowd bigtime thanks to his awesome work with Goldust. Booker pins HHH in a tag match in February to set him up as the next logical contender.

At his character low point in terms of staleness, HHH's desperation for heat and familiarity with wrestling history lead to him taking the Booker feud in a race-baiting direction with 'you people need to know your place' as the story for the match. At this point, the idea was that Booker would get the big win at Mania to defeat racism, prove that black people can do more than dance, and pay off Hunter's run of dominance with the belt.

Then Goldberg officially agreed to a deal, with the plan that he would wrestle Rock at Backlash and then headline Bad Blood, the first single brand PPV, with Triple H. HHH then decided that he needed to be kept strong through June and not switch the title before then, so Booker's title run was nixed. You can pinpoint the week that they officially made that decision as the one when the racist aspects of the storyline, at least the overt ones, were abruptly dropped.

Booker was then supplanted as the interim challenger when Kevin Nash returned after Mania and got his planned title program for Backlash and Judgment Day to kill time before Goldberg/HHH in June. But in May, Hunter convinced the company to do a no-finish at Judgment Day and prolong the Nash feud for an extra month and save the Goldberg match for the SummerSlam main event. So they threw out all the existing advertising for HHH/Goldberg at Bad Blood and got Nash an extra main event payoff. Booker T faded back into the place where his people* belong**, and they brought back the Intercontinental Title as his consolation prize.

* midcarders
** the midcard

Finally, Triple H/Goldberg was to headline SummerSlam. But Hunter tore his groin doing a warm-up match after Raw, so the match was changed to an Elimination Chamber to hide him (taking Orton beating Michaels and the Jericho/Nash hair match off the card). Hunter felt that Goldberg’s big title win needed to occur in a long singles match, so he would keep the belt for another month and drop it to him at Unforgiven. In order to perform this benevolent gesture, he went over in the Chamber match and gave Goldberg his first pinfall loss.

So, to bring this all together, what I'm saying is, the reason that Booker T had to lose at Wrestlemania in March was so that Triple H would be able to drop the belt to Goldberg ... in September. And that's why it's funny. The master narrative can continue if you extend it to Benoit having his planned world title win on Smackdown in 2003 taken away, only to instead get to go over in the main event of Wrestlemania 20 when Triple H realizes that it would be way too early to do the split with Randy Orton for that show. See, HHH giveth cool things and he also taketh them away. And as we all know, Orton/HHH was pushed back until Wrestlemania 21, where it will happen this April 3, 2005, when Wrestlemania Goes Hollywood.

(edited by JustinShapiro on 27.3.05 1759)
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