WWE Hall of Famer Booker T recently joined the The Big Thing with Kristian Harloff program to discuss the work he’s done with Reality of Wrestling, and whether the promotion has any type of deal with WWE. The former five-time world champion also gives his thoughts on wrestlers having their promos scripted. Highlights are below.
Names his goals for Reality of Wrestling and answers whether they have a deal with WWE:
“We don’t have an exclusive deal with WWE or anything like that with our students. Rok-C, one of my students, [former] ROH Women’s Champion and right now highly sought by WWE as well. MACE, he’s one of my students, with WWE right now. It’s not exclusive. What we do is, we have television and we try to get young people that have that talent to take the most direct route to getting to that next level and that’s being seen on television. I say that from experience. I never worked any indie shows or anything like that when I was coming up. I worked on the Global Wrestling Federation television for 18 months straight, Monday through Friday. I said, ‘Somebody is going to see me and if I’m good enough, somebody will make a phone call and say, how can I use your services?’ I try to tell young people, ‘If you’re good enough, you’re going to be seen on Reality of Wrestling television and someone is going to call you.’ Going out and just working territories and working show to show, you can learn less and pick up so many bad habits from actually doing that. Get yourself in a group and be part of a group that is better than you and teaching you the what not to dos and trust me, you’ll make it to the next level if you’re good enough.”
His thoughts on scripted promos in wrestling:
“It’s kind of like a double-edged sword. It really is. Not to diss any of the young talent out there today because some of them can pull it off, some of them can’t. I think the training we got when we were coming up was different than the training these young guys are getting today. Our training was literally on-the-job training. Today, it’s totally different. It’s ‘here it is, and this is how you do it.’ That right there can make the moment totally not feel as real. But there again, my first trip I ever experienced leaving Texas – I got on a plane and went to Japan, then went to Korea and the Virgin Islands, then I got to WCW, then I went all over the world. Therefore, I had so much in my head I could actually talk about. I always talk about The Rock cutting the promo in New Orleans one night. We were in Houston the night before, and The Rock cut that promo in New Orleans and hit every landmark almost coming from Houston to Louisiana. By the end of that promo, the people were going crazy. He hadn’t said anything, but he touched every one of those people. It was amazing being able to formulate that promo, but he learned that over a period of time. He didn’t learn that overnight.”
(H/T and transcribed by 411 Mania)
