Booker T, speaking on the most recent episode of the ‘Hall of Fame’ podcast, shared his thoughts on Carlito’s return at WWE Fastlane, where he emerged as the secret partner of Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar to take down Bobby Lashley, Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford.
Praising Carlito’s individuality and the fact that he always followed his own path in the wrestling world, Booker said,
“Carlito has always been his own man. He’s always did his thing his own way, called his own shots. He wasn’t a guy that was big on making trouble or anything like that. But he was a guy that, you knew he wasn’t about taking it just because you were going to give it to him. That wasn’t the type of dude. He was like, ‘Look, I’m out of here.’ He was that type of dude. But as far as standing up, as far as being a guy that you want in your corner, one on your team? Carlito, he’s that dude, man. He’s that dude. He always was. And he still is to this day. And I was definitely glad to see him make his return back on the main roster.”
Booker T also shared details about a chance encounter with Carlito backstage at the PLE, expressing his surprise at not knowing if Carlito would be “activated” for that night’s event.
“I saw him in the locker room earlier before he got ready and before he was going, I didn’t even know he was going to be working. But I asked him, I said, ‘Are they going to activate you tonight or what? Because you’ve been getting the check. Like just sitting on the sidelines all these months, man. Are you getting activated tonight?’ ‘Looks like I am, man.’ You know, that same cool, calm demeanor, not really excited about it at all. ‘I guess I am,’ one of those types of deals.”
Regarding Carlito’s on-screen direction moving forward, Booker T expressed his pleasure at the return and suggested that he’ll fit right into the LWO.
“But I was glad to see him back inside the squared circle in the WWE ring. Yeah, man, Carlito’s back. We’ll see exactly what his role is going to be on the show. But I think he fits into everything that’s going on, especially coming back and helping Rey, just making that walk to the ring. It had to be special. It had to feel a certain way. Trust me, I know how that feels. So I’m just glad to see Carlito back in the WWE.”
Carlito will of course be a regular part of WWE programming going forward.
(h/t 411mania)