On the latest episode of The Hall of Fame, Booker T explained that he never relied on writers to keep his spot, and that it was up to him to take the King Booker gimmick — crown, cape, and scepter — and turn it into a main-event character, pointing to The Undertaker as proof that in-ring work carries a character. You can check out his comments below:
“I’ve never had a writer write for me and truly believed in that writer being able to keep my spot on the roster — I just didn’t believe that at all, because I don’t care what the writer writes, if your performance isn’t at a certain level, you’re at risk of being one of those guys who gets released. That’s the bottom line. The only thing you can do to combat that is preparation. It’s almost like when the Undertaker got let go from WCW, when Stone Cold Steve Austin got let go from WCW, and WWE said, man, we see value in these guys, let’s bring them in. Look at it now. Preparation is the only luck you’re ever going to have, and your in-ring acumen and your star power are the only things that are going to keep your job. Bottom line.”
“My career could have ended with people looking at me like I was a fool, wearing a crown and a cape, walking around acting a fool and dancing. But it was up to me to take that crown, that robe, and that scepter and make it something no one had ever seen before, and make it so real that they had to make me the world heavyweight champion. Now the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring, if they win the tournament, get a shot at the championship — I created that with these heads right here. But it’s about your work, as far as how far you go. I look at someone like Kane — a great example — he could carry that role even as a big man, as a worker, as a performer. You don’t just slip on a banana peel. People can say what they want about the Undertaker in that role for the last 30 years, but that dude worked at a main-event level for the last 30 years of his career. Bottom line, that’s just facts.”
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