In an interview with The Boston Herald, WWE superstar Booker T commented on joining the WWE in 2001, the opinion of several other stars including Sting on the potential of joining WWE, an important conversation with Vince McMahon and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On joining the WWE in 2001: “I remember meeting Linda McMahon more than meeting Vince. When I first met her, she said, Man, we finally got you. From that point forward, it was all out proving that I belonged.”
On an important conversation with Vince McMahon: “One of the most important talks I ever had was with Vince McMahon right after I’d got to the WWE. I had so many different agents telling me that I had to go out and work this way and that way and I knew, if I listened to those guys, I was going to get fired, so I went to Vince and explained that I’ve got this agent telling me this and another telling me that and I know I’m going to get fired doing it their way and I’d like to go out and do it my way and if you don’t like what you see, just fire me. Vince looked straight at me and said, do your stuff Book. From that point on, I had the green light to just be me, I’ve been accepted in the family, I’m a Hall of Famer, I’m part of the WWE family now, then and forever.”
On fears from WCW stars including Sting on signing with the WWE due to a confrontation on WWE SmackDown between The Rock and Booker T: “I’ve heard Sting make that comment. I was mad I had that confrontation with The Rock, because I had to build myself all over again, the WCW guys were supposed to be buried, none of us were supposed to make it, but I’m the only guy who was willing to step up to the plate and go in there and survive. I went to WWE to prove something, I had to go through Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Edge, I had to go through all of those guys to prove myself, I didn’t want to wake up at 50 years old and wonder if I could’ve competed with those guys, I wanted to know in my own mind that I was just as good.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
