Booker T Recalls Idea Behind His Best Of Five Series With John Cena

On the latest episode of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T talked about his best-of-five series with John Cena for the WWE United States Title in 2004 that started at SummerSlam and more. You can check out some highlights below:

On his best of five series with John Cena for the United States Title: “I did want to work with Cena. He was a guy that was coming up at that time. And I think they wanted to do a best-of-seven series with Cena. And I did not think seven matches would work out, and they came up with the best of five. And I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, we can do that.’”

On the idea for five matches instead of seven: “I just didn’t want to try to recreate what I did with [Chris] Benoit, just because I knew I couldn’t do that again. I just couldn’t. It was really that hard. Even trying to do it with Benoit in WWE, I couldn’t finish it. Just because I got hurt, I pulled a groin. And Randy Orton had to finish that best of seven series for me with Benoit. And I just didn’t think my body could handle that. So I chose five.

“And the thing for me was that having those matches, it was almost like ‘Killer’ Tim Brooks with me. I want to teach John Cena the ropes. Teach him the name of the game, the art of Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Phantom Of the Opera. And man, we got a chance to really create some good work. John Cena was that same guy such as I was back in the day. All he did was listen, man. I don’t remember John suggesting anything other than, you know, ‘Shakespeare, let’s go out here and do it.’ He was the type of guy who just wanted to learn. And for me, I could see, and I could sense that this was the next guy that the company was going to be putting a lot of stock into. And for me to be able to help John Cena — you know, my mother always told me it didn’t cost you anything to be nice to people. So for me, I was just trying to help John Cena get to that next level. And what a student, man, what a student of the game.”

On if there was pressure to start off the series at SummerSlam 2004: “No, business as usual, man. I knew what my job was. My job was to go out there and make John Cena, make this guy a star, make hima megastar. And I had no qualms with that at all. In this business, it’s like a revolving door. You’re going to be either going in or you’re gonna be going out, one of the two. So for me, it was his time, you know, his time was now. Seriously, you know? So it was my time to try to put a shine on him. And I think I did a really good job.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Hall of Fame with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.