Booker T Discusses the Growth of Reality of Wrestling, Running for Mayor of Houston, and His Favorite Career Rivalries

– Ring Rust Radio recently interviewed WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. Below are some highlights.

Booker T on Reality of Wrestling’s TV show joining the FITE TV streaming service: “Aw man, it’s huge to actually have a platform and let the world see Reality of Wrestling as well as to be able to compete with all the other independent companies around the world. You’re only going to get better if you’re actually competing. It’s almost like the Monday Night Wars for me all over again. That’s the kind of feeling I get with Reality of Wrestling. My thing is we have a lot of young guys and I probably have the youngest roster in professional wrestling as far as our company goes. For me to actually let my guys get out there and show how good they really are is what’s important. For me, when I went to WWE, I wanted to compete with the best wrestlers out there and now Reality of Wrestling is going to be able to compete with the best indie wrestlers around the world and I’m really excited and looking forward to it.”

Booker T on bringing in Jason David Frank for ROW: “You know it’s something different. Wrestlers, especially with WWE, the stars always want to be a part of what’s going on. Christmas Chaos is our biggest event of the year and to have the Green Ranger Jason coming in to be a part of it and we don’t even know really what capacity he is going to be playing. But just to have him be a part of the Reality of Wrestling roster for one night is awesome. My son who is seven years old and he can’t wait to see the Green Ranger. Our Facebook page pretty much crashed when people found out that he was going to be there. For us it’s going to be big and he is just the first guest that we’ve announced for Christmas Chaos. There’s going to be more guest to come and it’s going to be an awesome show. I am looking forward to seeing the dream match on Christmas Chaos as well as the stars of Reality of Wrestling going out there and giving 100 percent entertainment.”

Booker T on running for Mayor of Houston: “I relate with the majority of the voters, I think. Everybody is not born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There are only a very small percentage of those types of people, you know what I mean? I think I relate with more than a few. I’m talking to the young people here in the city of Houston, the millennials, the ones that feel left out. The ones that feel like older people think they’re part of the problem as opposed to being part of the solution. I’m one of the guys that say respect your elders, but we are in a time now with social media is such a huge thing and we have to know how to respect our young people and bring them in the fold. We have to let them be a part of the process and not be the silent majority. I think that’s going to propel me to City Hall more than anything. Just knowing what young people want. I walked in a lot of those shoes and they know that. I want to give them hope and inspiration to be bigger and better than they ever thought they could be and I think that’s why I will win.”

Booker T on what phase of his career he enjoyed more: “It’s hard to differentiate between the two actually. They all pretty much just lump together, every phase of my career. It was always about the entertainment and always about taking the role and no matter what the role was, making that role something special, making it bigger and better than anyone to have expectations to the match. That’s what my specialties always been in the wrestling business. Going out there and making my opponent look better than he can make himself look. It’s always about the entertainment and the show at the end of the day. Going out there and giving those fans that ultimate sense of entertainment so when they walk away they go, “Man I can’t wait to go back and watch Booker T do his thing again.” That’s where my head was the whole time. It was always about the entertainment.”

Booker T on his biggest rivals and who he’d want for one more dream match: “Booker T vs. Shawn Michaels in our prime, not now of course. He’s still looking real good, but even in our prime, I think Shawn Michaels and I could’ve went out and created some magic between us. He’s the one guy I never really got a chance to get in the ring and perform with. There’s been so many rivals, most of them Canadian guys like Rick Martel, Christian and Chris Benoit. Those guys were all ultimate professionals, every one of them. They went out and worked under the same roof for so many years with the same tenacity and they went out and performed just tirelessly. I was one of those guys. I felt like I went through that same school, but the Canadian guys were pretty much my all-time rivals in the business.”

Booker T on his Hall of Fame induction: “That’s one of those days where you can look back and say I did it. For me to thank the fans for that ride that always supported me and raising the roof for me back in the day in WCW. My wife being there and supporting me. Making the drive for me so many nights after the shows when I was so tired and beat up to make it to the next town myself. I think that was the biggest part more than anything. Just to thank everybody who was a part of my success along the ride, I think that was truly for me what it was all about. Many of us that didn’t make it to the finish line and didn’t get a chance to thank the fans for that ride. I just wanted to make sure I did that right because so many of us didn’t get the chance to do that.”