Booker T On WrestleMania 36 Being ‘The Year of the Big Guys,’ Says Roman Reigns Has Already Solidified His Place in History

On the latest Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T weighed in on the current WrestleMania 36 card and why this year is “the year of the big guys.” This year’s card features Bray Wyatt taking on John Cena, Roman Reigns facing Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre as confirmed matches on the men’s side. Booker pointed out how this was sort of a throwback year to years before smaller, more agile talent dominated the card and explained why he doesn’t think Reigns needs to beat Goldberg to solidify his place in history.

You can check out highlights and the full podcast below:

On Wyatt’s program with Cena and Reigns facing Goldberg: “Hey man, we were talking about that, as far as The Fiend not having a championship, where is he gonna go. Of course, boom, come back and now we’ve got a ready-made story [of] John Cena, The Fiend, what’s gonna happen. You know, me personally, I don’t know what’s going to happen in that match, I can’t call it. But now we know, Roman Reigns, he’s set up. I see this thing working out perfectly. And we were just talking about this a month ago, maybe a month and a half ago how [people were saying’ ‘Man, nothing’s going over WrestleMania this year!’ Callers were calling in, all upset, ‘You know man, it doesn’t look like anything’s going to happen, you know. It’s going to be the worst WrestleMania in history.’ And now I say — and there’s still a lot of people upset about The Fiend thing, and there’s going to be. You know, half a percent. [chuckles].”

On the WrestleMania card being populated by larger talent: “It’s gonna be all about the heavyweights … It’s like the year of the big guys. Just like all of those matches that you called off, all those are big guys. Those aren’t guys who go out and do a lot of flipping around. Those aren’t guys who go out and do dives off the top rope or anything like that. Those guys go out there, they’ve made their careers pretty much inside the squared circle. Great, great, storytellers, all of them. So yeah, yeah. I think this is the year of the big guys. I’m just saying. It’s kind of like a throwback to what it used to look like back in the day.”

On Goldberg vs. Reigns: “I like Goldberg and Roman. No matter what. My thing is, I don’t know what’s gonna happen here. I know how I would book it from a fantasy booking perspective. I know what I would do in this match. And there’s just so much to gain with Roman Reigns and William Goldberg in a match.”

On whether beating Goldberg would solidify Reigns’ place in history: “Nah, man. He’s done that already. I said he had big shoes to fill coming into this company. And he’s went out there and he’s done that very, very well. At one point, the direction of you know, his character was kind of like slipping a little bit there. The fans didn’t want to see that Roman Reigns. And I think that’s what started the downward spiral of Roman Reigns as far as the fans kind of not wanting to support him. Then, all of the sudden, the ship was righted, and Roman said, ‘Hey man, let me just go out and do what I do, man. And that’s beat guys up, and lock and load, and drop the hammer. We might can make some monies.’ And I think that’s what happened. Roman went out and started being himself. And the fans still were kind of on the fence.

“But when Roman went away [due to his cancer diagnosis] – and then was gone for a while – with his illness and then he came back there again, absence make the heart grow fonder. The people love it. And now with this match right here, is a moment. There’s a moment that we can capture right here, that we can never ever ever, ever ever get back.”

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