Booker T (wrestler)
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2007) |
Booker T  | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 1, 1965 Houston, Texas  |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Booker T G.I. Bro Kole King Booker |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.92 m) |
| Billed weight | 256 lb (116 kg) |
| Billed from | Harlem, New York Houston, Texas |
| Trained by | Scott Casey |
| Debut | March 1, 1990 |
Booker Robert Tio Huffman (born March 1, 1965), better known by his wrestling persona Booker T, is an American professional wrestler. He is owner of Pro Wrestling Alliance and currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on its SmackDown! brand. Huffman's Booker T persona changed his name to King Booker upon winning WWE's King of the Ring tournament in mid-2006. Booker T is a five-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a six time World Champion overall.
Early career
Booker was working for a storage company with a young son of his own when the wrestling world came calling. His brother Lane suggested that he and Booker check out a new wrestling school being opened, run by former WWF star Ivan Putski, in conjunction with his Western Wrestling Alliance organization.
His boss from the storage company loaned him the $3,000 to pay for the wrestling lessons and Booker began training under another former wrestling star Scott Casey, who helped to turn Booker's background in drama and dance into "sports entertainment", teaching the newcomer ring psychology and ring generalship.
Eight weeks later, Booker debuted as G.I. Bro on Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance Live! program. The character, a tie-in to the raging Gulf War and the WWF's Sgt. Slaughter angle, would return in years to come when Booker traveled to WCW. Even though the WWA would meet its demise some time later, Booker continued to wrestle on the Texas indy circuit, often with his brother Stevie Ray. During one such show, they were spotted by Skandor Akbar who hired them to work for the Global Wrestling Federation, which he and Eddie Gilbert were involved in. Gilbert, soon to be fired from the GWF, did one thing before he left: he teamed Stevie Ray and Booker T together as the Ebony Experience.
He and his brother Lane wrestled in the Texas-based Global Wrestling Federation as The Ebony Experience, with Booker known as Booker T and with Lane known as "Stevie Ray". The Ebony Experience held the GWF Tag Team Championship on three occasions, despite Booker taking time off to recover from a knee injury.
World Championship Wrestling (1993-2001)
Booker and his brother Lane signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the mid-1990s on the recommendation of WCW wrestler Sid Vicious. They were originally slated to debut as two wrestling slaves called The Ghetto Blasters. This gimmick was aborted, however, due to the racial insensitivity of the planned characterization. They debuted as the tag team Harlem Heat, with Booker renamed Kole and Lane renamed Kane. At their request, Kole and Kane were once again named Booker T and Stevie Ray. By the end of 1994, they were already Tag Team Champions, having defeated Stars & Stripes (The Patriot and Marcus Alexander Bagwell) in December, en route to a five-month title reign. This would be their first of ten WCW World Tag Team Championship reigns together.
Over the next two years, Harlem Heat would continue to be at the top of the WCW Tag Team scene, defeating the Nasty Boys (Brian Knobs & Jerry Sags), Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater, Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge), Sting and Lex Luger, the Steiner Brothers and the American Males (Scotty Riggs & Marcus Bagwell) to begin one tag team title reign after another.
After the loss of their seventh WCW World Tag Team Championship, to the Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) on October 27, 1996, Stevie Ray was put out of action with an ankle injury and in the late 1990s, Huffman made the transition into singles action. Huffman won the WCW World Television Championship six times (a company record), winning it first from Disco Inferno and would feud over the title with Perry Saturn and Rick Martel culminating in a gauntlet match at SuperBrawl VIII. Another impressive aspect of the match was that Martel, the man that was originally supposed to win the match, went down early due to a knee injury, meaning the finish and the remainder of the match had to be called in the ring.
In the spring of 1998, Booker crossed paths with Chris Benoit. The two began a series against each other out of mutual respect for one another. However, as the months progressed and the TV title switched hands, tempers flared. Benoit cost Booker the title during a match against Fit Finlay. As spring became summer, it was decided that Booker and Benoit would engage in a "best-of-seven series", on Nitro, Thunder, WCW Saturday Night, and pay-per-views with the winner meeting Fit Finlay for the title. After seven great matches and interference from Bret Hart and a returning Stevie Ray, Booker T won the series and, on June 14th, would go on to regain the Television Championship. He was the first ever African American to hold the WCW World Television Championship and the only one to legitimately win the title (Stevie Ray also held and defended the title while Booker was injured).
During a match with Hart, Booker injured his knee and missed several months. When he returned, he quickly regained the TV Championship from Scott Steiner, who would, in turn, defeated Booker in the finals of the WCW United States Championship tournament. By the end of 1999, Booker had convinced his brother, Stevie Ray, to leave the nWo and the reunited Harlem Heat won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three more times.
However, the team didn't last and eventually Harlem Heat split up and began to feud during 2000, Stevie Ray reformed Harlem Heat with Big T, and had lawyer J. Biggs strip Huffman of his right to use the letter "T" as part of his name. Stevie Ray and Big T would dub themselves Harlem Heat 2000. Throughout this period, Huffman was referred to simply as Booker.
When Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff formed The New Blood, Huffman would eventually completely change his in-ring name, joining General Rection's military-themed Misfits in Action faction as G.I. Bro reprising his gimmick from his days in the WWA. He regained his more popular alias shortly before his World Title win.
Huffman was elevated to the main event in 2000; Lane Huffman has speculated that this could in part have been due to a number of racial discrimination lawsuits filed against WCW. After WCW booker Vince Russo grew disgruntled with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan's alleged politicking, he fired Hogan during the live broadcast of Bash at the Beach 2000 and announced an impromptu match between Jeff Jarrett and Huffman for the now-vacant World Title. Russo supposedly picked Huffman because he claimed Hogan used his political stroke to keep him out of the Main Event scene. Huffman won the match, in the process becoming the second ever African American champion in WCW, after Ron Simmons. He was then defeated by Kevin Nash. He regained the title a few weeks later in a steel cage match with Nash, but would again lose the title, this time to Vince Russo himself in a cage match (Russo was speared out of the cage by Goldberg, and won the title), Russo vacated the title and Booker won it for the third time in a San Francisco 49er Box Match against Jeff Jarrett.
Booker's next feud was with Scott Steiner, to whom he would eventually lose the title. Steiner would go on to be WCW's longest reigning champion in years, whilst Booker was briefly out with an injury. Booker returned to the roster and defeated Rick Steiner for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, and on the final episode of Monday Nitro, defeated Scott Steiner to win the World title for the fourth time.
Huffman won a total of twenty three titles in WCW, making him the most decorated athlete in the history of the organization. Booker was also the reigning U.S. Champion and WCW Champion when he accepted a contract with the WWF.
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001-Present)
2001
After WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, Booker T made his WWF/E debut at the King of the Ring 2001 pay-per-view attacking WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin during his match. He became a leading member of the The Alliance during The Invasion storyline. During July 2001, Booker defended his WCW World Heavyweight Championship against men Buff Bagwell and in the first WWF vs. WCW match, Kurt Angle. At InVasion Team WCW/ECW defeated Team WWF when Steve Austin joined the Alliance. On July 26, Booker gave up his WCW United States Title and handed it over to Chris Kanyon. He later lost the WCW World title to Kurt Angle but he went on to win the title back on the July 30 episode of Raw
Booker kept the title until SummerSlam when he lost the title to The Rock after feuding with him over the similarity in their gimmicks and their identical finishing moves, the Book End / Rock Bottom. Booker T won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for an eleventh time this time with Test and he also had a WWF World Tag Team Championship reign with Test. At the 2001 Survivor Series, Booker T was eliminated 5th by The Rock after a roll up and eventually The Alliance was defeated, causing them to disband. In its aftermath, Booker remained a heel and joined forces with Vince McMahon and The Boss Man in December to feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin. After Booker T cost Austin a match against Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship at Vengeance 2001, Austin gained revenge by attacking Booker T in a grocery store, humiliating him by covering him in food.
2002
Booker T's first WrestleMania appearance was at WrestleMania X8 against Edge. Because it was taking place in Edge's hometown of Toronto, Ontario; the match was thrown on the card only a few weeks before the event. Due to this, the reason they were feuding was quickly contrived- over who would appear in a non-fictional Japanese shampoo commercial. When the brand extension was introduced in March, Booker T was drafted to the Raw brand. Booker T held the WWF Hardcore Championship twice in May 2002.
With the nWo now operating in WWE, Booker T was eventually invited into the faction. However, his time there was short-lived, when he got kicked out of the group by Shawn Michaels, who believed Booker T was taking away from his own spotlight, and turning Booker face. Booker would find an unusual partnership with Goldust and the pair would team to battle the nWo and then later, the Un-Americans.
Booker was also involved in the first ever Elimination Chamber at Survivor Series 2002 where the World Heavyweight title was on the line, however he was eliminated by Chris Jericho.
He would spend the rest of 2002 teaming with Goldust, his unlikely yet very successful tag team partner, as they won World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon 2002 in a Tag Team Elimination match defeating the teams of Christian & Chris Jericho, Lance Storm & William Regal and the Dudley Boyz. In which they held the belts for about three weeks. The loss of the titles would lead to the breakup of the their team, as the two partners agreed to go their separate ways. The gimmick for Booker and Goldust was Goldust being a strange, yet dependable ally who Booker eventually warmed up to after initial skepticism.
2003
By 2003, Booker T's popularity had soared and he amicably separated from Goldust (at Goldust's request) in order to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship. In February 2003 he eliminated The Rock to win a battle royal for the number one contendership, granting him a title shot at WrestleMania XIX.
Booker T targeted Evolution after Batista and Randy Orton attacked Booker's former partner, Goldust. Booker would take aim at Evolution's leader, Triple H. Several weeks before WrestleMania, the incumbent champion, Triple H, cut a controversial promo on Booker T in order to gain heat. Triple H downplayed Booker T's WCW success, pointing out that the WCW Championship had been held by non-wrestlers like Vince Russo and actor David Arquette. He implied that Booker T, as a black wrestler, would never win a world championship in WWE. A week later Booker would get revenge by attacking Triple H in the bathroom laying him out. Booker T ended up losing to Triple H at WrestleMania XIX.
After several weeks of matches teaming with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash in a feud against Triple H, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. A match at Backlash took place which say Booker's team lose after Triple h pinned Kevin Nash after a sledge hammer shot. Afterward, Booker decided to set his sights on the WWE Intercontinental Championship. After losing a battle royal for the title at Judgment Day, Booker would feud with the champion Christian and after a few matches (getting screwed out of the title on several occasions), managed to defeat him to become the new champion. About a month later, Booker was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his back and lost the Intercontinental title to Christian at a house show. Booker, meanwhile, was out of action until September, when he battled Mark Henry and Test for the rest of the year.
2004
On the February 16 edition of Raw, Booker T and Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Championship, before losing to them after around a month long reign.
On March 22, 2004 he was traded to the SmackDown! brand along with the Dudley Boyz in exchange for Triple H. On SmackDown!, Booker T quickly established himself as a heel again by disparagingly referring to SmackDown! as the "minor leagues", and feuded with his former partner, Rob Van Dam, who has also moved brands.
Following this, Booker engaged in a feud with The Undertaker that saw him utilize voodoo magic in order to try and overcome his "supernatural" foe, however it did nothing to prevent him from losing to the Undertaker at Judgment Day.
In the middle of 2004, Booker T set his sights on the WWE United States Championship along with its champion, John Cena. After general manager Kurt Angle stripped Cena of his title, Booker took advantage of this and won an eight-man elimination match to become United States Champion. Booker and Cena participated in a best-of-five series of matches for the United States Championship. After an initial 2-1 lead against Cena, Booker T would lose to Cena in the following matches and was defeated in the final match at No Mercy 2004.
On October 21, SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long placed Booker T in a six man tag team match with Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio against John "Bradshaw" Layfield, René Duprée and Kenzo Suzuki. JBL expected Booker T to betray his partners, but instead Booker T pinned JBL, thus turning face once again. Booker T faced JBL for the WWE Championship at the 2004 Survivor Series on November 14, but lost after he was hit in the head with the championship belt. The next night Booker T demanded a rematch, citing Orlando Jordan's interference. He was then joined by Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker who also wanted a shot at JBL's title, prompting Theodore Long to make a Fatal Fourway match for the WWE Championship at Armageddon. Once again Booker T would fail to take the title as JBL retained.
2005
He teamed with Eddie Guerrero for short time before getting shunted into a feud with Heidenreich. He appeared at WrestleMania 21's dark match where he won a 30 man battle royal.
Booker was part of the tournament to name a new number one contender and made it to the Final Four. After Kurt Angle eliminated Booker, he returned the favour, costing Angle the match against JBL. Angle made it personal, going after Booker's new wife, Sharmell. Angle began stalking Sharmell. Angle referred to Sharmell as a "gutter slut", claiming that he "liked it". He also remarked that he wanted to have "bestiality sex" with her. Booker would go on to defeat Angle at Judgment Day 2005 and weeks later on Smackdown.
After dealing with Angle, Booker T began teaming with Chris Benoit, eyeing the United States Championship again. Meanwhile, things were not going smoothly between Booker and his wife, with Sharmell introducing some heelish characteristics unknown to Booker. On the October 21 edition of SmackDown!, Booker T defeated Chris Benoit for the United States Championship, due to an unseen assist from Sharmell. Theodore Long later showed footage of Sharmell interfering in Booker T's matches. Later Booker T and Sharmell went to apologize to Benoit and give him a rematch, but instead he attacked Benoit while Sharmell was laughing, officially turning heel once again. Booker then boasted that he had been fully aware of what Sharmell had been doing and had been playing dumb to fool everyone.
On November 25 Booker T fought against Benoit for the United States Championship. The match ended when Benoit superplexed Booker T and two referees made a three count on either competitor, claiming that their wrestler had won. Booker T was stripped from the belt by Theodore Long, because of the confusion of who won since they pinned each other at the same time. Long decided to put Benoit and Booker against each other in a best of seven series, just like the one the two had in their WCW days.
Booker T defeated Benoit to take a 1-0 lead at the Survivor Series 2005 and then jumped out to a commanding 3-0 lead. In a must win match during Armageddon 2005 Benoit was able to defeat Booker T to bring the series to 3-1. At a house show in White Plains, New York on December 26, Booker T strained his groin muscle.
2006
Booker T did not wrestle again until after the "Best of Seven" series with Benoit was completed. Booker T was scheduled to face Chris Benoit in Match 5 of the Best of Seven Series at the SmackDown! tapings the following night. At the beginning of the show, General Manager Theodore Long said that Booker would have to forfeit. Both Booker and Benoit protested, with Benoit not wanting a cheap victory. Booker managed to persuade Long to allow him to choose a stand-in for the matches.
Booker selected Randy Orton, over an unhappy Orlando Jordan, as his stand-in. Benoit was able to beat Orton in two matches, due to interference from both Sharmell and Jordan, tying the series 3 matches apiece. However Randy Orton was able to defeat Benoit in the final match up to win the series and the title for Booker T, who would hold the title until No Way Out 2006 where Benoit won it back.
After losing the title, Booker T would be involved in a feud with The Boogeyman, who would sneak up and scare Booker T and his wife Sharmell over a few months. The feud culminated in a match during WrestleMania 22 on April 2, where both Booker T and Sharmell would face the Boogeyman in a handicap match and lose. The feud came to an end on the April 7 edition of Smackdown! where it was announced that Booker T and his wife had taken out a restraining order on the Boogeyman.
Booker T would next be entered into the King of the Ring tournament on SmackDown!, Booker would defeat his first round opponent Matt Hardy before advancing through to the finals due to a bye as his semi-final opponent, Kurt Angle, was unable to wrestle. The finals were held at Judgment Day 2006 where Booker T defeated Bobby Lashley with help from Finlay.
Upon winning the King of the Ring tournament, Booker T changed his ring name to King Booker. Huffman was not thrilled with the change to his wrestling character going from Booker T to King Booker due to all of the "kings" that had been in the wrestling business such as Jerry "the King" Lawler, "Macho King" Randy Savage, and "King" Harley Race. But after negotiations, he agreed to the character change. As King Booker, he went on to form King Booker's Court, which included Queen Sharmell, William Regal, and Finlay.
Over time, King Booker began to act as if he were a real king (in the style of "Macho King" Randy Savage) of "The SmackDown Kingdom", including mannerisms and appearance of a typical English-style King. (This would be broken whenever he was riled up, which always drove him to making a tirade in the former Booker T style.) King Booker even went as far as having Lashley kiss his royal feet. Bobby Lashley would go on to defeat King Booker in a steel cage match to retain the United States Title.
King Booker won a #1 Contenders battle royal to win a World title shot at The Great American Bash 2006. King Booker would win the World Heavyweight Championship from Rey Mysterio at the event, after Chavo Guerrero hit Mysterio with a steel chair, winning his first World Title in WWE thus causing him to proclaim himself as the "King of the World."
Booker then entered a rivalry with Batista and lost by disqualification to him at SummerSlam, but defeated him at No Mercy 2006, the latter of which also included Finlay and Bobby Lashley. In spite of the break-up of his Court, the King defeated Batista on the October 20 edition on SmackDown, due to interference from WWE Champion John Cena and then ECW World Champion The Big Show. At Cyber Sunday , King Booker retained his World Heavyweight Championship after Kevin Federline interfered and hit John Cena with the World title belt. King Booker became the "Champion of Champions" in a match that marked the first time in which the World Champions from RAW, SmackDown, and ECW have fought each other. Booker lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Batista on November 26, 2006 at Survivor Series. After losing the World title, Booker then feuded alongside former royal court member Finlay against Batista and John Cena, which lead up to Armageddon where they lost.
2007
King Booker would go on to compete in the beat the clock challenge to see who would challenge Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble. He defeated Gregory Helms and gained the shortest time, but was ultimately superseded by Mr. Kennedy.
While competing in the Royal Rumble match, Booker was eliminated by Kane. A frustrated Booker then returned to the ring illegally and eliminated Kane. This caused a short feud between the two forcing a match at No Way Out 2007 which Kane won. Booker then went on to win a Money in the Bank qualifying match, defeating Kane (with assistance from The Great Khali) and earned himself a spot in the match at WrestleMania 23, which was won by Mr. Kennedy.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Scissors kick
- Book End (Kneeling side slam)
- Harlem Sidekick / Houston Sidekick (Jumping superkick)
- Harlem Hangover / Houston Hangover (Top rope somersault legdrop) - in WCW
- Missile dropkick / Heat Seeker - in WCW
- 110th Street Slam (Kneeling flapjack spinebuster or high-impact delayed spinebuster)
- Spin-A-Roonie (Breakdance windmill)
- Arm twist followed by a hook kick
- Booker T Knee Drop (Knee drop with theatrics)
- Sidewalk Slam
- Managers
- Nicknames
- The Iron Man of WCW
- The 5-Time, 5-Time, 5-Time, 5-Time, 5-Time WCW Champion
- The Master of the Spin-A-Roonie
- King of the World - As King Booker
- The Champion of Champions - As King Booker
- King and Ruler of the SmackDown! Kingdom - As King Booker
Championships and accomplishments
- GWF Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Stevie Ray
- Las Vegas Pro Wrestling
- LVPW UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- 1995 Tag Team of the Year (with Stevie Ray)
- 1996 Tag Team of the Year (with Stevie Ray)
- 1998 Most Improved Wrestler of the Year
- 2000 Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year
- PWI ranked him # 133 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
- PWI ranked him # 62 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" (with Stevie Ray)
- PWI ranked him # 19 in the 2006 PWI 500.
- WCW World Heavyweight Championship (5 times; final reign won during The Invasion under the WWF umbrella)
- WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WCW World Television Championship (6 times)
- WCW World Tag Team Championship (11 times) - with Stevie Ray (10) Test (1; won during The Invasion under the WWF umbrella)
- World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
- WWE United States Championship (3 times)
- WWF Hardcore Championship (2 times)
- World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Test (1), Goldust (1), and Rob Van Dam (1)
- King of the Ring (2006)
- Sixteenth WWE Triple Crown Champion
- 2002 Most Underrated Wrestler
Personal life
While working at a Wendy's, he was arrested and convicted for the armed robbery of several restaurants in the chain and served 19 months in prison.
Booker is a former amateur boxing competitor. He was able to show some of his boxing skills in a commercial for 1-800-COLLECT. Booker has also appeared in commercials for Swanson Hungry Man TV dinners.
In 2000, Huffman appeared in the film Ready to Rumble as himself. Booker has appeared in an episode of Charmed, called "Wrestling With Demons" alongside Buff Bagwell and Scott Steiner.
In April 2002, Huffman opened a retail outlet in Houston, Texas at 12313 Bellaire Boulevard, called "The Jam Zone." The shop sells music, video games and hip-hop gear. He and brother Lane "Stevie Ray" Huffman have also opened up a wrestling school in Houston.
Booker presented his then wife Levestia to the WCW Monday Nitro crowd the night after his WCW Championship title win at WCW Bash at the Beach 2000. She was also used to further the feud between himself and Jeff Jarrett when Jarrett hit her in the head with a guitar. They divorced in October 2001. Booker has a son from his first marriage, Brandon, with whom he has a strained relationship due to his time spent on the road. [citation needed]
Booker would go on to marry former Nitro Girl, and Miss Black America Sharmell Sullivan in March 2005. Booker T, who was planning to retire in early 2005 due to a travel schedule keeping him away from his home life, credited much of his new found success in 2006 to his third wife who would join him on-screen and on the road. [1]
Booker has a tattoo of a flame on his right shoulder and a sun on his left shoulder.
References
- ^ Lennon, P. "Why i love to be King" Daily Star (Friday, August 25, 2006), page 56
External links
