Booker T (wrestler)

Booker Huffman
Born	(1965-03-01) March 1, 1965 Houston, Texas
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Booker T Booker G.I. Bro Kole King Booker
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Billed weight
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 ring name 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. Booker is also known for being one-half of the tag team Harlem Heat with his brother Stevie Ray where they won the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times.

Early career

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)

Harlem Heat

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.

In August 1993, they debuted as the tag team Harlem Heat, with Booker renamed Kole and Lane renamed Kane. They were then billed from Harlem. They became heels and were on Harley Race and Col. Rob Parker's team in the War Games at Fall Brawl on September 19, 1993, against Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes and The Shockmaster. They lost the match but were over as heels because of the caliber of faces they wrestled.

In 1994, they got Sister Sherri as their manager and changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray, at their request. 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.

After dropping the title to the Nasty Boys, Harlem Heat regained the belts on June 24, 1995. Afterward Harlem Heat got into a feud with Col. Parker's "Stud Stable" of "Dirty" Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. where Parker and Sherri were carrying on a love affair. Parker eventually left the Stud Stable in favor of the Heat to be with Sherri Harlem Heat won the WCW World Tag Team titles at Fall Brawl 1995, defeating Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. Their third title only lasted one day, but the duo regained the tag team title nine days later from the American Males (Buff Bagwell and Scotty Riggs). On the June 24, 1996 "Nitro," Harlem Heat defeated Lex Luger and Sting to capture their fifth WCW World Tag Team titles. Three days after losing the tag team titles to the Steiner brothers, Harlem Heat regained the straps back from the Steiners three nights later on July 27, 1996. Booker T and Stevie Ray defeated Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge) to capture their seventh WCW World Tag Team titles on October 1, 1996.

After the loss of their seventh WCW World Tag Team Championship, to the Outsiders (Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) on October 27, 1996 they fired Col. Parker and beat him up and became full-fledged faces. They would then enter into a brief feud against Parker's newest team The Amazing French Canadians, a feud they would win. In 1997 they feuded with "Public Enemy" (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock), The Steiners and the nWo. In fall 1997, they fired Sherri and added a new manager, Jacqueline. They were briefly put out of action by the nWo and returned to feud with the "Faces of Fear" (Meng & The Barbarian). Stevie then took five months off from WCW to recover from an ankle injury.

Singles Competition

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 on Monday Night Nitro December 29, 1997, 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, defeat Booker in the finals of the WCW United States Championship tournament. Booker would lose the Television title to Rick Steiner a month later at Slamborree.

Harlem Heat Reborn

By mid 1999, Booker had convinced his brother, Stevie Ray, to leave the nWo and the reunited Harlem Heat. Harlem Heat defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Kanyon for the WCW World Tag Team titles at the 1999 Road Wild, but lost them to Barry and Kendall Windham. Harlem Heat would defeat them about a month later at the 1999 Fall Brawl for the WCW World Tag Team titles. When the Filthy Animals were stripped of the WCW World Tag Team belts due to an injury suffered by Rey Mysterio Jr., the title was put up in a three-way dance at the 1999 Halloween Havoc. Harlem Heat claimed their tenth WCW World Tag Team title defeating Hugh Morrus and Brian Knobbs and Konnan and Kidman.

By late 1999, a female bodybuilder named Midnight had joined Harlem Heat. Stevie neglected her help and started disputing with Booker over her. He eventually challenged Midnight in a match that would decide whether or not she would stay with Harlem Heat. After being defeated with a surprise small package, Stevie Ray would turn on both Booker and Midnight to form Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, Kash and J. Biggs. Stevie Ray and Big T would dub themselves Harlem Heat 2000. Throughout this period, Huffman was referred to simply as Booker. They won the rights to the Harlem Heat name in a match with Big T against Booker on February 20, 2000 at SuperBrawl X. Kidman and Booker T defeated Harlem 2000 (Ray and Big T) at Uncensored 2000.

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 where he defeated Shawn Stasiak at the 2000 Great American Bash in a Boot Camp match. He regained his more popular alias shortly before his first World Title win.

Main Event

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 Hulk Hogan's 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 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 August 28, 2000 on Nitro. He regained the title a few weeks later in a steel cage match with Nash at Fall Brawl 2000, 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 on the October 2, edition of Nitro.

Booker's next feud was with Scott Steiner, to whom he would eventually lose the title in a Straight Jacket Steel cage match. Steiner won by TKO when he put an unconscious Booker into the Steiner Recliner at Mayhem 2000. 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 at Greed 2001, 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 WCW U.S. Champion and WCW World Champion when he accepted a contract with the WWF.

World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001-Present)

2001-2002

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 Buff Bagwell in the first WWF vs. WCW match. 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.

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 Hardcore Championship twice in May 2002.

Goldust begins trying to start a tag team with Booker but Goldust keeps costing Booker matches. 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. Booker defeated Big Show at Vengeance in a no Disqualification match.

On the August 12 edition of RAW Booker and Goldust win in a title shot agaisnt the The Un-Americans at SummerSlam. The UnAmericans Christian and Lance Storm retained after interference from Test. At No Mercy 2002 Booker and Goldust would battle Jericho and Christian for the tag titles where they would lose the match with Jericho using the title belt on Goldust.

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 finally 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. They held the belts for about three weeks where they lost them to William Regal and Lance Storm. Booker and Goldust lost the rematch and decided to go their seperate ways. The gimmick for Booker and Goldust was Goldust being a strange, yet dependable ally who Booker eventually warmed up to after initial skepticism.

2003-2004

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 saw Booker's team lose after Triple H pinned Kevin Nash after a sledgehammer shot. Afterward, Booker decided to set his sights on the 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 late September.

When Booker returned he announced he would be on Team Austin at the 2003 Survivor Series which would determine if Eric Bishoff or Steve Austin would be the General Manager of RAW. Booker's team lost the match so Austin lost his position as Co-General Manager of RAW. Booker would then enter a fued with Mark Henry the man who eliminated him in the Survivor Series match. Booker would defeat Mark Henry at Armageddon.

On the February 16 edition of Raw, Booker T and Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Championship. Booker and RVD held the titles for a month even defending the belts at WrestleMania XX in an 8-Man tag team match. They lost the belts the next day on RAW back to Ric Flair and Batista.

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". Booker walked out on RVD during a tag team match. Booker T would go on to defeat Rob Van Dam when RVD was distracted by pyro going off on the stage. Later on, Booker T bragged about how he was the biggest star on Smackdown!, when he began to feud with The Undertaker. Booker would try to 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 United States Championship along with its champion, John Cena. After John Cena got on the bad side of General Manager Kurt Angle, he did his best to get the title off Cena. Cena would successfully defend the title at The Great American Bash in a four-way match against Booker, Rene Dupree and Rob Van Dam. After general manager Kurt Angle stripped Cena of his title, Booker took advantage of the situation 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 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.

2005-2006

He teamed with Eddie Guerrero for short time before defeating him in the 1st Round of the #1 Contenders Tournament. Booker lost the tournament in the next round to John Cena. Booker took out his frustration on Heidenreich. After several matches of DQ finishes Booker defeated Heidenreich in a no DQ match on the March 10 edition of Smackdown!. 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. On the May 26 edition of SmackDown! Booker T participated in a "Winners Choice" Battle Royal, with the winner chosing his opponent for next week which Kurt Angle won and he wanted to wrestle Sharmell. Booker protested and the match was made into a Handicap match. Angle won by pinning Sharmell in a sexual position. Next week Booker defeated Angle with a Scissors Kick.

On the June 30 edition of Smackdown! JBL beat Christian, The Undertaker, Chris Benoit, and Booker T. During the match, Booker T got specifically involved with Christian. Booker would defeat Christian at The Great American Bash. Booker T began teaming with Chris Benoit, eyeing the United States Championship again. Meanwhile, after a series of matches with MNM things were not going smoothly between Booker and his wife, with Sharmell introducing some heelish characteristics unknown to Booker.

Chris Benoit was allowed to pick his next challenger to see who would face him at No Mercy. So Booker, Christan and Jordon would try to impress Benoit by winning matches. He couldn't choose so he made it a Fatal Fourway for No Mercy. Chris Benoit would successfully defend his title. 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 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.

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, King Haku, 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", and becoming the first ever African American champion to hold the belt in its current form, as well as the first wrestler entirely of African-American heritage to win any world title in the WWE. (The Rock is only half African-American.)

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 who would win the challenge.

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 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.

At Wrestlemania, Matt Hardy set up Sharmell for a Twist of Fate during the Money in the Bank match with the briefcase in Booker's grasp - thus forcing him to choose between a guaranteed title shot and his wife. He chose to defend his Queen and ended up losing the match. On the April 6th edition of Smackdown, King Booker attempted to take revenge. However, Booker lost the match against Matt Hardy and Sharmell declared her disappointment in him and slapped him. In an attempt to impress his Queen, King Booker then attacked The Undertaker but was Tombstoned on an announce table. On WWE.com it was announced that King Booker will be out of action with sprain and strained contusion of the neck and will also be treated for his previous injuries of chronic knee pain, where he has a meniscus tear, and a chronic elbow strain and sprain. He is expected to return from injury towards the late end of June. It was reported on WWE.com that Booker had a successful surgery on his knee where they removed a bone fragment stuck in his joint.

In wrestling

File:ScissorKickNWO06.jpg

Booker connecting with a Scissors kick on Chris Benoit

• Finishing and signature moves

• Scissors kick / Ghetto Blaster - WCW
• Bookend/Royal Bookend (Side slam)
• Harlem Sidekick / Houston Sidekick (Jumping superkick)
• Harlem Hangover / Houston Hangover (Top rope somersault legdrop)
• Missile dropkick / Heat Seeker - WWE / 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 (Running knee drop with theatrics)
• Sidewalk slam

• Managers

• Queen Sharmell
• Shane McMahon
• Midnight
• Jacqueline
• Sister Sherri
• Col. Robert Parker

• 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
• The Book Man by Michael Cole and Tazz (Before becoming King Booker)

• Signature Phrases

• As Booker T

• Can you dig it, Sucka?
• Don't hate the player, hate the game!
• Save the drama for your mama!
• You didn't say that... Tell me you didn't just say that!
• You damn skippy, hippy!
• Come on homie, don't ya know me

• As King Booker

• Your King and Ruler
• The King and Ruler of the SmackDown! Kingdom
• Bow down to your King and Queen
• (Speaking formally in English accent to Theodore Long) Thaddeus... (Long would reply, usually followed by,) Ah, hell no, Teddy! (every time he was mad, he would break down and speak in ebonics.)
• Kiss my ring/ royal feet

• Sign

• Thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers down, pinky up (As a sign of royalty) (As King Booker)

Championships and accomplishments

• Global Wrestling Federation

• GWF Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Stevie Ray

• Las Vegas Pro Wrestling

• LVPW UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• 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 # 7 in the 1998 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 5 in the 2001 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 14 in the 2002 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 7 in the 2003 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 24 in the 2004 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 20 in the 2005 PWI 500.
• PWI ranked him # 19 in the 2006 PWI 500.

• World Championship Wrestling

• 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)

King Booker as World Heavyweight Champion, with his wife Sharmell.

• World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment

• 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

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 2002 Most Underrated Wrestler

Personal life

Booker T. Huffman was the youngest of eight children, in Houston's tough South Park. By the time Booker was 14, both of his parents had died. His brother Lane "Stevie Ray" Huffman stepped in to raise him and his siblings. Instead of playing sports in high school, Booker T was a drum major.

He got the scar on his shoulder in a Motorcycle accident back in 1987.

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 2001, along with several other WWF superstars, Booker competed on an episode of the Weakest Link, being eliminated second from the show.

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 Huffman have also opened up a wrestling school in Houston.

Booker is the owner of Pro Wrestling Alliance (PWA), a Texas based promotion where his students wrestle. PWA also utilizes various WWE Superstars.

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.

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 second wife who would join him on-screen and on the road.

On April 21, 2007, Booker began hosting a radio show entitled Tea Time with King Booker on KBME 790 AM in Houston.

External links

• BookerTOnline.com (Official Website)
• WWE Profile
• Booker T at Bodyslamming.com
• WWF/E, WCW and GWF title histories at Wrestling-Titles.com
• Booker T Interview at Silvervision.co.uk
• Wrestling Digest, Oct, 2002 by Chad Johnson
• Booker T at IMDb