During the latest edition of his Heated Conversations podcast, WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T spoke at length about All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announcing a new television deal with TNT, and how this move could possibly spark another “war” between pro wrestling promotions. Featured below are some of the highlights of comments Booker T made during the show.
On promotions such as AEW coming out of the gate with intentions of competing against WWE: “One thing about companies out there right now is they can bring it if they want to go that route. I don’t think they want to go that route. I think they want to carve their own niche and stay in their own lane and do their own thing. That would be the smart thing to do because WWE has the most talent in the world. We got everyone on the roster and it wouldn’t be that hard to flip the script and go a different route. The Ricochet’s, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Kingston, those guys can really go. You sit back and say do we really want to let them loose that is the question.”
On the past “war” between WWE and WCW: “I was a part of it when that happened with WCW, during the 83-week run and it was good. But, I’m going to tell you those horses back in WWF(E) started running and I must give to Triple H and those guys man. We would be watching it on a monitor and those guys would be blood, sweat and tears man, they were going all out. Me personally, I would love to see the war come back if that’s what we gotta do then that’s what we gotta do man.”
On an alternative product to WWE and how there feels to be a movement associated with AEW the same way there was with ECW and other promotions with die-hard followings: “I’ve been listening to a lot of talks saying wrestling is back. If that’s the case man, it’s going to step up everyone’s game everywhere. Everyone is going to have to start thinking in a different direction. It’s always going to be sports entertainment. But for me, at the end of the day, the payoff was always going out there and giving it to these guys right in the middle of the squared circle. Giving these guys a moment that they are going to remember for the rest of their lives. I’m talking about a moment that is frozen in time, in their minds because it was something they have never seen before in their lives. That’s what wrestling was and hopefully, that’s what wrestling always will be. Hopefully, the bar will be raised in the weeks and months to come.”
On the competitive nature of working for other promotions and “The War” between WWE and AEW getting underway: “It’s not a competition or anything like that, but from a wrestling perspective I know when I was in WCW and I was watching WWF/E, I wanted to be better than those guys. I wanted to know if I could compete with those guys, I wanted to know exactly how good I was. That is where we are right now, the guys are going to have to think totally different as far as How do I make the fans come out here and cheer my name, how do I make the fans think of me as an entity. The this is awesome chant is out the window. Wrestling is back. The war is on and I’m looking forward to seeing exactly what happens with it but from the outside.”
Check out the complete episode of the Heated Conversations podcast with Booker T below, or at .
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