Booker T Recalls Telling Vince McMahon In 2001 To Let Him Be Himself Or He Would ‘Lose His Mind’

It’s been almost 20 years to the day since WCW closed its doors in March of 2001. Through the years, many superstars would eventually crossover and become major stars in WWE, but there has been one standout who came from WCW instantly that managed to stay the course and become a WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T.

Booker T is a five-time WCW champion, but he is also a WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a WWE United States champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, and a multiple-time WWE Tag Team Champion. Speaking on the latest episode of WWE’s The Bump about his success following the closure of WCW, Booker T recalled when he first came over to WWE and many agents were trying to tell him how to be Booker T.

For Booker, he knew there was only one man to talk to and that’s when he appealed to Vince McMahon to let him be himself.

“Coming to WWE was something I wanted to do. I wanted to challenge myself, I wanted to see if I was as good as I thought I was, I wanted to perform with the best talent out there.

“I remember, coming to the WWE, I had so many agents telling me so many different things. I was about to lose my mind. I went to Vince McMahon and I said ‘Listen, man. I’ve been doing this for quite some time. I’ve got this agent telling me this and this one telling me this and this one calling me back, I’m about to lose my mind. If you don’t mind, if I can just go out there and do my stuff. If I don’t put behinds in seats, just fire me because I know I’m going to get fired doing it their way.’ He said, ‘Do your stuff.’ From that day on, man, I just started doing my stuff, going out and feeling the people. In WWE coming from WCW, like I talk to my students all the time, you gotta know how to make it in the locker room before you have a chance of making it in the ring. For me, I left all my baggage and accolades in WCW and I said let’s start over, and let’s make it work. 20 years later, I’m still here.”

Booker T certainly made it. He is one of only four people to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice. Once as a singles competitor and once as a member of the Harlem Heat tag team. The other three Hall of Famers that share that accolade are Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Ric Flair.

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