Booker T has reflected on his transition from WCW to WWE in 2001 and how earning the trust of the locker room helped him succeed when other former WCW stars struggled.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, the WWE Hall of Famer was asked about immediately working with some of WWE’s biggest names, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Kurt Angle.
Van Vliet asked:
“Your first three feuds in WWE were Stone Cold, The Rock, and Kurt Angle. So many guys from WCW got instantly buried when they came over. How did you get these opportunities?”
Booker explained that he believed establishing himself backstage was just as important as proving himself once he stepped into the ring.
“I always say you got to know how to make it in the locker room before you have a chance at making it in the ring. When I came into WWE, I had to get those guys to trust me, and I had to gain that trust. I had to keep my head down and do things a certain way, as far as, let me show these guys how good I am, as well as, hey, he’s not that bad of a guy.
So they instantly gave me a chance. I think I was put with the top guys for a reason, too, just to see if these guys took to me, if they were gonna go back and take a report back and say, ‘I don’t know about this guy.’ I always tell my students, everything is a test. Don’t think nothing isn’t a test in this business.
I didn’t care what they threw at me back then. I knew I was gonna pass the test. So I used to love working with Pat Patterson because he would give me a match, and he would say, ‘Go out and do it this way. And then I would go, ‘I love it.’
So I didn’t care. Just give me the instructions, and I’m gonna go out here and deliver it, just like you just explained it to me. I wanted to be able to fit in and fit in properly and gain those guys’ respect.
I remember, I don’t know, maybe six months in, might even be sooner than that. I came in one day, and I was going to the locker room, and Undertaker said, ‘Hey, man, why don’t you come dress over here with us?’ I went and dressed over there with those guys, and it was where the big guns dressed. Wasn’t a lot of guys, not a lot of baggage in there, you know. So, felt like I was in from that point.”.
Booker joined WWE following the closure of WCW in 2001 and went on to become one of the most successful former WCW stars to establish a long-term career with the company.
