On a recent episode of his Hall of Fame podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T stood up for today’s wrestling generation and took aim at those who’ve been critical—specifically calling out negativity directed toward rising WWE star Stephanie Vaquer.
“It pisses me off… when I hear people criticize this generation… and what they’re doing,” Booker began. “When I hear somebody… say, for instance, ‘I don’t really see anything in Stephanie Vaquer.’ That’s a bitter son of a gun. That’s a really bitter person to say something like that… This person really is off-beat.”
Booker, known for mentoring talent in NXT and beyond, made it clear that the business is evolving—and veterans need to respect that.
“The reason I say that more than anything, Brad, is because this generation that’s doing it today is theirs. It’s their generation. They’re going to leave it the way they want to leave it, not the way we left our generation,” he explained. “Me personally, I think I’d rather be a part of this generation, in a lot of ways, more so than mine, because, man, the devices and the pitfalls that we had to fall in back in the day… the Dark Side of the Ring. You feel me, man, I’d rather be on this side. You feel me?”
Reflecting on his own experiences, Booker added:
“I was lucky and blessed to have made it through it. But still, when I hear things like that, I say, ‘Man, let the young generation have it the way they see it, because it’s theirs.’ That’s the way I look at it.”
Stephanie Vaquer has been gaining momentum in WWE’s women’s division, and Booker’s public backing highlights how respected she’s quickly becoming among Hall of Famers and current peers alike.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
