WWE Hall of Famer Booker T discussed his first appearance as a WWE NXT commentator on the most recent episode of the “Hall of Fame” podcast:
“I’m excited about being a part of NXT. I didn’t know how excited I was going to be about this honestly because it’s a lot of students, a lot of young guys coming up, and I feel like I’m in my coaching mode. I feel like I’m in my teaching mode and it’s so many young guys, so many young girls. It’s just like clay needing to be molded down there. So for me, I’m in a perfect place where I can not get complacent. I don’t think I could ever get complacent with this many young guys. I literally had probably 60 guys in my ear want to talk to me. They want to get this. They need a little bit of that. They want a little bit of this. I was like wow, this is going to be something really, really cool for me and something I’ve been wanting for a long time, so let’s get to work man.”
He said the following regarding Jimmy Smith’s recent statements on his position in WWE:
“Jimmy Smith has been making a few comments. So I definitely want to lean into that right there. I like Jimmy Smith first of all. I thought he was a good dude. I thought he did a good job especially picking it up and being able to go out there and deliver, being a guy who wasn’t from the wrestling business. But when I see his comments after leaving WWE, it just kind of disturbs me as far as letting guys like a Jimmy Smith into our business ever again because he came in to get paid to do a job, but then to leave the job and to want to disparage it is beyond me.”
“Jimmy Smith said he wasn’t paid to be a commentator, he was paid to play one on TV, which is true. But is that something you got to go out on your show and talk about? Is that something that people really need to know about? He wasn’t paid to commentate fights. He was paid to commentate fake wrestling matches. You know, when I hear people talk like that after they’ve gotten paid from this business, I think you should never let a guy like Jimmy Smith in the wrestling business or anyone like him ever again in our business because that’s exactly what they think of us. They think we’re just a bunch of fake guys and we’re out there just playing the game. I bet you any kind of money that check cashed and the dollars were real. I bet you that. I bet you that. I bet you that, and that’s the only thing that matters at the end of the day that you get paid well. Did they slight you on your money? Did anyone treat you differently or badly or in any way or anything like that? It just makes me wonder what kind of person you’re really dealing with sometimes, because I always thought Jimmy Smith was a pretty cool guy. But to hear that kind of talk, like I say, it bothers me because I love this business. I love what it has done for me and my family, and I love to watch these young guys get a chance to go out there and fulfill that dream that they probably had since they were little bitty kids, and that dream wasn’t to go out and be fake wrestler or anything like that. That dream was to go out there and perform in front of the world, in front of the greatest fans that ever lived, the WWE Universe. So it pisses me off a little bit hearing and stuff like that.”
Booker went on to say, “It just shows me the character more than anything. Do I have a problem with Jimmy Smith? Am I gonna run up on him or anything? No, but like I said, it’s just a shame more than anything because I thought Jimmy Smith was bigger than that more so than anything.”
You can listen to the complete podcast below:
(h/t to Wrestling News for the transcription)
