Booker T

Booker T

Name Booker T Real name Booker Tio Huffman Nicknames Name history G.I. Bro, Kole, Booker, King Booker Family Stevie Ray (brother), Sharmell (wife) Maestro(s) Scott Casey Birth date, location March 1, 1965 - Houston, Texas Obituary date Debut, location March 1, 1989 Lost mask to Height 6'3"/191 cm Weight 250 lbs/110 kgs Signature moves Axe Kick, Book End, Spin-a-Roonie, Houston Hangover, Spinebuster, Russian Legsweep Titles: none lucha tites

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Bio

After WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, Booker T made his debut at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 2001 attacking WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin during his match, promptly injuring him in his very first move in the WWF.[3][26] He later turned heel and became a leading member of The Alliance during the Invasion storyline.[15][27] During July 2001, in his debut match in the company, Booker defended his WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Buff Bagwell.[3][5][28] At InVasion, The Alliance defeated Team WWF when Steve Austin joined the Alliance.[29] On July 26, Booker gave up his WCW United States Title and handed it over to Chris Kanyon.[5] He later lost the WCW World title to Kurt Angle, but he went on to win the title back on the July 30 episode of Raw.[5] Booker kept the title until SummerSlam, when he lost the title to The Rock after feuding with him over the similarity in their gimmicks and their identical finishing moves, the Book End/Rock Bottom.[5][26] Booker T won the WCW World Tag Team Championship for an eleventh time, this time with Test,[5] and he also had a WWF Tag Team Championship reign with Test.[30] At the Survivor Series, Booker T was eliminated third by The Rock after a roll-up and eventually The Alliance was defeated, causing them to disband.[26]

In its aftermath, Booker remained a heel,[3] and he joined forces with Vince McMahon and The Boss Man in December to feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. After Booker T cost Austin a match against Chris Jericho for the WWF Undisputed Championship at Vengeance,[26] Austin gained revenge by attacking Booker T in a grocery store by covering him in food.[3]

Booker T's first WrestleMania appearance was at WrestleMania X8 against Edge.[5] They feuded over who would appear in a fictional Japanese shampoo commercial.[26] When the brand extension was introduced in March, Booker T was drafted to the Raw brand.[31] Booker held the Hardcore Championship twice in May 2002, defeating Stevie Richards only to lose it to Crash Holly seconds later. He then re-defeated Crash and dropped the Belt to Stevie Richards a couple minutes later. [edit] Teaming with Goldust; injury (2002–2003)

Goldust began trying to start a tag team with Booker, but Goldust kept costing Booker matches. With the nWo now operating in WWE, Booker T was eventually invited into the faction.[3][5] His time there was short-lived, when he got (literally) kicked out of the group by Shawn Michaels, who believed Booker T was taking away from his own spotlight.[5] Booker then turned face and found a partnership with Goldust and the pair teamed to battle the nWo.[5] Booker and Goldust had a title shot against The Un-Americans (Christian and Lance Storm) at SummerSlam, but The Un-Americans retained after interference from Test.[32] At No Mercy, Booker and Goldust battled Chris Jericho and Christian for the tag titles, but they lost the match with Jericho using the title belt on Goldust.[32]

He spent the rest of 2002 teaming with Goldust. They won the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon in a Tag Team Elimination match defeating the teams of Christian and Chris Jericho, Lance Storm and William Regal, and the Dudley Boyz.[33] They held the belts for about three weeks, when they lost them to Regal and Storm.[33] Booker and Goldust lost the rematch and decided to go their separate ways.[5] The gimmick for Booker and Goldust was Goldust being a strange, yet dependable ally who Booker eventually warmed up to after initial skepticism. By 2003, however, Booker T's popularity had soared and he amicably separated from Goldust, at Goldust's request, in order to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship. In February 2003, he eliminated The Rock to win a battle royal for the number one contendership, granting him a title shot at WrestleMania XIX.[34]

Booker targeted Evolution after Batista and Randy Orton attacked Booker's former partner, Goldust.[5] Several weeks before WrestleMania, the incumbent champion and Evolution's leader, Triple H, cut a controversial promo on Booker T. Triple H downplayed Booker T's WCW success, pointing out that the WCW Championship had been held by non-wrestlers like Vince Russo and actor David Arquette calling WCW and its title "a joke". He said that "people like" Booker T would never win world championships in WWE. This promo is also often interpreted as racist as Triple H also made reference to Booker T's "nappy" hair and comments implying that Booker T was just in WWE to dance and entertain for "people like" Triple H. In the Wrestlemania XIX press conference Michael Cole asked Triple H as to whether he had deliberately cut a racist promo, Triple H claimed this was not the case and that he was just referring to Booker's criminal past.[35] A week later, Booker attacked Triple H in the bathroom, laying him out.[36] However, Booker T lost to Triple H at WrestleMania XIX which has added to the infamy of the promo and feud, as by traditional wrestling booking standards, he should have beaten Triple H.[33] For several weeks, he teamed with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash in a feud against Triple H, Ric Flair, and Chris Jericho.[5] At Backlash, Booker's team lost when Triple H pinned Nash after a sledgehammer shot.[33]

Afterward, Booker set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship.[5] After losing a battle royal for the title at Judgment Day,[33] Booker feuded with the champion Christian.[5] After a few matches, Booker defeated him to become the new champion.[37] About a month later, because of a nagging back injury, Booker lost the Intercontinental title back to Christian at an untelevised house show.[38] Booker, meanwhile, was out of action until September.[5] [edit] SmackDown!; United States Champion (2003–2004)

When Booker returned in 2003, he announced he would be on Team Austin at the Survivor Series which would determine if Eric Bischoff or Steve Austin would be the General Manager of Raw.[39] Booker's team lost the match, so Austin lost his position as Co-General Manager of Raw.[40] Booker then entered a feud with Mark Henry, the man who eliminated him in the Survivor Series match. Booker defeated Henry at Armageddon.[40]

On the February 16, 2004 edition of Raw, Booker T and Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Championship.[5] Booker and Van Dam held the titles for a month, even defending the belts at WrestleMania XX in an 8-Man tag team match.[41] They lost the belts eight days later on Raw back to Flair and Batista.[30]

On March 23, 2004 he was "traded" (along with the Dudley Boyz) to the SmackDown! brand in exchange for Triple H, but as part of a new storyline, he appeared unhappy with the move.[5] Later on, Booker T bragged about how he was the biggest star on SmackDown! and turned heel when he began to feud with The Undertaker.[5] Booker tried to utilize voodoo magic in order to try and overcome his "supernatural" foe;[42] however, it did nothing to prevent him from losing to the Undertaker at Judgment Day.[41]

In mid-2004, Booker T set his sights on the United States Championship along with its champion, John Cena.[5] After Cena got on the bad side of General Manager Kurt Angle, he did his best to get the title away from Cena. Cena successfully defended the title at The Great American Bash in a four-way elimination match against Booker, René Duprée, and Rob Van Dam.[41] After General Manager Kurt Angle stripped Cena of his title,[43] Booker took advantage of the situation and won an eight-man elimination match to become United States Champion.[5] Booker and Cena participated in a best-of-five series of matches for the United States Championship.[5] It culminated at No Mercy, where Cena won the title.[41] [edit] Pursuit of the WWE Championship (2004–2006)

On October 21, SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long placed Booker in a six man tag team match with Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio against John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL), René Duprée, and Kenzo Suzuki. JBL expected Booker to betray his partners, but instead Booker pinned him, thus turning face again.[44] Booker T faced JBL for the WWE Championship at the Survivor Series on November 14, but lost after he was hit in the head with the championship belt.[41] The next night, Booker T demanded a rematch, citing Orlando Jordan's interference. He was then joined by Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker who also wanted a shot at JBL's title, prompting Theodore Long to make a Fatal Fourway match for the WWE Championship at Armageddon.[5] Once again, Booker failed to win the title, as JBL retained it.[45]

He then briefly teamed with Eddie Guerrero and feuded with Heidenreich.[5] Booker won a 30-Man Battle Royal dark match at WrestleMania 21 last eliminating Raw's Viscera and "Masterpiece" Chris Masters.[46] Subsequently, Booker was part of the tournament to name a new number one contender and made it to the Final Four.[5] After Kurt Angle eliminated Booker, he returned the favor, costing Angle the match against JBL.[5] The storyline then turned to a sexual nature,[24] as Angle began stalking Booker's new wife, Sharmell. Booker defeated Angle at Judgment Day.[5] On the May 26 edition of SmackDown!, Booker participated in a "Winners Choice" Battle Royal, with the winner choosing his opponent for the next week. Kurt Angle won and wanted to wrestle Sharmell.[47] Booker protested, and the match was made into a Handicap match. Angle won by pinning Sharmell in a sexual position.[48] The next week, Booker gained revenge on Angle, defeating him with a Scissors Kick.[49]