The wrestling career of Booker T has shown how compelling a wrestler rising to the top can be for the wrestling audience. Booker was always respected by fans for his WCW star in the Harlem Heat tag team with his brother Stevie Ray. Harlem Heat was arguably the greatest WCW tag team of all time, but it also led to Booker getting a singles push.
WCW made Booker the final face of the company before it ended, and he moved to WWE. Booker added another legendary chapter to his career with a great run there. TNA signed Booker to a big deal for a few years before he returned to WWE for broadcasting duties. The entire career arc is fascinating, but not everything was perfect. Booker found himself on the embarrassing end of things with these moments in the wrestling world.
10 Infamous Hulk Hogan Promo Botch
Booker T created a memorable moment when his all-time bad promo botch became a viral moment many years after it happened. The segment took place backstage with “Mean” Gene Okerlund interviewing Sensational Sherri and Harlem Heat.
Most wrestling fans have seen the wild moment of Booker name-dropping Hulk Hogan when cutting a promo on the top WCW names and using the n-word. Hogan and most fans don’t view Booker poorly for it, but he has said he was deeply ashamed at the moment.
9 Wrestling The Boogeyman At WrestleMania 22
Wrestlers getting to work with their friends isn’t always the best thing if the story doesn’t work to match their real life chemistry. Marty Wright was a close friend of Booker T when Booker and other WWE talents suggested Wright get hired for The Boogeyman character.
WWE placed Booker and Boogeyman in a feud in the early stages of 2006. WrestleMania 22 felt like a huge waste of Booker’s time when he and Sharmell lost to The Boogeyman in a comedic match. Booker won the World Championship a few months later making this loss feel even stranger to look back on.
8 Feuding With Edge Over Shampoo Commercial
WrestleMania 18 was the stage of Booker T’s first WM match when facing Edge in the mid-card. A match between two of the more compelling talents at the time should have stolen the show, but it was instead remembered for a silly storyline.
Booker claimed he had a big sponsorship of a Japanese shampoo brand coming. The big reveal featured Edge getting the shampoo deal over him to cause the conflict for their feud. Booker’s match on the biggest stage was more about fans laughing at shampoo jokes than anything else.
7 Losing Rights To Booker T Name In WCW Storyline
WCW didn’t put Booker T in too many bad storylines, but the worst ones left a memory on viewers in the worst ways. Ahmed Johnson joined WCW to form a new version of the Harlem Heat tag team with Stevie Ray now that Booker was a singles star.
The name Big T was used for the former WWE star Johnson claiming he deserved the rights to that letter T as his name more than Booker. Both men feuded with Big T winning and forcing Booker to lose the T for a short while. Everything about this angle made everyone involved look ridiculous by association.
6 Throwing Up On Michael Cole After Rikishi's Stink Face
WWE placed Booker T in a few weird moments that could have hurt most wrestlers more than it did him. Rikishi using his stink face move on other wrestlers was something everyone sold with embarrassment since it was a comedic moment meant to have that reaction.
Booker T had one of the worst instances of this when going outside of the ring after receiving the stink face and throwing up on Michael Cole at the commentary table. Taz cracked up as both Booker and Cole looked ridiculous in this segment.
5 Shawn Michaels Kicking Him Out Of New World Order
The WWE version of the New World Order had a lot of hiccups along the way that led to failure. Scott Hall getting fired and Hulk Hogan turning face meant new members had to join Kevin Nash if the group continued as it did for a few more months.
Booker T, Big Show and X-Pac were the new members aligning with Nash until the shocking return of Shawn Michaels. The promo of Michaels now leading the nWo saw him saying everyone had value before superkicking Booker to kick him out of the group. Booker never got proper revenge as Nash suffering an injury ended all nWo storylines.
4 Leaving Final TNA Match With Injury Angle To Avoid TLC Match
Booker T’s TNA tenure was a huge disappointment with many fans and wrestlers feeling like he didn’t give his all. Future comments from Booker even saw him using the term “paid vacation” when talking about his TNA work.
The final contracted match for Booker in TNA featured a Full Metal Mayhem match (TNA’s version of the TLC match) at Bound for Glory 2009 with four teams competing for tag gold. Booker was written out early before the weapons were introduced since he didn’t feel comfortable wrestling in that style of match and went to the back with an injury story.
3 Getting Eliminated From Royal Rumble In 32 Seconds As Final Entrant
The 2002 Royal Rumble match was Booker T’s first time competing in WWE’s most popular stipulation. WWE even gave Booker the huge honor of being the 30th and final entrant. Most years will see WWE picking a surprise or a name they value to get a pop for the spot.
Booker unfortunately didn’t have a great showing this year as he only lasted 32 seconds. The arrogant celebrating and dancing of Booker in the ring allowed his enemy Steve Austin to quickly eliminate him. Booker clearly wasn’t viewed at the level of WWE’s top stars at the time.
2 Fans Turning On First WCW Match In WWE Vs Buff Bagwell
Booker T joining WWE as the WCW Champion after Vince McMahon purchased WCW was a huge deal. The lack of big names coming over from WCW made Booker feel even more important as by far the biggest pushed WCW talent in WWE.
Plans to continue WCW as its own company would have seen Booker as the face of the brand moving forward. Unfortunately, the test match of Booker facing Buff Bagwell for the WCW Championship on Raw was a huge failure. Fans turned on the match so much that McMahon lost any confidence in WCW as a brand to give us the awful Invasion storyline we got instead.
1 WrestleMania 19 Loss To Triple H After Offensive Promos
The controversial build to the Triple H vs Booker T World Championship match at WrestleMania 19 is still trashed today. Triple H cutting offensive comments questioning Booker’s value and making racist comments about “people like Booker” showed how badly WWE missed the boat.
Fans wanted to see Booker win after the weeks of uncomfortable segments and his generally beloved reputation. Triple H got the win over Booker to continue his reign after the inexcusable promos made it a must win for Booker. It took a few years and new character for Booker to become a World Champion after this feud ruined his momentum.