Underated or Overated: Booker T?

[Disturbed]

Was Booker T overated or Underated? I have to go with underated because Booker T was one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. He was not bad in the ring and could cut a great promo with ease. I think he was completely underated even though he won all those world titles because it seems like WWE has forgotten all about him and I never hear him mentioned anymore. He deserves more. I would like to see him return to WWE even if it was just a one time appearence like on old school Raw.

He started off in a charismatic tag team with his brother Stevie Ray called Harlem Heat. Harlem Heat was in WCW for a few years and became multi tag champs before splitting up and launching Booker T into the singles scene. He quickly won the Television title and held it for quite sometime. Right before WCW ended they were hyping him up and he became a five time WOrld CHampion. He then went to WWE and went onto become a World Heavyweight Champion. In 2006 when he took on the King Booker gimmick I started to hate him. He played the role good but it just didn't seem like it was the real Booker T. When he joined TNA, I fell in love with him once again. I think he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame some day. Just look at his accomplishments.

WCW World Heavyweight Championship - 5 times
WCW United States Championship - 1 time
WCW World Tag team champion -11 times
WCW Television Champion - 6 times
WWE World Heavyweight Champion - 1 times
World Tag Team champion - 3 times
IC Champion - 1 time
WWE United States Championship - 3 times
Hardcore champion - 2 times
King of the Ringer winner in 2006
Tna Legends Champion - 1 time
TNA tag team champion - 2 times.

 

[warchildrex]

overall, i would say underrated.

he was a solid, consistent worker in wcw, and adapted quickly to the different wwf/e style. i think if he left wcw earlier and come to wwe before wcw's shutdown, he would have received a more solid push right off the bat, and probably would have held even more titles than he did. unfortunately, in coming in as part of a package deal, i don't think he was pushed quite as hard. granted, in my opinion he was push harder and further than the other invaders...but look at the difference in the pushes of people who came in before the demise of wcw vs those who came in during and after.

so, underrated, but not by a lot. should he be remembered as a skilled and entertaining performer? absolutely. a legend even? yes. but, i don't think his list of accomplishments demands that he be revered as one of the all-time greats.

 

[Hellacious Onslaught]

Oh man I cant say enough about the bookman! As a kid I was in love with Harlem Heat. I remember every saturday night looking forward to seeing them and Alex Wright lol. As I grew older so did he, as I say King Booker was by far the best heel of the 2000's with JBL as a close second. He is now doing great for the future of this biz with his promotion and all the accolades speak for themselves. Hes done it alll in the old school and new, much respect.

 

[The Damieon Humber]

VASTLY UNDERATED!!!!!!! The man's stat line speak for its self! 15+ tag reigns, Triple Crown Champ! 5x 5x 5x well you know the rest. Above average performer, and could hold his own on the Mic. One of the greatest African American Pro Wrestlers EVER! imo

 

[AttitudeChild]

Man Booker T was great. He had one of the best in ring styles and was always gold on the mic. Besides that TERRIBLE King Booker thing, every storyline he had was good. Vs The Rock, Vs Angle, Vs Eddie, with Goldust. Heck, even the feud he had with The Boogyman was entertaining. Booker T is undoubtedly a future Hall of Famer.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

Gosh, I wanna go with overrated. I am hesitant though to say that given his impressive body of work (titles wise) and the people who were his peers during his run. The reason why I lean more toward overrated is due to the fact that ANYBODY could've won the WCW World Title, and it shows due to people like Vince Russo and David Arrquette both having the pleasure of claiming that one. Booker was a decent wrestler and at best pretty entertaining on the mic. But again, I digress to his WCW days where pretty much no one had any mic skills who was left after 1999. With the exception of Chris Jericho and a few others, nobody really grabbed the crowd, and although people would like to think otherwise, Booker T. was one of the non-crowd-grabbers.

Notwithstanding (one of my favorite words, BTW), when Booker T. "arrived" in the WWE, he was billed as nothing more than a 5 Time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, which would have meant something had the year been 1981 instead of 2001. By 2001 WCW was a has-been, laughable and questionable company which, as we all know, went out of business. That's like saying to some stranger on the streets, "hey, you know I USED to be vice-president of Enron!" and having the straight face to be proud of that. Booker T. boasting of being a 5 Time Champion of a company that no longer existed basically was the WWE's way of shoving the failure of a company down his throat since more or less, he was the company's figurehead. You didn't see Scott Steiner doing that when he returned (and also failed) to the WWE in the early part of the decade.

But what really gets my goat about Booker T. (and I know it's not really his fault) was the way that he was spoon fed to HHH and subsequently demolished and made to look weak. I understand that the WWE had to maintain its look as being superior, but if you REALLY wanted to get a guy like Booker T. over, then he should have came in and even if for a moment dominated men like The Rock and HHH. Instead, he was made to look like The Rock-lite, then he pretty much got his ass handed to him by HHH and regressed to a comedic role along side some questionable characters. Then, as to make matters worse, they gave him the King of the Ring crown and basically crapped on his career because he became King Book-ah where he acted and sounded like a royal ass. The fact that they did this to a man who supposedly came from the "mean streets of Harlem" (although everyone knows he's from Houston). Finally, he left, pretty much unmissed and went to TNA.

TNA years...uh-ah, kinda cringe because they never knew what to do with him. Was he a face debuting to a pretty big pop, or a heel apart of a goofy stable known as MEM? Was he friends with Kevin Nash & Sting or was he trying to relive his King Book-ah days from years ago? Then, finally he left, again, unmissed and no one really is like "where's Booker T.?" Over-freaking-rated. The man had decent matches, but nothing I'd look up on youtube. The man was champion of a dying company and happened to win the title on its last show because the WWE didn't want Scott Steiner coming into their company as champion. No one really remembers a viable feud he had other than with Scott Steiner, and his tag team wasn't all that impressive, especially since Harlem Heat had to contend with such monster teams as The Faces of Fear and Fire & Ice as well as Buff Bagwell and Scott Norton. Hell, his own brother turned against him. Talk about karma. Again, overly over-rated. Put his body of work up against anyone else of worthy stature and I promise that person will crush Booker's body of work. Nothing against the man, just don't get why people don't understand he wasn't all that good.

 

[kozzomozzo]

In Wcw he was one of their best wrestlers and he was involved in some great matches. Unfortunately when he came over to wwe he was misused and treated terribly. The way he was treated cost wwe the chance of getting sting. He was great in tna and was one of the reasons worth watching.

 

[Disturbed]

In Wcw he was one of their best wrestlers and he was involved in some great matches. Unfortunately when he came over to wwe he was misused and treated terribly. The way he was treated cost wwe the chance of getting sting. He was great in tna and was one of the reasons worth watching.

How was Booker T missused in WWE? That may be the biggest load of BS I have heard in quite some time. I mean come on, really? The guy was one of the biggest parts in the invasion angle as he came in as WCW CHampion. His feud with The Rock was a classic and then he moved to mid card and won some mid card titles for a few years before becoming a permanent main eventer in 2006 once again. How was he being missused? He was good in TNA but not like he was in WWE. Plain and simple.

 

[Ferbian]

I'd like to believe Booker T was actually more or less correctly rated. Booker has always been entertaining, rather good in the ring and with a great ability to connect with the crowd and be charismatic as hell.

Booker accomplished loads in his wrestling career. He's a multiple times world champion, very very well decorated mid-card champion as well. And Booker has done more than enough to be warranted a Hall of Fame induction. Booker will most likely be remembered as one of the "minor" legends. Not just a guy that accomplished things and got inducted for it. But a guy that left a lot of memories, like some of his numerous feuds, his matches and his entertaining gimmicks.

I wouldn't call him overrated, because that would be completely bullshit. I'm sure he could've easily been warranted just a little bit more in WWE's main event scene perhaps. But not to the point that I would ever consider him underrated either. Because he still accomplished so much in his career that anyone would be more than happy with what he had.

 

[donnelllangs]

booker t was underrated but that is how it is when you come in from a falling company. You get to wwe from wcw wtih the other guys, vince is not going to put you up their with the rock. You have to earn your spot. Also booker t came in from wcw as a 3 times wcw champion. He lost the belt to the rock. I forgot who he got it back from but he lost it again to kurt angle when stone cold stunned kurt angle and booker t was taking his time for the pin while laughing. stone cold had left and kurt angle end up beating booker t. Booker t got it back making him the five time wcw champion sucker. He lost it again. He got played by triple h politics twice for the wwe championship. That also held him back. then he won king of the ring when he got traded to smackdown. He beat ray mysterio for the world title and after 3 tries batista beat king booker for the title. Then booker was the #1 draftpick to raw. He did not like what they did. He battled jerry the king lawler for the name king and guess who got in the picture again. Yep triple h. He came back from injury and I think he was suppose to go after randy orton but he stuck his nose in the king stakes. It was the best storyline on raw and you know triple h has to be apart of the best storylines. So he did not come in a 5 time wcw champion. He came in as a 3 time wcw champion.

 

[GameOver]

I agree with Ferbian, i don't think he was underrated at all or overrated
he had a good run, and did everything he could've done, he wasn't a huge draw in my book, he was more of the comedian who happened to be main event quality.

He went from a good for the time Tag Team that were WCW's sable team.
but seriously he was just WCW's attempt at cloning The Rock when they took him solo, noone can deny that.

Wasn't that great on the mic and looked akward in the ring with those long arms flailing around from the elbow, but despite all that he stilll managed to be very entertaining and had several catch phrases coined, 3 moves and a theme song that were widely recognized across the wrestling community.

The only thing that was missing was 1 WWF/E title run but since he was a 5 time 5 time 5 time 5 time 5 time WCW champ and a top class Tag champ, he didn't really need it

he exceled in WWE in my opinion despite the limited amount of titles, that is til they took on that stupid King Gimmick and let his annoying wife speak.

Now Can U Dig That SUCKA!!!!!!!

 

[GameOver]

booker t was underrated but that is how it is when you come in from a falling company. You get to wwe from wcw wtih the other guys, vince is not going to put you up their with the rock. You have to earn your spot. Also booker t came in from wcw as a 3 times wcw champion. He lost the belt to the rock. I forgot who he got it back from but he lost it again to kurt angle when stone cold stunned kurt angle and booker t was taking his time for the pin while laughing. stone cold had left and kurt angle end up beating booker t. Booker t got it back making him the five time wcw champion sucker. He lost it again. He got played by triple h politics twice for the wwe championship. That also held him back. then he won king of the ring when he got traded to smackdown. He beat ray mysterio for the world title and after 3 tries batista beat king booker for the title. Then booker was the #1 draftpick to raw. He did not like what they did. He battled jerry the king lawler for the name king and guess who got in the picture again. Yep triple h. He came back from injury and I think he was suppose to go after randy orton but he stuck his nose in the king stakes. It was the best storyline on raw and you know triple h has to be apart of the best storylines. So he did not come in a 5 time wcw champion. He came in as a 3 time wcw champion.

Technically he came in as a 4 time WCW champ, on the final Nitro he won the WCW World title from Scott Steiner,

He then went onto win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship aka (WCW World Title) 2 times more so i've just remembered
(1) vs Kurt Angle in 2001
(2) vs Rey Mysterio during his King Booker era in 2006

so there we have it Booker was a 6 time WCW World Heavyweight Champ, how could anyone see that as underrated

 

[spinarooni]

Booker T i'm not going to say is highly underrated. He was the definition of an excellent performer. The total package. Not only did he have signature phrases, he had signature finishing moves. His run with goldust was priceless, Harlem Heat, the final run with WCW was modeled around Booker T , his run with the Rock, amongst others. He had a career to be proud of. I hope to see the 5 time WCW champion make another run. If not may he have a healthy life.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

I thought his feud with the Rock was just great. Had me rolling....

A lot of guys in the business respected for him in the business. Very dedicated to his craft, hell I was pretty happy to seem him win that belt in WCW. It was something new.

He had a lot of great matches. I mean, I know this comes from out of no where, but, by the time he won that belt, he had great feuds with Benoit, his brother, Kanyon. Had some great tag team memories, even took on guys like Sting and Luger when they were big.

Wasn't the best on the Mic, but got people going. When his music hit, people went nuts. Sure, pumping your arms in the air may seem simple, but he got the rest of the crowd to do it.

He in my opinion, was up there, I was bummed out, to hear him leave the WWE. Good Career.

 

[WunNightStan619]

idk what you guys are talking about the King Booker gimmick was great. I Personally loved it. He would try n be all royal and proper, then he'd switch back to the street booker t whenever he got pissed. lmao...

my vote is def for underrated..easily wun of the greatest to ever do it

 

[Wrestling Free Thinker]

Technically he came in as a 4 time WCW champ, on the final Nitro he won the WCW World title from Scott Steiner,

He then went onto win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship aka (WCW World Title) 2 times more so i've just remembered
(1) vs Kurt Angle in 2001
(2) vs Rey Mysterio during his King Booker era in 2006

so there we have it Booker was a 6 time WCW World Heavyweight Champ, how could anyone see that as underrated

You don't understand title history or lineage. It was still called the WCW title when he won it from Angle and carried the lineage.
And the World Heavyweight Title isn't in the lineage of the WCW title.

It's more of it's successor, they'd cite the WCW title history along with the WHC history. Just like how the WCW title "spun off" the NWA title.

Just because it's the big gold belt doesn't mean it's the same title.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would go with SLIGHTLY UNDERRATED. He was a great tag team wrestler, which can be seen by the number of times he held the WCW Tag Team Titles with Harlem Heat, one of the all time great tag teams. Plus he has also held the Tag belts in both WWE and TNA, so it is clear to me that he is thought of as a tag-team great.

Although he did hold the WCW belt 5x, most of these came within a very short period of time when WCW was passing the belt round like a hot potato in its later years, so it kinda makes it look like Booker was a more successful champion than he was. However, even though his titles were crammed in to a year or so, he was still given the US title once and 6 reigns as TV champion. This was probably the right decision by WCW as they did have much bigger stars at the time in Sting, Flair, Hogan, Nash etc, and in later years Hart, Steiner, and Page for Booker to compete with.

As he had a huge list of other stars to compete with I think Booker T did very well in WCW, and his accomplishments display that, he was thought of as one of the dependable guys towards the end of his run there and was eventually rewarded with the 5 heavyweight title reigns.

In WWE however, I think he was underrated. It is well known that Vince McMahon does not like to focus on talent which gained recoginition elsewhere ahead of his homegrown talent, and that is a big factor in why Booker had to wait quite a number of years before being eventualy given the world title. Well, that and that Triple H was destroying every single challenger- including Booker at WM. I think again WWE eventually realised that Booker T was constantly over, and always reliable in the ring and could be trusted to put on a good match, so rewarded him in the end, but I think it should have been sooner.

He is obviously good on the mic, and very charismatic and we all love the spinnaroonie!! But, as King Booker, he showed a character change that noone expected (as well as a hilarious voice), which showed he was excellent in other personas, not just the regular Booker T character.

Overall, I think that Booker T has been as successful as he should have been, holding a hell of a lot of titles. If I was pushed into choosing either Underreated or Overrated, I would go with slightly Underrated.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I picked underrated, but if there was a third option of "neither" then that would have gotten my vote. Booker could have had a better career. His strongest moments include winning King of the Ring, which gave us his extremely annoying "KEENG BOOKAH" character. I still remember his awful promo where he said that he as our "king" would have to go on to face "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" (Trips) at the "Summer Slam Games". Ugh, horrible. I hated that character, yet that character was who he held the World Championship as. Then there's his TNA run. I really thought he was going to win the TNA World Championship from Samoa Joe in the summer of 2008 when they feuded. It didn't happen, he went on to be a part of the Main Event Mafia and then it all ended. Booker could be considered overrated due to a lot of people claiming he was better than he really was, however a similar argument could be made for him being underrated. He was not given a fair enough of a chance. I'm going with neither, honestly, even if it was not in the poll. Booker was neither overrated nor underrated because he could have had a better career than he did, just not as good as some people would like to believe.

 

[god-soldier]

Booker T is the most underated wrestler in the last decade, regardless of the countless championships he won and the superior matches he put on he can never get any credit for what he has done. Its a down right shame He has always been a top perfromer an show man an even better one than HBK for that matter. Booker could never catch a break a WWE title and a longer World Heavyweight Title run has been deserving of Booker but Vince always shitted on him because he came WCW and so did the booker HHH who always shitted on Booker because he felt scared of losing his spot as champion and being out perfromed by a better all around athelte. Booker T always helped push and build up new talent such as John Cena, BoogeyMan, Christian, Randy Orton, Samoa Joe etc. and never complained about it even though none of those guys can or will ever compete on his level. Booker T deserves one more long regining world title run because as champion he never had his chance to really showcase all his years of hard work as a world champion. Booker T is the man and highly under rated NOW CAN YOU DIG THAT SUCKA!!!!!

 

[Tech N9ne]

I say he is underrated. He accomplished a lot but to a certain extent was even held back from accomplishing more.

It is insane to me he only won World Title gold in WWE once. He was a 5 time WCW Champion and won those at the end of the company. In all the years of the Monday Night Wars he was either lighting up the mid card or was tagging with Stevie Ray (Harlem Heat). While WCW was focused on guys like Hogan, Hall, Sting, Flair, Savage, Luger and Nash. Booker T was quietly one of the best talents in the whole world.

He showcased what a true "Pro Wrestler" is when he feuded with Chris Benoit for The TV Title in around 1998 and maybe 1999. Those matches were true classic in the true definition of the word.

He should have went over Triple H at Wrestlemania 19 in 03, and was on fire. But, they didn't let him and he would go about 3 more years before he would ever capture his one and only World Title in WWE.

Even then I don't think true Booker fans enjoyed it because he was a Heel and was using that King Booker gimmick.

Booker has a full skill set. He was great on the mic. He could be funny and also be straight up bad ass. His move set was very extensive. He could brawl, be technical, and also could be a high flyer at times.

Booker has/had the physique, size, athleticism and more than anything, the dude had charisma.

In my opinion this man is one of, if not the MOST underrated wrestler of all time.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

I said he was underrated. You can say whatever you want about him. He's good if not great on the mike, can put on decent matches with any person. He's a good performer not to the level of of Bret Hart, Benoit, Angle, but he could and did carry his weight when he worked with them. He made even the most lamest of gimmicks worth watching (i.e. King Booker). He should have beaten Triple H for the title at WM, the crowd was behind him, and he could have had a decent run with the belt.

 

[LitasRevenge79]

I'd have to say underrated. He is by far and away one of the most entertaining people I've enjoyed watching over my time with being interested in the wrestling field. From his days in Harlem Heat, to spinning-a roony to WWF/E, and to TNA. I do think he did get a bit of a bad rep, all because he really was an old timer when it came to the business, do I think he was a sacrificial lamb, yes. But, that being said, him being out of the spotlight now, lets him focus on his own wrestling academy and doing things the way HE wanted to do them. I fondly remember his days in the Booker/Goldust team, that was amazing, those were some of my favorite memories by far.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

The other thing about him is he understands the business. It's not about his ego like a number of performers. He knows it's about putting on the best possible show he can. No matter the assignment, he always did his best to make it the most entertaining. The Goldust/Booker T connection could have been a real let down, but he went with it, and delivered some hilarious skits with Dust. The guy could be quite funny as a face or a heel. He's an all around entertainer.