TNA Tarnished Booker T's Legacy ?

[Vanillajoke]

The biggest problem here is that Booker has never been a guy who is totally over on a grand scale to anyone other than himself. He's always been the type of guy who thinks he is bigger than he really is which, as many of us who watched his WCW and WWE, was never the case. Was he given a sizable push at times in his career? Yes several but in the long run how much has he really drawn?

I always felt that he was consistently that guy who was "almost there but never quite." Something always seemed to lack at all times and he just never fully "got over." Hell, if you think about it, the guy is lucky that Vince Russo has always been a huge fan of his otherwise he would never have gotten his WCW title reigns nor his push in TNA.

For him to bash TNA and say they tarnished his legacy is also rediculous. If anything, they HELPED keep it alive. After a ridiculous departure from the WWE here comes a worldwide company with national exposure that not only kept him on TV but pushed him (to a certain point) as well. He could have ended up like several other WWE cast-offs who trolled the indy's for the remainder of their careers and become even more forgotten. TNA basically made him remarketable to the WWE and they even gave him wife a job as part of a package deal with him. Yeah, let's find other wrestling companies that are so willing to do that.

At the end of the day he is forgettable in the long run. I mean he has a place in history but I ave never met anyone who was as passionate about Booker T as they were about guys like Hogan, Flair, Sting, Angle, etc. etc.

 

[JDavis328]

Wow this is pretty funny. See Who will ever forget the start of Bookers career in wwe. That huge spot where wcw and wwe wrestlers are fighting in a huge brawl then the smoke clears and booker and rock are left. The quote that broke all the wcw fans of course was when rock said "Who in the blue hell are you?". Sting said that was the reason why he didnt go to wwe.

You see Booker is great in the ring and a great worker deffintly. But he does have a well documented ego that has spaned his whole career and only gotten larger as he went from company to company. In both WWE and TNA there are stories of him refusing to job to younger guys. See there are guys who want to put the young guys over and see them go all the way then the ones who say it because if they dont they will look bad. Back when wcw was falling or even before you think if you asked the vets if they wanted to hold their spot and keep the young guys down,that they would say yes? No it would ruin their public image. Now as far as i see booker fits in the 2nd catagory. His ego has ran out of control over the year.

As for this guys legacy all i have to say is-
5 time wcw champ-of course like others said he was the only guy to put it on at the times and plus this is the belt that David Arquette held as well so it lost its legacy along the way. Used to be big but slowly it dwendled down.
WWE world title-Honestly he won it from mysterio then lost it to batista pretty fast so not that big of a thing. Almost like a transitional champ type deal.

I respect booker for what hes done but his time has started to pass and he has a death grip trying to hold on.

He deffintly has had more titles and alot of them are true title wins and were great but sounds like he is making his legacy sound bigger then it is.

 

[T2KFreeker]

All I can initially say is; WOW!

This makes me sad because I have been a Booker T fan for years. Hell, I remember seeing him and his brother live back in the day as "The Ebony Connection" and later as Harlem Heat on WCW. I always enjoyed his in ring work and it just seemed like Booker T was going to shine. Even his time in WWE wasn't the worst I have seen. TNA ruini9ng his legacy though? Man, it just makes me sad that he said that. If ever there was a time for Booker to be having fun again and trying to enjoy the rest of his career, it's now because there isn't much left. He got to be the first "Legends" champion, plus be in a Tag Team championship program as well as be in the group that has been the main focus for TNA for the last six months or so. Yeah, I am sure that this is a bad part of his Legacy!

Sorry Booker, but man, please stop acting like a primadonna like Hogan and realize you can be great, but only as great as you will allow yourself to be and acting like this isn't going to do it brother! I'd love to see him stick around the business, but he needs wrestling more than wrestling needs him.

 

[theiceman]

Has it been proven that Booker actually said these things about his legacy? And has it been proven that Booker T left WWE because he wanted to sit in on meetings?

Until someone actually pulls up some video footage of Booker saying these things or someone shows me a blog or something with Booker writing that himself then I don't believe any of it. It's speculation made up by the media.

I don't know about you all, but I for one, am not going to judge Booker T and say he has an "ego" or that he's a "prima donna" until I have good reason to. I'm not going to act like I know what he's like as a human being or anything because I don't know. I hope though that we see Booker pop up somewhere again because I personally enjoyed watching him.

 

[PEP3]

After months and months of reading postings on these threads, I am now finally able to respond!

One thing I have seen here consistently which really bothers me are the people who constantly bash TNA simply because it's not WWE. It makes no sense to me at all. TNA is a product which stands alone, on its own merits, and offers an entirely different flavor, if you will, of pro wrestling. Some people might enjoy it more than WWE. Others might like it less. Occasionally, someone might not like it at all. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's worse or better. It's DIFFERENT, and that's OK.

The reason I mention this is because I read one posting (several, actually, where it was implicit but one where it was stated literally) which says Booker T cheapened his legacy by going to TNA at all. Personally, I don't believe this at all. Maybe it's because I was a fan of the wrestling territories when they existed in the past. They allowed a wrestler to BUILD a legacy, competing with the best performers different areas of the country and world had to offer. He could win titles around the U.S./world before going to either NWA or WWF (at the time) to try his hand on a larger platform. Quite frequently, these people would return to the smaller organizations after as a major name star and spend the latter portion of their career on those circuits as a LEGEND.

In my eyes, Booker T going to TNA was a great move for both the wrestling company and himself. He brought name recognition to the group, and they brought an opportunity for him experience a lighter travel/performance schedule while facing new and exciting opponents.

That said, in my eyes, TNA didn't use Booker to the absolute maximum of his abilities over the last couple of years. While he was used early on to elevate Robert Roode, that seemed pointless after Roode was immediately put back into the tag title scene. Rather than pairing Booker/Steiner for a tag title run, both could have been worked into programs to bring additional credibility to mid-card guys. For example, I think a program between Daniels and Booker could have been great, and Daniels could have come out of it looking like a very strong World Title contender. Additionally, Booker could have made great opposition for Hernandez, too.

While it might not be a popular opinion, especially from much of what I've read here previously, but I firmly believe Booker should have gotten at least one run with TNA's top belt during his tenure with the company. If Foley "deserved" a reign, then so does Booker. To me, Booker always makes a fairly credible champion whenever he's got any title (well, except those first few WCW titles, which were just a mess), and he's a great heel champion. The problem, I believe, there are simply too many wrestlers on TNA's roster, and they don't exactly know what to do with all of them at once. It's not an uncommon problem, really. I remember people used to routinely talk about stars who would enter WWF and get "lost in the shuffle." (Go back & read some old issues of Pro Wrestling Illustrated [it's a magazine, which we used to rely on before the internet]. It was a COMMON topic during the '80s.)

TNA frequently reminds me of ECW when it first started (back when the "E" stood for Eastern, not Extreme). The fed offered a roster combining younger, up-and-coming guys who were the life blood of the organization and some pretty big-name if definitely past their prime (some might say "washed up") performers [Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco, etc.]. The pairing of these two sets of talent allowed the upstart guys to get the rub from the older guys until the younger ones could carry a pay-per-view/show on their own.

My hope is that's what we're finally starting to see in TNA. The organization has been around long enough, the product has been on TV sufficient time and people are tuning in and paying attention enough to finally allow some of the home-grown talent like Styles, Daniels and Joe to headline a pay-per-view WITHOUT an Angle, Nash, Jarrett, Booker T or Sting in the title picture. It's really a healthy place for the federation to be, I think.

And, as for Booker, his legacy is far from tarnished. He still has at least a couple good years to return to WWE, if that's what he wants to do. I'm sure he would make an awesome addition to Smackdown or, as a starting point, ECW. A couple more title runs ANYWHERE he ends up, and Booker will be able to retire with a smile. Despite the way people on these boards talk about him, he's already had one helluva career.

At this point, what does he really have left to prove anyway? And to whom?

 

[Nature Boy]

I've always been a Booker T fan.

I thought he was used terribly in the WWE and I was really pleased when he joined TNA!

I think he could have had a run with TNA Title.

As for TNA tarnishing his lagacy, I think the WWE helped do that as well.

I wouldn't blame TNA, or at least not a great deal anyway.

As I said, while I'm a Booker T fan, I don't think we'll be looking at him as one of the greatest of all time.

 

[hotrod]

To me Booker was at his best during the Russo era of WCW. When he became a 5 time world champion.I hated what WWE did to him with all that "Sucka" nonesense like it was 1972 or something.I did however enjoy the King Booker character. I hated a lot of the stuff he did in TNA witha ll the wierd voices and stuff.BUT I am sure that in TNA he had waaaaaaay more control of his charcter than in WWE.So he really has to blame himself. Also didnt WWE scapegoat him in that big steroid suspension scandal? Also they tried to destroy his fanfest at wrestlemania wknd by pulling tons of talent. So why on earth would he want to go back to them and trash talk TNA? it makes no sense to me!

 

[markmeout]

Honestly TNA did the best job out of any company booking Booker. He was never a quality main eventer and for sure never deserved world titles. He has spotty tallent and none of his title reigns made me want to watch him. His promos are shit, his in ring work can be good but at the same time can be appauling. I love wrestling and I hate Booker, awalys did and I'm hopping that WWE realizes that he is SHIT and dosnt sign him.

 

[bongorider]

Booker T deserves more respect than some people in this thread are giving him, he was a good wrestler in his prime, for his size he was far more athletic and agile that most, he had good promos and he was a hard worker, for years in the WWE he did what was asked of him and during the peak of his popularity his push was killed by HHH, then after a token title run, he was squashed again in a meaningless feud by HHH. Personaly I enjoyed his King Booker gimmick, and he seemed to have fun doing his silly promos in the MEM too, I got a kick out of his sense of humour, I'm not sure what his beef with TNA is, since he claimed not to want a big push in the first place.

 

[NSL]

Booker T tarnished Booker T's legacy. He was becoming a joke in WWE, doing all the King Book-ah shit, and Sharmell really brought down his credibility. Then he leaves WWE to go to TNA, because he didn't like the character, and keeps doing the same shit. If he wants to save his legacy, he needs to stop Sharmell from appearing on TV, drop the accents, and get back to working matches the way he was when WCW was dying. That's when he was at his best, and it's the only way anyone can stand watching him again...

 

[PEP3]

... after a token title run...

In all honesty, I don't see Booker's WWE title run as "token." Usually when the E gives a performer a token run at the top, it is painfully obvious. When talking about "token runs," people like Kane and even Rob Van Dam come to mind for some reason, but not Booker. He actually had a decent run with the belt, defending it at a couple pay-per-views, and felt like a legit champ.

(Before anyone jumps all over me, I think RVD was a great champ and more than worthy of the belt, especially the way they built him up unifying so many of the other titles, but his run also had the distinct feel to me that the WWE was going to take that belt off him as soon as they possibly could.)

What I wouldn't argue about Booker's title run is that it felt transitional, especially for people who read the wrestling boards. Most were aware that injury sidelined people WWE might have rather had with the belt, so Booker got it by default.

For those that even remotely believe that wrestling could be real (those willing to suspend disbelief), though, that's a legitimate means to an end. Take out the best opposition, and you become the top dog. It made them anticipate the others' return to see how well Booker would do then.

Personally, I enjoyed watching him escape with his belt through sneaky and underhanded tactics, often by the skin of his teeth. It's a big part of what wrestling is built on, and it's something I've always loved about it.

 

[Motor City Jeezy]

Someone answer this for me. Does Booker T talk like an uneducated idiot because that's how TNA wants to portray him, or is it because he IS an uneducated idiot?