Booker T On LA Knight, His Favorite Catchphrase, King Booker's Accent, NXT Commentary

On being in great shape:

“You have to stay ready, you don't have to be ready, you know what I mean, that's my motto. You know, because life moves so fast, is fluid. You can find yourself getting old quick. If you just sitting at home thinking about what happened in the past, you know, we're here at Reality of Wrestling today. Summer of Champions now, we're thinking about the future. We are thinking about Summer Champions 20 in a much, much bigger arena. Seeing our young kids go out there perform at the highest level. So man, I'm living my best life right now.”

On having more fun commentating on NXT:

“You know what, I think that's the difference. When I was on Raw, when I was a SmackDown, everything had to be politically correct. Of course, I had, you know, something in my ear. You know, sometimes you know, you couldn't be yourself. And I find myself at NXT being kind of like I am here at Reality of Wrestling. You know, I’m throwing my clipboard. I'm having fun at the same time. With NXT I can go out there and be serious. But then I can talk about you know shucky ducky quack quack, you know, so it's just all about having balance. And trying to think about one thing first and foremost. And that's the young guys, the talent and trying to put a spotlight on those guys. And, you know, hopefully give them the rub is something we talked about in the business.”

On advice for prospective wrestlers:

“99%, 100% You know, 99% you know, keep your mouth shut. If you're 100% Speak up 100% of the time, you know, because I'll listen. You know, if it's something that, you know, that resonate with me and something that gets through with me, and I go, you know that you might be right. You know, I'm not the one that thinks I'm the smartest guy in the room, or I know it all, or anything like that. So I just tried to tell my young guys to know when to speak up, you know, just like my, you know, my right hand man Kevin Bernhardt started with me when he was 18 years old, came to me about three years ago, and he go Book, I need to talk to you and I go, what do you need? He goes, You remember, you know, you say, 99% 100%? I go, Yeah, he goes, You know, I need a raise. And I looked at him, and I just started laughing. And I go, how much you need? And he goes, such and such. I go, okay, they get the hell out of here. You know, but I need guys that know their work. That no one they're working a little bit hard, maybe you just need a little bit of pinch to help them out a little bit. You know what I mean? So for me, I get it. I understand it. I was there once upon a time myself, and I was always the guy to speak up, you know, and sometimes you can get fired, you know, when you speak up?”

On opinions on his podcast:

“You know, I never, as far as giving my opinion, I never say anything, that I'm not willing to sit in somebody's face. You know, and that's just the way I've always, you know, you know, did my form of journalism. I don't say anything to tarnish anyone, I don't do anything to try to make anybody look bad. I never curse if you notice on my show or anything like that. And what I say I stand by it 100% every time. And nine times out of 10, it comes around that I was right. Every single time it comes around, and I was right. So my opinion, I think is strong as far as you know, the way that people look at it and the way that they try to make it hot takes. But at the end of the day, I stand by it 100%.”

On commentating NXT with Vic Joseph:

“Now, Vic makes it really really easy for me, man. I couldn't do the job without Vic. Be honest. I would not be as comfortable as I am without Vic. He really does all the heavy lifting, just like Brad does. Brad does all the heavy lifting, I’m just the star. Vic, he does all the heavy lifting, I’m just the star. And I say that giving him props, man, because I couldn't do it without him. I couldn't do it without Brad. No way. You know, I will be in Vegas, you know, covering Crawford Spence. If it wasn't for Brad, I couldn't do it. No way. You know, I have a saying, you know, when I was you know, getting ready for my bid for mayor here in the city of Houston. Things fell through. But I know what when I do run, I'm gonna win. That's just no doubt that I'm gonna win. The slogan for me has been for years, you know, respect your elders, you know, but for me, it's respect your young people, you know, because they're the future. They're the ones that's gonna guide us in this new technical world, you know? And if it wasn't for these young people, I can only imagine where us old heads like myself would be well, I can't even understand what Twitter and Instagram is. I'm mixing them up. You know what I mean? So Nah, man, it's true. Rely Brad came to me when he was 18 years old. Now he's married, successful, you know, more famous, almost more famous tonight. But it took a lot of work, it took, you know, tried to be a certain feel for Brad to be able to look at and be able to emulate and understand what understanding what this life and being a man is really, really truly all about.”

Which World Championship reigns mean the most to Booker T?

“Number one and number six. Yeah, number one, you know, when I first won it, it was like a magical moment. You know, I never put myself on the radar as far as winning the World Heavyweight Championship or anything like that. I never dreamt one day of being the World Heavyweight Champion, just never did. I just want to be the best wrestler. I just want to be the best wrestler in the locker room. And being the best wrestler in the locker room has enabled me throughout my career to have had a championship run my ways since the beginning, like from you know, when I was at the independent scene. So for me when I won the World Heavyweight Championship, I remember God, Chris Cruise, we were coming from pay-per-view one night and he goes book one day you're going to win the World Heavyweight Championship and I say get out of here. Gary Cappetta, that’s who it was, not Chris Cruise, Garry Cappetta said you're gonna win the Heavyweight Championship one day, and I go Nah, no, wait, let's get out of here, man. And many, many years later, I'm in a position to win the World Heavyweight Championship, controversial night of course. But winning it. I think that controversy made that night for me even bigger, you know, more memorable for everyone. And number six, with my queen, Sharmell, in WWE, it was magical man. Both of those nights was like, equally magical. Like, like to the cosmos man to the nebula. As far as how they felt for me, because winning it with my wife, against Rey Mysterio was so gracious working with the best in the world. Rey Mysterio, my favourite wrestler, what an awesome night.”

On talking to Shane McMahon on the last episode of WCW Nitro:

"Yeah. You know, I do remember having a conversation with Shane. I can't remember what it was. But I knew I was like his guy. I came into WWE boom, him and I we was boom, connected at the hip. We did so much stuff together. I had so much fun working with Shane McMahon. And it was all because he wanted to, you know, work with me. And you know, I don't know. For me having that happen, I don't know why that happened. You know, sometimes, a lot of guys came into WWE at that time, it didn't work out for them. For me, I came in I had a crappy match. The first night, you know, what Buff Bagwell due to you know, circumstances? And there's so many guys that didn't have another one. Um, and for me, I always looked at it as you know, I was prepared for WWE. I remember in WCW, at the end of that run, so many guys was getting lazy. They were, you know, making so much money, it was like it was going to happen, you know, last forever. I can see the ship, you know, Titanic going down. And I was like, let me you know, really, really prepare myself. And I always tell my students, one of my best quotes is if you can't make it in the locker room, you have no chance of making it in the ring. That's one of my most famous quotes. Because the guys will break you in the locker room before you have a chance at making it in the ring. You know, you gotta be likeable. You know? And for me, I've always been likeable. You know, but I've always been, you know, a man of my word. You know, while always looking for a fight too at the same time.”

On fighting Steve Austin in a grocery store:

“Me and Stone Cold Steve Austin at the grocery store. People come up to me and go my favourite match with you was you and Stone Cold Steve Austin at the grocery store. You know, to be able to go out and like, like, just make a fool of ourselves, make fun of ourselves, for the fans, entertain them. And then we'll get in the ring. And we'll have a real serious fight, you know. And that's the balance of professional wrestling. You got to know when to have fun, when to take yourself seriously and whatnot. I've seen guys pass on, pass up a many a many a opportunity, not knowing how to really understand this business. For me, since day one, watching Houston wrestling here as a kid, I knew what it was. I wasn't the kid going to school going I want to fight you over wrestling God I believe, and I was like, man, these guys are great entertainers man. And I knew the really good ones from the guys who were mediocre to the guys who were just learning, you know, so I was like, Man, I think I could do this. You know, I loved it.”

On working with Goldust:

"Some of my best work with Goldust. because we were friends and, you know, just this business. You know, we say you got a bump card. You know, when you punch it up, it's over. With, it's time to check out. Goldie and I. we will come to work. And we wouldn't have nothing to do but a skit and we would be in the locker room. You know, this just went on for weeks. We didn't have to wrestle at all. And we will be like, Man, we're stealing money, getting paid to do this. Are you kidding me? We don't have to work this week. So you got to know when to put it in, like cruise control. When you know just you know you know kick back and you know relax and know this business works in circles. It's not always going to be your time. You know, so for me, I've always said well it’s time, I was GI Bro. You know, Dallas Page came into the locker room one day, saw me putting on my paint. He goes man, what are you doing? What are you doing, bro? I looked at him and I said I'm just having some fun, man. I was on my boat every weekend. I visited the Gulf, you know, come to work, go play GI Bro, go back. I wasn’t doing the house shows. You got to know when to have fun. Take your time, long haul, it’s a marathon.”

Booker T’s Mount Rushmore:

“I don't know man. You know what? I don't know. I really don't look at wrestling like that. Of course you got Ric Flair. You know, he's gonna be there. You know, of course you got Hogan because when I look at Ric Flair, I look at him for a certain reason. And the reason is the work Ric Flair put in there, he's like a god. I'm talking about the young Ric Flair that went there. When he ran hard on both ends in the ring, he performed at the highest level. Then you got a guy like Hogan who came along and changed the name of the game as far as how much money guys were making in Hollywood, you know, thing, you know? Then the other two, probably, you know, Steamboat, of course, for being perhaps the best babyface that ever lived, you know, a guy that can go out there and perform at such a high level. And then you got a guy like Piper who could do anything, but was such a major star, you know. But the Rushmore thing is like, you know, up for debate, everybody's gonna have their own, you know, Rushmore, should I be on there? You know, the greatest, you know, 35 time champion? Perhaps.”

On the King Booker accent:

"The accent, the accent just had to be stupid. It didn't have to be real. But it had to be serious. It had to be you know, I had to believe it. And then at that, you know, then I will break character and go street. But I will kick back into my character. Because just like I taught to my students. Like we're working with the NXT guys, you're acting has to be, you know, on another level when you're trying to make fans feel a certain way. Because everyone knows when they walk in the door, what they're gonna get here. But when they walk out, and they go, God, man, I can't wait to get back and watch it again, that's because they felt a certain way, and that's what King Booker brought to the table and so much went into that whole thing. I couldn't even do it for that long. I had a heel run and I left WWE after that, because I was so tired at the end of it because it was taxing, but it was great at the same time, the best work I ever did.”

What is Booker T grateful for:

“My wife, my kids, my health.”