Why Booker T Was Left Frightened Before Historic WWE Match
Booker T has reflected on the one WWE match that left him scared before he got in the ring as he knew that “somebody’s gonna get f*cked up.”
The Elimination Chamber is a regular part of WWE’s calendar these days but back in 2002 at Survivor Series, it was a journey into the unknown for six intrepid warriors.
Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Kane, Rob Van Dam, and Chris Jericho entered the Chamber for the very first time with the World Heavyweight Championship the prize for surviving the devil’s playground. In the end, it was Michaels who captured the gold, crowning a stunning comeback to the ring after four years in the wilderness.
Appearing on WWE’s YouTube channel, Booker T looked back on that historic match with the man who won it, Shawn Michaels. According to Booker, he was terrified of the structure:
I remember the empty arena, I was sitting there with Hunter. I’m looking at the structure, and the first thing I say is, somebody’s gonna get f*cked up tonight really bad, that was the first thing I said. I was looking at the structure and I was frightened. I was scared. If you watch me in the match I’m so timid. I didn’t want to fall on anything.
It didn’t have any give. What I remember on the outside, all of that is steel grate. If you hit an elbow, it split open. You drop a knee on it you’re going to be busted open. You’re going to be cut up. It’s scary.
Booker T Just Wanted Out Of The Elimination Chamber
Booker T then joked that since he wasn’t winning the match, his only priority was getting out in one piece:
This is the first time it had been done, we were all flying by the seat of our pants. For me, I was trying to figure out how to get through this match without getting hurt. That’s the only thing I was thinking. I’m not winning [laughs], how can I get out this thing?
Not everyone emerged from the match unscathed. Triple H suffered a crushed throat during the match after a five-star frog splash from Rob Van Dam from the top of one of the Chamber’s pods went very wrong.