Booker T Turned Down NWO For Specific Reason
Booker T had a chance to join the NWO in his WCW days, but he knew it wasn’t a good fit for him.
When the New World Order stable was created in WCW in the summer of 1996, Booker T was still mostly a tag team wrestler for a team called Harlem Heat with his brother Stevie Ray.
As the years went by, Booker T would ascend to the top of WCW by winning the TV Title, US Title, and eventually the WCW World Title five times.
The NWO ended up becoming a massive success for WCW, but it also had the problem of having far too many members in the group. Within a couple of years, the group that started with three people (“Hollywood” Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall) ended up with over 20 wrestlers and eventually with two groups using different colors.
Booker T’s brother Stevie Ray was eventually in the NWO, but Booker wasn’t a part of the WCW version of the group even though he was asked.
During his appearance on The Undertaker’s Six Feet Under podcast, Booker T said he was approached by fellow two-time WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall about joining the group and Booker would go on to explain why he said no.
“NWO, it totally took on a life of its own. Scott Hall, this was right after the NWO got started, it was just Hall and Nash, and maybe one more member. Scott Hall comes up to me, ‘Ay, bro. We need some color, bro. We want you to join.’ [Laughs]. I turned it down.”
“I was like, ‘Nah, I’m a solo act.’ I knew if I would have joined the NWO, I would have been taking all the bumps and I would have been on all the house shows. To hell with that deal.”
There was some laughter after Booker T said that final part.
Booker T Says WCW Match That Took Place On WWE Raw Was Not His Fault
As WWE fans know, Booker T did join a version of the NWO in 2002 when it was on the Raw brand. However, it was not the WCW version and Booker was kicked out of the group.
In March 2001, WWE bought WCW and that led to a WCW match taking place in the main event of Raw on July 2, 2001. That match was between the WCW World Champion Booker T and Buff Bagwell and it’s considered a disaster. The fans hated it while the action wasn’t good.
Speaking on his podcast recently, Booker T made it clear that the match being bad wasn’t his fault. While he didn’t outright blame Bagwell, it does appear that he is hinting at that.
“I’ve avoided talking about it on purpose because a lot of it is inaccurate. We weren’t in [WWE] to be endeared. They didn’t care about making us look good.”
“I know that night I was ready to perform at the highest level, and that night I did not perform at my highest level. That was one of the only nights that I could not go out and will that match into existence, and I can say this: it wasn’t my fault.”
When WCW died, Booker joined WWE and became a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. Other than working for TNA for a few years, Booker has been a loyal WWE guy for most of the last 23 years. Currently, Booker lends his wrestling expertise as an analyst on the WWE NXT brand.