[57][58] On the December 9 episode of SmackDown, Rhodes attacked Booker again while heading to the announcer's table leaving him with paramedics. Both he and Lash were inducted together into the 2019 class on April 6, 2019, as Harlem Heat, making Booker a two-time Hall of Famer. Booker passed away on November 21 1990, at age 77. [31], Afterward, Booker set his sights on the newly reactivated Intercontinental Championship. This came about as a result of losing a tag team match up against Christian Cage and Rhino, with them furthering themselves in the Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament. [citation needed] Over the next few weeks, Boogeyman would stalk Booker and Sharmell. After WCW was folded into WWE, Booker continued his wrestling career at WWE. [11] He defeated Shawn Stasiak at the Great American Bash in a Boot Camp match. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. After the match, Roode punched Sharmell in the face,[citation needed] leading to a match at Against All Odds. At the beginning of the show, General Manager Theodore Long said that Booker would have to forfeit. Booker and his brother Stevie Ray signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after Sid Vicious recommended they sign with the company. After Lashley defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) for the United States Championship at the end of May, Booker began chasing after the title and even resorted to making Lashley kiss his "royal feet" on the June 2 episode of SmackDown!. Professional wrestler Booker T. Huffman is the creator of a special operations action hero known as "G.I. [citation needed]. debut match, but afterwards, Christian Cage and Robert Roode beat down Booker until Kaz made the save. Booker retained after defeating Big Show and Cena with help from Kevin Federline. They won the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon in a Tag Team Elimination match defeating the teams of Christian and Chris Jericho, Lance Storm and William Regal, and the Dudley Boyz. [85] Huffman and his brother Lash opened a wrestling school in Houston in 2005. Levestia Huffman was married to Booker Huffman. Known in the wrestling business as Booker T., Huffman had to overcome the death of both his parents as a teen and then getting in trouble with the law, when he spent 19 months in jail for armed . After they successfully committed this crime, the group went on to rob other Wendy's franchises until they were arrested in 1987. However, Booker found he could win wrestling fans over with moves like his breakdance-inspired "Spinaroonie." The actual answer, though, is Booker T Huffman Jr., better known simply as Booker T. During his professional wrestling career, Booker T experienced massive success as a tag team wrestler, working . [citation needed] Booker won the battle royal and then defeated Mysterio at The Great American Bash to win the World Heavyweight Championship after Chavo Guerrero betrayed Mysterio by hitting him with a steel chair. [citation needed] When the time came, Lawler refused, declaring that Triple H was still a king and announcing that King Booker would battle Triple H at SummerSlam. After Booker won the World Heavyweight Championship, he began a rivalry with the returning former champion Batista, who vowed to regain the title he was forced to forfeit due to injury. [41] This was Booker's first world championship since joining WWE and the win caused him to proclaim himself as the "King of the World". He pleaded guilty in December 1987 to two aggravated robbery counts and was sentenced to five years in prison. Booker T lost the title to A.J. [8] Booker trained under Scott Casey, who helped to turn Booker's background as a gangster and dancer into "professional wrestling", teaching the newcomer in-ring psychology and ring generalship. In February 2019, Booker T sued video game company Activision over the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 character David "Prophet" Wilkes. He has also won five times the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and once the WWE's World Heavyweight Championship. This caused the anonymous Raw General Manager to reverse the decision and give Cole the win as a result of a disqualification. He later became a two-time inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. [78] The show is aired on Saturday nights locally in Houston, Texas, and covers subjects from wrestling, MMA, and boxing to many other sports. [11][17], Booker scored a clean pinfall victory over Bret Hart on the edition of February 22 of Nitro. Booker next went to stay with an older sister. [35] After Cena was stripped of his title by Angle for "laying a hand" on the GM,[citation needed] Booker took advantage of the situation and won an eight-man elimination match to win the vacant United States Championship, thus becoming the one-hundredth United States Champion in history, in a match that also featured Cena, Dupree, Billy Gunn, Charlie Haas, Luther Reigns, Kenzo Suzuki and Van Dam. In 2001, along with several other WWE wrestlers, Booker competed on an episode of The Weakest Link, being eliminated second from the show. Booker left WWE in 2007 but returned to the promotion in 2011 for the Royal Rumble. [29] Then the week after Booker T vandalized Austin's truck causing Austin to chase Booker T around a bingo hall and a church. On the November 21 episode of Raw, Cody Rhodes threw water in Booker T's face after Rhodes allegedly heard Booker T criticize him, thus starting a conflict between the two. Results 1/14/06 (Christian & Rhino vs. AMW, Sting is heard)", "WCW World Heavyweight Championship history", "WCW World Television Championship history", "WCW World Tag Team Championship history", "King Booker's first World Heavyweight Championship reign", "Booker T's first Intercontinental Championship reign", "King of the Ring Tournaments PPV & TV Tournaments", "Harlem Heat to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019", "WOR: 2017 WRESTLING OBSERVER NEWSLETTER AWARDS DISCUSSION AND MORE! Levestia Huffman is a very secretive individual who has kept facts about her date and place of birth hidden. The youngest of his mother's eight children, his father died when Booker was 10 months old. [11] They became heels and were on Harley Race and Col. [11] Later on, Booker T bragged about how he was the biggest star on SmackDown! Copy and paste this as text into your genealogy software or website. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! On July 27, 2012, Booker T was appointed the new General Manager of SmackDown. [citation needed] Before the match, Booker assaulted Sir William Regal, resulting in the breakup of the King's Court. King Booker declared that neither Triple H nor Jerry Lawler could be known as "The King". Booker T successfully defended the title at Turning Point against Cage. He has headlined multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF/E, WCW and TNA throughout his career. [65] On the March 30 episode of Raw, Booker, along with JBL and Michael Cole, were injured by Brock Lesnar after Seth Rollins refused Lesnar his WWE World Heavyweight Championship rematch. [45] He denied using any drugs and being a customer of Signature Pharmacy. In 2012, the promotion rebranded to Reality of Wrestling. born Booker T. Huffman Jr. on March 1, 1965, in Plain Dealing, Louisiana, in the United States of America. This promo is often interpreted as racist due to Triple H referencing Booker T's "nappy" hair and implying that Booker T was just in WWE to dance and entertain for "people like" Triple H. During the WrestleMania XIX press conference Michael Cole asked Triple H as to whether he had deliberately cut a racist promo, Triple H claimed this was not the case and that he was just referring to Booker's criminal past. Booker's son Brandon was born when Booker was 17. The series culminated at No Mercy, where Cena won the series 32, and thusly, the United States Championship. During that time they also worked for Network Of Wrestling in Japan. [40] However, whenever King Booker would get angry he would launch into a tirade in the style of Booker T (an example of this was an episode of SmackDown! Cite this record . Marriage: Spouse: Booker Huffman. [11] After losing the title, Booker feuded alongside former royal court member Finlay against Batista and John Cena, which led up to Armageddon where they lost. With his brother's approval, Booker moved into singles wrestling, where his star power became even more evident. [30], He spent the rest of 2002 teaming with Goldust. On March 14, the titles were vacated. Booker T turned heel for the first time in TNA at Sacrifice by attacking Christian Cage and Rhino from behind with a steel chair. As the ninth WCW Triple Crown Champion, Booker is one of four men to achieve both the WWE and WCW Triple Crowns. Martel, the man that was originally supposed to win the match, went down early due to a knee injury, meaning the finish and the remainder of the match had to be called in the ring. However, they divorced on May 8, 2001. Harlem Heat claimed their tenth WCW World Tag Team title defeating Hugh Morrus and Brian Knobs and Konnan and Kidman. [citation needed] The feud ended after a steel cage match on the June 30 episode of SmackDown! . [citation needed] This started a short feud between the two resulting in a match at No Way Out, which Kane won. He also held the title when WCW was acquired by WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) in 2001, making Booker the last WCW Heavyweight Champion. He has a son named Brandon from a previous relationship. At Lockdown, Team Angle (Booker T, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, and Scott Steiner) lost to Team Jarrett (A.J. Booker F Huffman was born on March 24 1913. He then re-defeated Crash and lost the title to Stevie Richards a few minutes later. However, it was later announced that Booker would be returning on a full-time basis to take Lawler's place on Raw, with Lawler moving to SmackDown. Booker T. Huffman Official Account of WWE Hall of Famer, 35X Wrestling Champion, Host of #TheHallofFame on @espn975 & Founder of @RealityofWrestling. He speaks of his son Brandon, now an adult and in jail, and how he couldn't really be a father at that early point in his life. Robert Roode came to the ring and challenged Booker to a match, claiming he has been pushed down by washed-up wrestlers and has-beens. January 1, 1987 WWE wrestler Booker T. (real name: Booker Tio Huffman) was arrested in 1987 after committing several armed robberies of Wendy's restaurants in Houston (at the time, Booker. [11] The storyline then turned to a sexual nature,[23] as Angle began stalking Booker's new wife, Sharmell. Propelled by a charismatic personality, the Spinaroonie and a trademark catchphrase purloined from the 1979 film The Warriors "Can you dig it, sucka?" he was one of the most popular figures on the pro circuit. Booker still had to work day jobs in between traveling to and from Dallas for the Global Wrestling Federation. [31] They held the belts for about three weeks, when they lost them to Regal and Storm. [37], On the February 24 episode of SmackDown!, Booker and Sharmell provided guest commentary for a match involving The Boogeyman. He was seconds away from winning the match, when Kevin Nash stopped him and performed a Jackknife Powerbomb; Samoa Joe would later go on to win the match. On the April 19 SmackDown, Booker became angry with Long for making matches without his consent. [49] Afterwards it was reported that the PPV had been Booker's final appearance with the company, and his and Sharmell's profiles were removed from the official TNA roster. [32] About a month later, because of a nagging back injury, Booker lost the Intercontinental title back to Christian at a non-televised house show on August 10. Late in the match, Queen Sharmell handed Booker his title belt while referee Nick Patrick was not looking. [citation needed] On the July 26 episode of SmackDown!, Booker T gave up his WCW United States Championship and handed it over to Chris Kanyon. Booker grew up in Houston's South Park neighborhood, where he developed a love of wrestling. [23], According to sports journalist Michael Landsberg, Huffman was salaried at "close to a million dollars a year" in WCW. WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE, Eighth Grand Slam Champion (under original format), "WWE Hall of Famer Booker T Announces Mayoral Run", "WWE CEO Vince McMahon once used N-word in awkward comedy routine with wrestler Booker T", "Caldwell's AEW report 1/29: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Spike TV broadcaston Friday afternoon", "GI Bro vs. Mike Awesome - Ambulance Match: Nitro, May 29, 2000", "Booker T.: Profile & Match Listing Internet Wrestling Database (IWD)", "Booker T: Wrestling's consummate performer", "Professional wrestler Booker T's raw life", "Booker T Reveals Incredible Damage Costs from His Iconic Store Brawl with Stone Cold", "The Boogeyman def. Booker T. Huffman Jr. (born March 1, 1965), better known by his ring name Booker T, is an American color commentator and retired professional wrestler.He is currently signed to WWE where he serves as a commentator on the NXT brand, and is also the owner and founder of the independent promotion Reality of Wrestling (ROW) in Texas City, Texas.Booker has been frequently named by peers and . [87] He was quoted saying that, "2020 is going to be a new era in the city of Houston. However, he lost the match against Matt Hardy, and Sharmell declared her disappointment in him and slapped him. "Wrestling's historical cards" (pp. While the punch was intended to be a work, Roode had in fact made contact with Sharmell during the punch, dislocating her jaw and causing her to be off TV for a few weeks, therefore making it into a shoot. Booker was able to gain custody when Brandon was 5. [52] The match was won by Cotto, who reversed a "Book End" attempt and scored a pinfall victory. [55] He coached on the returning Tough Enough competition,[56] and at Elimination Chamber he introduced Trish Stratus as a fellow coach. After being defeated with a surprise small package, Stevie Ray turned on both Booker and Midnight to form Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, Kash, and J. Biggs. [11] He then began a short feud with John Cena over the WWE Championship, Booker would wrestle Cena in a Five Pack Challenge along with Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley and Randy Orton at Vengeance: Night of Champions for the title in a losing effort. During their time with GWF, they held the tag title a total of three times. The brawl cost the company $10,000 to $15,000 in damage. Copy to clipboard. Booker and his brother went on to win the Tag Team Championship in the Global Wrestling Federation. [76] He conducted a sixteen-page interview with Pro Wrestling Illustrated in the 2012 volume #50 issue.[77]. [11] Benoit cost Booker the TV title during a match against Fit Finlay. He was then joined by Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker who also wanted a shot at JBL's title, prompting Theodore Long to make a fatal four-way match for the WWE Championship at Armageddon. Booker defeated Angle at Judgment Day. Booker T enthralled and inspired countless fans over the course of his wrestling career. They made their debut on May 4, 1992. On the July 9 episode of Raw, Jerry Lawler won by pinfall against Michael Cole in a WrestleMania XXVII rematch. [citation needed], Booker targeted Evolution after Batista and Randy Orton attacked Booker's former partner, Goldust. [11][8] Gilbert teamed Stevie Ray and Booker T together as the Ebony Experience,[8] and they won the GWF Tag Team Championship on July 31, 1992. [citation needed] He regained the title a few weeks later in a steel cage match with Nash at Fall Brawl,[21] but again lost the title, this time to Vince Russo himself in a cage match (Russo was speared out of the cage by Goldberg and won the title), Russo vacated the title and Booker won it for the third time in a San Francisco 49er Box Match against Jeff Jarrett on the October 2 episode of Nitro. [11] Booker feuded over the title with Perry Saturn and Rick Martel culminating in a gauntlet match at SuperBrawl VIII. In February 2020, Booker T returned to wrestle for the promotion in an eight-man tag team match. Slaughter angle. The popular duo went on to be 10-time WCW Tag Team Champions. [citation needed] Booker then competed in the King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Slammiversary. He would become involved in the match during the event. [citation needed] Orton, however, was able to defeat Benoit in the final match on the January 13 episode of SmackDown! where Theodore Long would inform him he would be facing The Undertaker), which lent some comedic aspect to the character; he even went as far as having Lashley kiss his "royal" feet. [citation needed] Booker was removed from television to deal with a knee injury. He and his brother Lash went to a wrestling school that was run by Ivan Putski. Orphaned at a young age, he struggled to find his way during his teen years, and served time in prison after committing a string of robberies. He is the most decorated wrestler in WCW history, having held 21 titles, including a record six WCW World Television Championships (along with being the first African American titleholder), and a record 11 WCW World Tag Team Championships: 10 as one half of Harlem Heat with his brother, Lash "Stevie Ray" Huffman in WCW (most reigns within that company), and one in the WWF with Test. In 2020, Booker made his return by wrestling at the Reality of Wrestling promotion. Get started Working at a Wendy's restaurant with a disagreeable manager inspired Booker and some friends to rob the fast food joint. 112113), Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts. [11] Once again, Booker failed to win the title, as JBL retained it. [54] On the February 1 taping of SmackDown, Huffman debuted as the show's new color commentator, working beside Josh Mathews and Michael Cole, replacing Matt Striker. Their marriage was reflected in their WWE personas: as he took to the ring as King Booker, she became Queen Sharmell. Cena successfully defended the title at The Great American Bash in a four-way elimination match against Booker, Ren Dupre, and Rob Van Dam. On March 23, 2004, he was "traded" (along with the Dudley Boyz) to the SmackDown! [71], With his fifth WCW Championship win (which occurred in the WWF), Booker T became the second African-American to win a world championship in WWF/E (after The Rock), and the first to be of non-mixed race. [citation needed] Benoit was allowed to pick his next challenger to see who would face him at No Mercy, so Booker, Christian, and Orlando Jordan tried to impress Benoit by winning matches. [citation needed]. [13] Their third title reign only lasted one day,[citation needed] but the duo regained the tag team title nine days later from The American Males (Buff Bagwell and Scotty Riggs). However, they divorced on May 8, 2001.[81]. After defeating his opponents, Boogeyman dumped a bucket of worms onto the announce table where they were sitting, frightening the two. His big break arrived when he and his brother were signed to World Championship Wrestling. By mid-1999, Booker had convinced his brother, Stevie Ray, to leave the nWo and reunite Harlem Heat. In 1996, Booker T got married to Levestia Huffman. Booker T & Sharmell (2-on-1 Match)", "Huge correction on Booker T/Batista WWE sources say fight was legit", "Batista comments on Booker T: "It had been brewing for a long time", "WWE departure left Booker T feeling unwell", "Booker T Discusses His Decision to Leave WWE In 2007, Being Impacted by Eddie Guerrero & Chris Benoit Situations, How He Ended Up in TNA", "Booker has long-term plans as "T" in TNA", "Caldwell's TNA No Surrender PPV Report 9/20: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan vs. A.J. program with his brother as G.I. [84] The couple welcomed their twins, a boy named Kendrick and a girl named Kennedy, in 2010. He grew up wanting to be a professional dancer and spent most of his. 1M followers. Booker would bounce back and win the next two matches, on the August 26 edition of SmackDown! Angle won by pinning Sharmell in a sexual position. Booker managed to persuade Long to allow him to choose a stand-in for the matches. Booker T went go on to form the Mafia's resident tag team with Scott Steiner, and at Victory Road, Steiner and Booker defeated Beer Money, Inc. to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship, marking Booker's 15th World Tag Team title reign overall. Both Booker and Benoit protested, with Benoit not wanting a cheap victory. The youngest of his mother's eight children, his father died when Booker was 10 months old.. Bro Gayle girl guards guys happened Harlem Heat Harris County head hell Houston Huffman . "Wrestling's historical cards" (p.111), Pro Wrestling Illustrated presents: 2007 Wrestling almanac & book of facts. In professional wrestling, he is a six-time World Champion . On the June 24, 1996, Nitro, Harlem Heat defeated Lex Luger and Sting to capture their fifth WCW World Tag Team titles. [16][26] In his debut match in the company, Booker defended his WCW Championship against Buff Bagwell on the July 2 episode of Raw;[11][27] sports journalist Michael Landsberg reported that many have called this bout "the worst match ever". Suggest an alternative Share your comments about this record School was neglected, and he was surrounded by drug use and partying. [36] He then briefly teamed with Eddie Guerrero, at one point challenging Mysterio and Van Dam for the WWE Tag Team Championship, and feuded with Heidenreich. He organized a Reality of Wrestling promotion featuring his school's talent. With the nWo now operating in WWE, Booker T was eventually invited into the faction.
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