Booker T has heard Conrad Thompson call Roman Reigns the most overrated main-event star in WWE history, and he isn’t buying a word of it. As far as Booker is concerned, Conrad isn’t just wrong—Roman is currently “the best damn wrestler in the world.”
Speaking on the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker said he could understand the criticism coming from someone who hadn’t spent much time around professional wrestling. Coming from Thompson, who has spent years around veterans of the business, he couldn’t understand it at all.
“Yeah. And I could take that coming from someone who hadn’t been in the wrestling business for quite some time, someone who hadn’t been around, you know, people who really know this business. I could see someone like that saying something like that about Roman Reigns. But Conrad Thompson, man, he’s so far off on this take, it’s not even funny, man. And I mean, it’s like, you know, a mountain compared to a molehill. That’s how big of a stretch this comment is as far as Roman Reigns.”
Booker then went about as far in the opposite direction as possible. Booker pointed to his own experience spotting talent and argued that Roman’s body of work speaks for itself. For him, this isn’t about hype or WWE deciding who should be the guy. It’s about what happens once the bell rings.
“Roman Reigns, I’ve said it—I’ve said it once, I said it a thousand times—right now, at this stage of the game, Roman Reigns is the best damn wrestler in the world. All right? And I know—I spot talent. I see it all day long. I know if a guy can make it in this business. Within three minutes, if he get in my ring, I know if he’s going to have a chance at making it. And when I watch a guy like Roman, who’s had nothing but flawless matches with every guy that has stepped in the ring with him on the biggest stages there have been…”
Booker thinks you can go back years and find the same pattern. Put somebody in there with Roman and, in his view, there’s a good chance they’re about to have their best match of the year.
“I go back to, you know, say five, six years of Roman’s matches. Go pull them up. That’s all you got to do. The proof is in the pudding. All you got to do is—the video don’t lie. The video don’t lie. And the video tells you every guy that has been in the ring with Roman Reigns, they’ve had their best match. Every one of them. Every guy that get in the ring with Roman, that’s the best match they’re going to have that year. All right? And that’s just fact.”
And if Conrad still thinks Roman has been given too much credit, Booker wants a name. Who exactly should WWE have put in his spot?
“I would love to know who would he put in Roman Reigns’ spot. That’s what—that’s what I would want. Who do you put in Roman Reigns’ spot that’s going to go out there and carry that? Because Roman, there again, he doesn’t just make himself look good. That’s—that’s a given.”
Booker believes part of the disagreement comes from judging Roman against stars from completely different eras. He thinks Conrad is looking at WWE through an old-school lens built around Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and Steve Austin.
“You know what? I think that’s—that is, and I’m going to just put it out there, I think that’s just Conrad speaking from an old-thinking disposition, like from old-school wrestling fan. He’s thinking about the Hogans. He’s thinking about, you know, the Savage, you know, he’s thinking about perhaps the Stone Cold Steve Austin, you know, the world. But we’re in a totally—in a digital world now. We’re in a totally different era, you know, than we were back in those days.
But it doesn’t—it doesn’t mean that being in that main-event spot is less than, you know, any—you know what I mean? Because I feel like Roman Reigns today, in today’s professional wrestling, Roman Reigns is the guy to carry that mantle without any shadow of a doubt.”
Booker eventually came back to the challenge Conrad’s argument creates. If Roman really is that overrated, take him out and tell Booker who goes in.
“Who else would you put in that spot? I mean, I’ll be willing to debate with you. Who do you put in Roman’s spot? Who do you put in Roman’s spot? It’s hard to think. It’s hard to name one guy you put in Roman’s spot. Take nothing away from the talent that’s on the roster right now. Take nothing away from any of those guys.”
WWE would survive without Roman because, as Booker acknowledged, wrestling always moves on. He just doesn’t see any reason to force that move while Roman is still sitting at the top.
“And not saying that you can’t put one of those guys in Roman’s spot and the business going to move on. The business always moves on, all right? It’s not going to stop for anybody. That’s just part of the business. But who at this point you say, ‘Let me just, you know, put them in Roman’s spot and, you know, drop Roman down,’ and that would be bad for business in any way, shape or form, in my opinion. I could be wrong. I could be wrong.”
Conrad sees an overrated star who WWE spent years forcing into position. Booker sees the best wrestler in the world and can’t find a single name he’d rather have carrying the company right now.
Who has the stronger argument here—Booker T or Conrad Thompson? Let us know in the comments.
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