Booker T Defends Shorter WrestleMania 42 Matches After Backlash

Booker T is pushing back on the criticism surrounding WrestleMania 42 Saturday — and he’s not buying the outrage over shorter match times.

After Night One caught heat for several matches going under 10 minutes — including bouts involving top names like Becky Lynch, AJ Lee, and Liv Morgan — Booker T addressed the complaints directly on his Hall of Fame podcast on April 21, 2026.

Before defending WWE’s approach, Booker T made it clear that even during his own career, longer matches weren’t always better in his eyes. He explained that pacing matters more than runtime.

“Coming up, I never really thought about that. I thought sometimes, you know, matches when they went too long—I didn’t like them when I was coming up. I like being right in the middle, you know, 15 minutes, 18 minutes, something like that. That’s normally my cup of tea.”

He then shifted to the bigger picture, explaining that today’s WWE product isn’t built the same way it used to be. According to him, match length is now just one piece of a much larger production puzzle.

“But a lot of these matches were shorter matches. The times are different now, man. I mean, it’s not just about the wrestling—it is about the partners and the advertising and whatnot. You got so much more involved than it was back in the day.”

Booker T didn’t stop there. He also took a shot at how other promotions structure their shows, using that comparison to explain why WWE might be leaning into shorter, more controlled match times.

“But when you watch AEW shows, it’s like a hundred matches, and everybody gets, you know, 30 minutes to go out and do…”

Bottom line — Booker T isn’t seeing WrestleMania 42’s shorter matches as a problem. From his perspective, it’s a reflection of how the business has changed, with more moving parts behind the scenes shaping how the show is put together.

So where do you stand — should WrestleMania matches be longer, or is WWE right to keep things tighter for the overall show? Let us know your thoughts.

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