Booker T has seen plenty of weird stuff happen inside WWE locker rooms, but apparently there was a point where wrestlers had a much bigger problem than backstage drama. People’s stuff kept disappearing, and eventually the veterans decided they needed to have a little chat with everyone.
During an episode of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker was asked whether he considered himself a locker-room leader during his WWE run, especially while working on SmackDown alongside The Undertaker. Booker said he was definitely one of the guys willing to speak up when something wasn’t right, even if he wasn’t interested in bossing everybody around.
That brought back one particular memory. Booker said WWE went through a stretch where belongings were disappearing from the locker room, including things like wallets and iPads. Eventually, the wrestlers held a meeting to deal with it themselves.
“I was kind of a locker-room leader, but I didn’t try to boss nobody around or anything like that. But I would definitely say something if something was out of line. I was one of the guys who was going to speak up about the burglaries.
Guys were stealing stuff in the locker room. Like, if you leave your iPad or your wallet, it was just like a string of thefts, burglaries, whatever the word is.
And we had a meeting about it. I remember having that meeting, and it was just the boys. They appointed me. ‘Book, you going to say something?’ All right, all right, I’ll go say something.”
Booker wasn’t the only veteran who addressed the room. Big Show stepped up too, and his message was pretty straightforward — they were supposed to be a family, and stealing from each other wasn’t something they did.
“Big Show had said something as well, and the third person was CM Punk. He said something. Big Show goes, ‘Look, guys, we’re family. We don’t do that. That’s not what we do.’”
Booker T followed with basically the same approach, trying to get the message across without turning the whole thing into a confrontation.
“And then I went and did my part. I said, ‘Hey, guys, look here. We’re family, all right? That’s just the way we do stuff here. We don’t do that.’”
Then CM Punk got his turn — and diplomacy apparently wasn’t really on the agenda: “And then CM Punk: ‘If I catch you, you’re in trouble.’” Booker laughed while remembering how quickly Punk changed the tone of the meeting. While he and Big Show were trying to appeal to whoever was stealing the stuff, Punk basically went straight to letting the culprit know what would happen if he caught them.
Booker explained that he preferred handling things a little differently. The goal wasn’t just to scare whoever was responsible into stopping — he wanted to actually figure out who was doing it.
“Because we were the locker-room leaders. Like I said, I thought it was a diplomatic approach. You want to go from a diplomatic approach, and you want to try to find out who the culprit is.
You want it to stop, but more importantly, you want to find out who it is. You don’t want to intimidate him. Exactly. You calm down a little bit. It was one of those types of situations.”
Booker never revealed whether they actually caught the person responsible, but the story definitely shows three very different approaches to being a locker-room leader. Big Show went with the family speech, Booker tried to keep things calm, and Punk basically told the mystery thief they really didn’t want to get caught.
What do you make of Booker T’s story about how WWE’s veterans handled the locker-room theft problem? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
