Booker T is clearing up one of the longest-running stories from his WCW career. While talking about the racial discrimination lawsuit filed by several Black wrestlers against WCW, Booker revealed they actually wanted him to join the case. He said no, and that decision ended up bringing him a lot of heat.
Speaking on the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker said he recently came across an old social media post about Hardbody Harrison and the lawsuit. That brought back another rumor he’s heard for years—that WCW only put the World Heavyweight Championship on him because executives wanted to respond to the lawsuit by making a Black wrestler the face of the company.
Booker said he can understand why some people might connect the lawsuit to one title win. What he doesn’t agree with is using that to explain everything that happened after that, especially considering how decorated his career became.
“It was a rumor that the WCW higher-ups had said they got to do something about this lawsuit and we got to put the title on a black guy. It’s going to be, it’s got to be Booker T.”
“Okay, I can agree. I can go with that theory one time, but 35? 35? Come on, man. Damn it.”
To explain why he feels that way, Booker looked back at how his career actually took off. He said he and Stevie Ray weren’t showing up every week asking for championships. They focused on becoming one of WCW’s best tag teams, and the opportunities followed. Booker even recalled being told that Hulk Hogan was one of the people pushing for Harlem Heat to become champions.
“I wasn’t going in in search of… my brother and I, we got into WCW, we wasn’t searching for the titles to get put on us.”
“They came to us and said, ‘Man, you know, Hogan was one of the important… and these are your guys right here. You know, you need to put the titles on these guys.’”
From there, Booker said everything else happened naturally. Harlem Heat established themselves as one of WCW’s top teams, and once he broke out as a singles wrestler, the company kept putting titles on him because they believed in him.
“We ran because we was… one of the best tag teams. With the Steiners, we could run with them. We could go out there and draw money with them, you know, and that’s what we did. And when I became a singles wrestler, the television title, boom, put the title on him. The US title, put the title on him. The world title, put the title on him. You know, that didn’t happen by accident. It didn’t happen by accident.”
Booker then shared what was easily the biggest revelation from the interview. He confirmed the wrestlers behind the lawsuit personally came to him and asked him to get involved. Booker said he refused because, in his eyes, the issue wasn’t race—it was talent.
“Yeah. A bunch of black guys filed a lawsuit and they tried to get me to be a part of it back then. And I know this going to give me a little heat, but… they wanted me to be a part of the lawsuit and they came to me and whatnot. And I said, ‘But I’m talent. You suckers aren’t getting booked because you’re not good.’”
Booker admitted that answer didn’t exactly make him popular. He said he caught plenty of heat for refusing to join the lawsuit, and looking back now, he even wonders if that’s where the rumor about his World Title run really started.
“And I gotten a lot of heat from it. And maybe that’s where that story came from. But 35…Yeah… so… I just wanted to put that out there.”
Booker isn’t expecting everyone to agree with him, but he wanted to put his side of the story on the record. Whether people believe the lawsuit influenced one championship decision or not, he says it’s hard to argue with everything that came afterwards—and that’s why he keeps coming back to those 35 title reigns.
What do you make of Booker’s side of the story? Do you think the lawsuit had anything to do with his World Title win, or do you agree that his career speaks for itself? Let us know in the comments below.
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.
