Why Stevie Ray Didn’t Join Booker T in WWE After WCW Folded

Booker T made the jump from WCW to WWE and became a Hall of Famer. But his Harlem Heat tag team partner and brother, Stevie Ray, never followed—and John “Bradshaw” Layfield still can’t wrap his head around it.

Speaking on Something To Wrestle With, JBL admitted the decision surprised him to this day. “I always thought we got Booker. I always figured Stevie would come,” he said. “I don’t know why he didn’t. I never heard a reason. I never heard any negative thing about him… Everybody I’ve ever known him likes him. I certainly like him. I always thought he would be there.”

JBL spoke highly of Stevie Ray’s potential as a WWE star, calling him “huge… and could talk.” He added, “Stevie could work also. I mean, he had everything.” Remembering their early days in Dallas, JBL said Harlem Heat were “the next ones to go. They were going to go big.”

So why didn’t it happen? Stevie Ray has been vocal over the years about turning down WWE’s offer, and it wasn’t about money—it was about pride. On Conversations with the Big Guy, he said, “I was always in the mindset of this is competition to me… WCW vs WWF. To be honest with you bro, I didn’t want to go out like a b***.”*

He even skipped the final WCW Nitro taping, comparing the company’s sale to a wartime surrender. “It was like when Germany got defeated. You’ve got to submit to the Allies. That’s how I felt. And I wasn’t going to be a part of that.”

On Talk Is Jericho, Stevie further explained his fears about WWE ruining Harlem Heat’s image. “Frankly… I didn’t want Harlem Heat to be turned into something that it wasn’t,” he said. “I wanted people to remember Harlem Heat… two guys from the streets that’s here to kick ass.” He added he didn’t want to become a cartoon: “I didn’t want us to be Doink the Clown.”

Other reasons included burnout from wrestling politics—“I was pretty much done with the bureaucracy”—and his desire to be home with his daughter. Even when Booker T tried to bring him in years later, Stevie Ray said, “I didn’t want to be on the road anymore.”

Although Stevie Ray never stepped foot in a WWE ring, the company gave him his due. Harlem Heat was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2019.