On a recent edition of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T discussed his stint with TNA Wrestling, his relationship with Jeff Jarrett, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On his TNA run: “You know, when I did the WCW run, I mean, that was nine long years. In WWE, I ran until the wheels pretty much fell off, and I needed to get out. It was something — it was a time for me, I needed to get out. When I came to TNA, it was an adjustment. But it was an adjustment that I felt like I was ready to partake in. I just didn’t think — there again, I talk about the structure in TNA. And the structure was totally different than working in a company like WWE.
“Was I burned out? I don’t think I was burned out. But the one thing that Jeff said about me being in TNA, I did get frustrated. I can 100% say I got frustrated after a few months. Because I really did come to TNA with high expectations to really, really help the young guys. I really had it in my heart, and I’m gonna tell you right now, you could talk to any of those young guys and they will back me up on that. But I had a pretty good time [for] my two years in TNA other than like I say, right there to the end. The tail end of it wasn’t the greatest time in my career or anything like that. But I would never bash TNA for me having a couple of bad months.”
On his TNA regret: “I’ve said that I felt like I could have worked a little bit harder. I’ve said that as well… I know in my heart, I got to a point where I didn’t care anymore. I just didn’t care. I just came to work, and I came to pick up my check up. And I was always about doing the work. But it did get to a point there at the end, I got really, really frustrated, I really got frustrated, just because I saw that company being in a position where they could have done so much. I saw so much potential in TNA when I was there. And to not see it all come to fruition, it kind of — you know, I felt a certain way about it after a while. After a while, just because I didn’t see everybody else thinking and maybe perhaps feeling the same way I did.
“I don’t know, I could be wrong on that. I could be 100% wrong on that. But I do know I came in there to help, and when I saw the direction of it as far as the structure of it I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know how long this is going to last.’ And that’s why it only lasted for two years. My contract was for two years. And after two years, my time was up.”
On Jeff Jarrett and rumors that they had a big argument backstage in TNA: “Me and Jarrett, we close men, we tight. Me and Jeff got a lot of respect for each other more than anything. Unlike a lot of guys in this business, Jeff Jarrett has always been a man of his word, a man of integrity. And I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jeff Jarrett… Jeff’s 100%. We’ve never had a personal beef. We’ve never had a personal argument where he and I were, you know, barking at each other back and forth.
“I remember one time — this could be the incident that they’re referring to. But it wasn’t Jeff and I getting into it. Jeff was micromanaging, Jeff was running the company. And I remember — I don’t know if it was Main Event Mafia, we were in the room, and we were going over some stuff. And it was getting close to showtime, show was getting ready to start and it was almost time for us to — I don’t know, maybe time to go out. Jeff came and said, ‘Guys, y’all gotta wrap this up. We gotta get it going on.’ I’m like, ‘Jeff, hold on. We trying to get this stuff right.’ If that’s the argument. [laughs] Me trying to make sure we get it right because I want my segment to look a certain way when we go on television. People can, there again, interpret something anyway they want to. And they can make it anything that they want these days, just like so much just tried to make Jeff and I into mortal enemies from back in the day. There’s no doubt none of that is true, as well as Jeff and I ever getting into any kind of beef from a business perspective or from a personal perspective. Business perspective, I’m always going to be anti-critical of the way something looks if I’m a part of the segment. That’s just me micromanaging what I do.”
