The legendary career of Booker T is most remembered for his work in WWE and WCW. Both promotions showcased Booker enough to have his legacy tied to both chapters of his career. Booker made his start in WCW as the first major promotion to take a chance on him. Success saw him become a top ten all-time WCW legend and arguably the company’s final main event superstar.
WWE brought Booker over following the purchase of WCW and had him on the roster for over six years straight. Booker won the World Championship there like he did in WCW to continue his track record of reaching the top of the mountain. However, there were some notable differences between Booker’s stint in each company as a performer.
8 Sharmell At His Side In WWE
The relationship between Booker T and Sharmell started when working together in WCW. Sharmell joined the company in the final years as a member of the Nitro Girls and even had a short stint as a manager before WWE purchased the company.
WWE kept Sharmell under contract for a few years as a broadcaster. However, the bigger angle came when Booker T wanted to have his wife at his side. Sharmell started managing Booker during his feud with Kurt Angle and stuck around for the final few years before he left for TNA.
7 Legendary Tag Team Run In WCW
WCW fans view Booker T for two parts of his legacy in the company. There was the singles success, but Booker spent more time in the tremendous tag team with Stevie Ray. WCW booked the real-life brothers to continue their tag team together as Harlem Heat.
The record-setting ten WCW Tag Team Championship reigns for Harlem Heat will always be at the top of the history books. Booker’s potential in a singles role ended the tag run, but he could have easily continued that tag run with the drawing power involved for the division.
6 Longer Hair In WWE
The biggest physical change for Booker T between his WCW and WWE stints featured his hair. Booker typically had a short cut for most of his WCW run before growing it out a little towards the end, but it was still a shorter look.
The WWE run would see Booker slowly growing it out without cutting it back to the shorter look for his WCW days. Booker’s hair eventually grew to longer dreads for the final few years and became synonymous with him to fans who didn’t watch WCW.
5 More Memorable Rivalries In WCW
The WCW run of Booker T featured him having stronger rivalries with wrestlers than WWE. Scott Steiner was viewed as the biggest rival to Booker T due to their singles program as the last big feud in the company. The Harlem Heat vs Steiner Brothers tag feud added to their feud before the bigger run.
Chris Benoit and Booker had one of the best rivalries in WCW history that culminated with a memorable best of seven series. WWE did see Booker have a legendary run, but few rivalries stood out. John Cena, Batista and Edge were some of Booker’s big feuds lacking compared to the intensity of his WCW time.
4 Became A Locker Room Leader In WWE
The biggest change for Booker T between the two promotions was his standing backstage. Booker was considered a younger star for WCW since the veterans were the ones holding down the top main event spots.
The WWE tenure played out with Booker eventually becoming one of the veterans of the locker room. Booker had a reputation for being a locker room leader the final few years of his run. There was even a real fight with Batista that stemmed from Batista being considered disrespectful to the rest of the locker room.
3 G.I. Bro Gimmick In WCW
One of the dumbest WCW storylines featured Booker T losing rights to the letter T in his name to Big T aka Ahmed Johnson. Booker adopted a new name and persona that was used in his independent wrestling days before WCW.
G.I. Bro was the gimmick of Booker wearing the army camouflage and green face paint. The faction known as the Misfits in Action had an army theme and fit his character. WWE never wanted this gimmick used and it was a forgotten chapter of his career.
2 King Gimmick Reinvention In WWE
The WWE run of Booker T always felt somewhat linked to WCW due to the lack of a character change until 2005. Booker won the King of the Ring tournament and completely changed his gimmick with the new name of King Booker.
WWE gave him his own faction known as King Booker’s Court with his wife Sharmell, Finlay and William Regal as the top heels on Smackdown. Booker changed his entire act with a bizarre accent that somehow added to the persona. This was the first time he won the World Championship in WCW since the Invasion ended.
1 Was "The Guy" In WCW
Every wrestler wants to be the top star of a promotion, but only a small percentage will ever accomplish that. Booker T reached the top of the mountain as the face of WCW from the second half of 2001 until the company went out of business.
WCW was spiraling out of control and Booker couldn’t save all the problems sinking them. WWE did witness Booker becoming the most successful name from the Invasion. However, he was never “the” top star in WCW. Booker’s best chance came during his feud with Triple H at WrestleMania XIX, but the brutal loss set him back in a way he never fully recovered from.
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