Booker T was around a real damn long time before he finally retired, and the WWE Hall of Famer was an integral part of both WCW and WWE at the respective heights of their popularity (more or less). He’s part of one of the most-decorated tag teams of all time as members of Harlem Heat, and he’s held versions of world championships pretty much everywhere he’s gone. Even in TNA, sort of!
My point is that Booker has mixed it up with basically everyone notable in his generation of professional wrestling, but like every pro wrestler, he has his favorites about people that he’s wrestled and had feuds with. Shockingly, he’s not talking about High Voltage OR Public Enemy.
During a recent appearance on Ring Rust Radio, Booker was talking about his most favorite part rivalries and suddenly realized that they all had one thing in common: they were all Canadian. He also talked about something he’s mentioned before, on his own podcast. The one man he wishes he’d gotten to do an extended program with is none other than the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels.
“Booker T vs. Shawn Michaels in our prime, not now of course [would be my dream opponent]. He’s still looking real good, but even in our prime, I think Shawn Michaels and I could’ve went out and created some magic between us. He’s the one guy I never really got a chance to get in the ring and perform with. There’s been so many rivals, most of them Canadian guys like Rick Martel, Christian and Chris Benoit. Those guys were all ultimate professionals, every one of them. They went out and worked under the same roof for so many years with the same tenacity and they went out and performed just tirelessly. I was one of those guys. I felt like I went through that same school, but the Canadian guys were pretty much my all-time rivals in the business.”
Yeah, uh … damn. We really wish that HBK been an extended program, too. Pretty much every fan laments the fate Booker suffered at the hands of Triple H at WrestleMania XIX, and it’s not like most people would have given up Michaels vs. Chris Jericho to get Michaels vs. T, but there were plenty of opportunities around that same time for the two to mix it up.
Still, Booker T and Canadians … we never thought about it before, but he really did have a lot of feuds against people from north of the border. And he didn’t even mention Edge! If you ever need a lights-out program, just pair up a guy from Houston and a guy from the Great White North. It’s been historically proven to be bulletproof.
