Booker T says his infamous WrestleMania XIX match against Triple H was not cut from his recent A&E Biography because it was never included in the first place.
Booker addressed the subject on the latest episode of his Hall Of Fame podcast, explaining that he’d seen a post about writer David Dennis Jr.’s comments that stated the content related to WrestleMania XIX had been cut from the final broadcast version. In a now-deleted tweet, Dennis Jr. said:
“So one of the main reasons I was brought in was to talk about WrestleMania 19. I went in about it for a LONG time. But my ass knew it wasn’t making the final cut so I figured i was gonna get cut out from the whole doc lmao”
Booker said that’s simply not the case because it was never supposed to be included to begin with. He went on to explain that he understands the issues people have with that particular story, but he never defined his career by any single match, especially that one.
“My thing is this — how can it be pulled from the [Biography] and you talked about it, but nobody—it wasn’t in there and it got pulled out, it never actually got in. But to write it like that, it makes it seem like there was a whole lot of meat and potatoes on the bone of the story of Booker T and Triple H [at] WrestleMania XIX. I’ve never given that story a whole lot of credence or put a whole lot of talk to that night, as far as me losing a match. It just happened to be at WrestleMania, it just happened to be for the championship against Triple H.”
“They talk about the story that went into that, and I understand that, being a young Black kid looking up to my heroes. I understand that, but I’ve never looked at my career and framed my career around any one match, let alone WrestleMania XIX. The match with Triple H, I got paid more money for one match than I got paid for any match in my life, you know? So me personally, I’m not gonna complain about that.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about taking care of my family, walking away from it and being able to do it again and keep this thing rolling. When I see something like that, when people try to make something out of—which is more of a racial issue, let’s just put it out there— it’s nothing more than a racial issue between Booker T, Triple H, and WWE, whatnot. It’s just a story, someone is just trying to get some clicks. But for me, I just want everyone to know that that was not what my story was about at the end of the day.”
Booker T’s feud with Triple H featured racial undertones, including Triple H’s remarks about “people like you” not deserving the opportunities, as well as telling Booker to dance and entertain him because that’s his job. Many people believed Triple H’s actions would lead to Booker’s triumphant win at the event, but Triple H retained his title and fans still look back on the match with great disdain for how it was handled.
This is the story of Booker T.
Don't miss an all-new @biography with @WWE Hall of Famer @BookerT5x TONIGHT at 8/7c on @AETV. pic.twitter.com/bq2vjnWFMm
— WWE (@WWE) May 9, 2021
Prior to WrestleMania 35 and Kofi Kingston’s WWE Championship match, Booker has addressed his WrestleMania XIX match on his Hall Of Fame podcast. At the time, Booker explained that it’s not something he looks back on with regret and just wanted to be a team player, but he’s definitely heard it from plenty of people that he should have won.
“It’s not something that I go to bed wishing, ‘Man, Wrestlemania XIX, that night, I wish I had it back” or anything like that,” he explained, “but it was the night that literally could’ve changed my life in so many different ways. It could’ve shut up all of the critics and the naysayers who say it never happened, it would never happen and whatnot. It was a built-in story there as well, you know. So many people, even office guys said, ‘Man Book, you should have won that night, you should’ve won.’”
“And I say, ‘Man you know I’ve always been a team player. I’ve always been one of those guys that just wanted to go out and do my job and be a part of the team and I’ve never thought about it being about the title or anything like that. I just wanted to perform and make you guys happy at the end of the day. And at the end of the day, you guys were not happy when I didn’t win at Wrestlemania 19,” Booker said, “so I felt like I let you guys down in so many different ways. So many people like you come to me and say, ‘Book, you should’ve won that night.’ You know what I mean?”
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