Booker T didn’t become a two-time WWE Hall Of Famer just by towing the line. The legend 100% believes in standing behind your convictions and the same applies for Mustafa Ali. On his most recent episode of The Hall Of Fame with co-host Brad Gilmore, Booker talked about the situation in which Ali publicly requested his release from WWE. Booker mentioned about the rumors of Ali getting into an argument with Vince McMahon and the five time WCW Champion goes by one mantra when in such a situatuaton.
“I don’t know how true that is, but I gotta saying and that saying is, ‘When you’re 99%, you shut the hell up,’ Alright? ‘But when you’re 100%, you speak up 100% of the time,’ and sometimes you might get fired, but you’re going to walk away with your head high and if you get fired there, you might break something on the way out just for the hell of it,” Booker said.
“I think Ali is talented and I think the character like I said when he pitched that I saw was a good character that could perhaps be used. Maybe somebody sat back and said, ‘Man, let’s sit back and rethink this.'” Booker does note a precedent for an “off the reservation” attitude was set with one major star in wrestling back in 2011.
“You remember how miserable CM Punk was before the pipe bomb moment? And then all of sudden ‘boom,’ rocket on him and send him straight to the moon,” Booker said. “Mustafa Ali could perhaps be in that same position. Like I said, sometimes you speak up, somebody listens, they’ll say, ‘Well maybe he’s right.’ Okay? And I think that’s what it takes sometimes! Sometimes it takes getting to that point where you really do not care anymore! When you get to that point right there, you hold all the power, you really do and I think there again, to lose a talent like Ali, he is someone that’s catering to a country.” Booker noted how much that plays into marquee UFC fights and the same applies for wrestling
“To lose a guy like that, you really gotta sit back and think about that for a second, I think,” Booker added.
Transcription credit should go to @DominicDeAngelo of WrestleZone
You can listen to the complete episode of The Hall Of Fame below:
