So Booker T's been on Raw lately and they have been tacitly using him as a reminder of HHH's LAST reign of terror (and what happened at Wrestlemania 19) and I have to ask, are they going to FINALLY address the bullshit racist angle from HHH/Booker T as part of the current storyline? As so far as Booker T is going to either help Bryan win the title at NoC or stage some sort of coup against Steph/HHH in the event Bryan does win and they decide, just because they can, to overturn the ruling as far as preventing them from forcing the belt back onto Orton even though Orton lost clean?
His presence is a reminder of this and the fact that Booker T never got revenge against HHH for that entire shameful storyline. It can't be coincidence that they have had him fluttering around like a plot device hanging on the wall like Chekov's Gun. And really, if they do intend for there to be SOME sort of deux ex machina to stop HHH, having Booker be it and him flat out namechecking WM 19 as his motive to end Mr Toad's Wild Ride seems fitting with the whole continuity porn aspect of this entire storyline. IE when Booker strips Steph and HHH of their power, WM 19 will be mentioned casually when Booker is explaining to HHH why he is the one who had the motive for stepping up and stopping Mr Toad's Wild Ride dead in it's tracks like he would be doing.
So the question is whether HHH is going to admit to being a racist while in a position as one of the owners of a multi-billion dollar company to pay off a wrestling angle? I'm gonna say no.
Booker is gonna get "fired."
ReplyDeleteDon't hate The Playa. Hate The Game.
ReplyDeleteThat arm wrench/fireman's carry/leg drop combo is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to defend HHH's comments in that feud. They were deplorable and unnecessary, and they were just lazy - HHH is a good enough heel to not have to sink to that level to get heat.
ReplyDeleteThat being said - let it go. That feud was a decade ago, and other than that one stupid comment was pretty forgettable.
There may be some good ways to get Booker involved in the current story, but no need to bring that up again. Some feuds and angles are better off just forgotten.
I have a theory on who submitted this email.
ReplyDeleteI have no memory of Hall being in JCP at the time. But I had no knowledge of anyone from the AWA, and judging by this match Hall was basically just a jobber (or at best a JTTS). Diamond Studd wasn't a great character, but at least it was somewhat memorable.
ReplyDeleteAnd fuck, Muta was awesome at that time.
Yes it was. I miss wrestling combos like that, no one does them anymore.
ReplyDeleteFunny that this topic was brought up, because last night I said to myself, 'What is the point of Booker T being there in the first place?'. If he's not a GM, and he's not an announcer, and he's not a wrestler, then what the hell is his exact role? Ring crew? It's not even remotely close to being defined.
ReplyDeleteI think Booker should challenge Hunter's authority by bringing back King Booker.
ReplyDeleteAs long as I get to see a Big Show Spinarooni, all is well.
ReplyDelete\thread
ReplyDeleteWe need to set up a wiki of all of HHH's burials. It's hard to keep them straight, and it'd be a handy reference when people claim he's done nothing wrong.
ReplyDeleteIf somebody did that combo into a cross armbreaker, I'd mark like a fucking maniac.
ReplyDeleteSo for me, the era between Mania 18-21 is probably the least checked in I was to pro wrestling. I mean, I still tuned in occasionaly, and watched the Manias and a few PPVs, but but not hardcore watching every week like I do now and did previous to that.
ReplyDeleteSo I ask, just how over was Booker T at that time? Like, I'm always reading how the Booker T feud was the burial of all burials and it derailed the NEXT GREAT MEGASTAR and all that. (And yeah, the racism element of it was retarded— no fucking reason to introduce that concept ESPECIALLY when the "racist" guy is gonna end up winning.) But was Booker really breaking out huge that year? From what I remember, it always seemed at the time like Booker was a total last minute placeholder feud for HHH before Goldberg got in. Didn't Booker just win some random battle royal a few weeks before Mania to get the title shot?
At the time it seemed like Steiner vs HHH was the big feud they were building for Mania, but then obviously those initial matches sucked and Steiner got scrapped, and Booker was the last minute "change of plans" who never seemed like he actually had a chance.
What I'm saying is, and I could be wrong, is that the Booker loss never struck me as a big deal. (Again, other than the awful race allusions.) Booker, to me, was kind of middle of the road in every way, not super over at the time, and the whole match just always felt thrown together and midcard anyway. Not a "crowning of the next star" type of moments.
I agree. Booker was over to some degree, but I never thought he was being pushed as a serious title contender. I think having HHH go over him was fine - they just should never have added a racist element to the angle, and the actual finish of the match (where HHH waited about 30 minutes before pinning him) was bad.
ReplyDeletePeople want to have it both ways - they want champs to be booked strong, but they also seem to think that HHH should have lost to Booker, RVD, Goldberg, Steiner, and everybody else who got in the ring with him.
HHH's title run wasn't really my favorite point in wrestling -but if you're going to decide to go with a heel champ for an extended run, he can't lose to every babyface he wrestles.
Only if we can also set up a wiki listing all of HHH's good matches and angles so we can have a handy reference when people claim HHH is the anti-christ who never had a good match and never drew a dime.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is somewhere in the middle, but when has that mattered?
He was hot at the time... the Booker T/Goldust tag team had run it's course and Goldust insisted that Booker T go after the World Championship. I remember Evolution laying out Goldust with Booker T getting retaliation, then eliminating The Rock in a battle royal to become the #1 contender, just looking red hot at the time, whooping Triple H's ass in a backstage segment and even Triple h doubting himself. I remember Flair telling him something like, "You're the champ, you're the best." and HHH just replying with a sullen composure, "Yeah... nobody told Booker T that..." or something along those lines. Make no mistake about it, Booker was HOT going into that feud, but that shitty match killed it.
ReplyDeleteBooker sucks. Who cares that Hunter buried him 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteAt the time it seemed like a nutty thing to do, but in hindsight without remembering all the details I'm ok with it.
ReplyDeleteBut those aren't mutually exclusive. Hogan was also a top draw who kept other people down.
ReplyDeleteFair enough....
ReplyDeleteI think what most people who cite that string of names mean to say is that HHH should have lost in one or two of those feuds, not every single one.
ReplyDeleteFair point. Although of that list I'm not sure who other than Goldberg. Maybe RVD. God knows he shouldn't have lost to Steiner.
ReplyDeleteUmmmm.....I call this email "overthinking". Booker T is on the payroll, and they just gave him some face time. That's all it was.
ReplyDeleteI think it was simply bad timing for Book. I would say he was gonna go over HHH there for the big babyface title win but right around Mania they threw out the big bucks for Goldberg and they said to themselves "well, we're gonna have to put the title on him soon enough. Better keep it on HHH."
ReplyDeleteYep. They waned a 'veteran' to give Big Show advice - and he's as good a choice as any.
ReplyDeleteOnly if this time Sharmel is:
ReplyDelete1. Gagged and
2. Naked
Oh come on, like I'm the only one.
Exactly. Long heel runs are always a good idea in theory— until you're in the middle of it and it's a year of the guy who everyone hates just winning every big match.
ReplyDeleteI love how the hardcore Triple H haters also throw Kane in to your above list. So people really wanted fucking KANE as the champion centerpiece of teh show? Come on, no you didn't.
To me, RVD is the ONLY real missed opportunity on that list. They totally could have built to a RVD vs HHH title win at Mania 19 and ran with RVD as a super over face champion. The rest of that list— Booker, Kane, Steiner, Kevin nash— those are all guys who should have served as canon fodder for a heel champ. As for Goldberg, that's such a weird case. Were they really in a position to do more with him than they did? I mean, he hated pro wrestling, was on a one year contract, and left at Mania 20. Did he leave BECAUSE they didn't push him hard enough, or did they not push him all the way because he wasn't in it for the long term anyway?
What I'm saying is this: the Triple H Reign of Doom is definitely the era of wrestling in which I was least interested, so I can't say it worked. Hell, it specifically turned me off. But it did at least pay off with Triple H putting over Benoit (fail), and more importantly putting over Batista and Cena. He absolutely made some guys in the end. It doesn't make up for 3 years of shitty TV, but it's something.
HIjack time: thoughts on... http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/481021/comics-apparently-lost-goddamn-mind ??????????
ReplyDeleteI lived through it, no one would've blinked had Booker lost (especially since they just signed Goldberg). It was the racist stuff, and IMO it wouldn't still be getting brought back up more than a decade later if it was anyone other than HHH saying it. I'm not saying that makes it right, I'm saying that there's been so much awful racist shit in modern pro wrestling but it seems like *that's* the only incident that seems to spark real anger among smarks.
ReplyDeletebecause hhh *is* the game!!!
ReplyDeletei get jokes
" Long heel runs are always a good idea in theory— until you're in the
ReplyDeletemiddle of it and it's a year of the guy who everyone hates just winning
every big match."
Long Heel runs worked great for the NWA when they could have the champ travel from territory to territory, screw over the top babyface in a way that keeps him strong and move on to the next territory, but in the modern TV era it doesn't work as well.
But I agree with you I had forgotten about Nash (wasn't he only there short-term before shooting a movie?) and Kane. I think with Goldberg, even knowing that he was there short term, he was over enough that you could make an argument that he should have at least gotten a short reign...but I can see why they didn't.
HHH's comments stand out not only because of who he is, but because it seems that by that time they had moved beyond that. There hadn't been as obviously a racist angle in quite a long time. At least not until Umaga showed up.
ReplyDelete"Nobody in mainstream American wrestling does them anymore"
ReplyDeleteFTFY
The only reason HHH going over Booker was a big deal was because
ReplyDelete1) He jobbed to 1 pedigree even in the era of "multiple finishers can't keep you down because it's WRESTLEMANIA". 1 pedigree after like 30 seconds of laying around also.
2) The build was about race.
Other than that, nobody would have really cared if HHH went over clean. Booker was not on HHH's level as a star, he wasn't super over, he wasn't the avatar of WCW or anything. If they had developed the story better and not gone for cheap race heat to build it up and just said "people like you aren't meant to be our champion" and used it to mean WCW wrestlers instead of black people then the build goes exactly the same, Vince gets his same boner over the result and nobody blinks an eye.
On the scale of HHH burials between Goldberg at the top of "why the hell are you doing that???" mountain and RVD at "yeah that's actually perfectly justified", Booker's burial is square in the middle. If there was no race involved he would have been in RVD land.
One thing I found strange about the racist card they played with HHH that one time is that his character has never been racist before or since. It's just such a weird character attribute to selectively use once for a guy like HHH.
ReplyDeleteThat would've been mid-1989, right? I think Muta debuted in April, and was undefeated until Starrcade '89, picking up the TV title from Sting along the way.
ReplyDeleteIf GI Bro doesn't beat Randy Orton next week on RAW then Cody will not get his job back.
ReplyDeleteIMO it's 99% cause it's HHH. I just never hear smarks articulating their "disgust" at any of the other racist crap wrestling has given us before or since that. Like, we could have a thread discussing Umaga (cause it's the anniversary of his death or something) and I don't think anyone (let alone multiple people) talks about how upset they were when he debuted, and how they can never forgive WWE.
ReplyDelete...
ReplyDeleteThere
Nah, Booker will get fired, and Stevie Ray will comeback for one night.
ReplyDelete" I think with Goldberg, even knowing that he was there short term, he was over enough that you could make an argument that he should have at least gotten a short reign...but I can see why they didn't."
ReplyDeleteGoldberg did get a run with the belt.
Getting freshly turned heel HHH more heel heat is... bad?
ReplyDeleteIt is...not. Not in this case, when its Big Show being thrust into the main event picture taking heat of Bryan...it is.
ReplyDeleteNot only that but he blew the whistle on the Hart Foundation when they trashed the Nations dressing room.
ReplyDeleteYou and Kurt Angle.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Big Show sure is taking a lot of heat off Bryan. It was stupid how Raw ended with all those people chanting/cheering for Show.
ReplyDeleteHe had some momentum going coming off the Goldust team, and he was pretty over. I think he was over enough that if they used that match specifically to make him it could have worked - but it's not like we missed out on the next Steve Austin because they didn't.
ReplyDeleteOh you're right. My bad. I wasn't paying much attention at that time, although I find myself defending HHH more than I normally would, I didn't find that stretch very enjoyable either.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Let's get real, the harping on the "people like him don't win championships" line 10 years later is because it's HHH. Wrestling fans are way more offended that HHH never put over Y2J than they are by the racism of the Mania 19 angle.
ReplyDeleteMan you dont get it. That moment should have been Bryans.
ReplyDeleteIt was.
ReplyDeleteHopefully he hits him with his devastating legdrop from the first rope.
ReplyDeleteJudging by how not offended most wrestling fans seemed to be by the Kurt Angle "beastiality" comments (which IMO was worse than what HHH said), I'm guessing the delay between pedigree and pin was actually more offensive to them.
ReplyDeleteTo a point, yea.
ReplyDeleteI was being sarcastic. Raw ended with Daniel Bryan knocking out Orton and holding up the belt while the crowd went apeshit for him.
ReplyDeleteHHH followed the Flair playbook: build up a contender to look like he has a chance and make the fans want to see the champ get his ass kicked in the process. They did a great job of building him up, but the problem was Booker NEEDED to win to justify it and he didn't.
ReplyDeleteEither have the racist angle and have Booker win or scrap the racist part of it and have HHH win. Doing both is what got people riled up.
ReplyDeleteI know. I dont like Shows involvment in any of it
ReplyDeleteMuch like a show booked by Russo, this comment has lost all semblance of what it's supposed to be about
ReplyDeleteAlright, I'm going to do some devilish advocation here. This was the promo which created the Triple H/Booker T "racism" angle:
ReplyDelete"“Booker I think you’re a little bit confused about your role in life
here. You see Booker, you’re going to get to go to Wrestlemania but… you
see the fact is Booker, somebody like you doesn’t get to be a World
Champion. You see people like you don’t deserve it. That’s reserved for
people like me. See Book that’s where the confusion is, see you’re not
here to be a competitor, you’re here to be an entertainer, that’s what
you do. Go ahead Book, why don’t you entertain… do a little dance for me
Book. Give me one of those Spin-A-Roony’s, entertain me, that’s your
job. Don’t be embarrassed… come on Book, that’s what you do, you’re here
to make people like me laugh. You know it, that’s your role. Your job
is to make people like me laugh and you’re very good at it, with your
nappy hair and your suckas."
Of course, everyone takes "Somebody like you" to mean A Black Man, because, of course, Triple H is white and Booker T is black. But would this promo have sounded out of place being given against Daniel Bryan today or Mick Foley fifteen years ago (no one would have batted an eye if he'd cut this exact same promo on Scotty II Hotty--were he to receive a miracle push)? I think this was just intended to be an arrogant heel promo that got out of hand due to underlying racial tensions. If read this through a non-racial lens, the objective seems to be to make Booker T appear an underdog and to make Triple H look like an arrogant twat. Taking Booker T's race into account however, we presume that Triple H isn't assessing T's performance in any way and is simply discounting him as a black man. I honestly don't think that's what they were going for.
Booker T. was essentially brought into the WWF as a comedy character (after the initial WCW purchase became "The Invasion"). He was treated as a parody of the Rock who was promptly squashed and tossed into a useless incarnation of the NWO and wacky mismatched tag-team with Goldust simultaneously. When the NWO bounced him and he developed a real friendship with Goldust, he displayed new dimensions and the fans embraced him. However, the Spin-A-Roony was still the most over move in his set and "Can you dig it, Suckaaaaaaa" was still a catchphrase straight out of the 70's (or from the back of a frog hocked cereal box). His WWF incarnation was always a little goofy. "People like you" could be read as Triple H calling him on this just as easily as a racial slander.
The "nappy hair" thing though, I have a hard time defending that.
Nevertheless, if they'd wanted to put Booker T over the top and move him into the role of a serious main-eventer, this promo should have set him up to win. I understand that sometimes challengers have to lose after a serious build, but this was really a chance to give Booker a moment. Perhaps they would have done so if Goldberg hadn't been signed immediately beforehand, but the WWF title was already passed along so much by that point that even a short one month reign (before dropping it back to HHH) would have done more good than harm for Booker and the WWF.
I don't mean this in a combative way, but
ReplyDelete"I don't like it"
!=
"fact"
=)
Ive gone back and forth with jabber about shows involvement for awhile. I was addressing him and he was aware of why I dont like it
ReplyDeleteRight. Del Rio should work on things like that. Or a simple hammer lock, into a body slam with the arm folded behind the back. Simple, but looks painful and it builds up to his arm breaker.
ReplyDeleteLook man, no one appreciates a good 'ol fashioned game of Devil's Advocate as much as me, but that promo was intended to be, and was correctly interpreted as, racist.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I will believe til my dying days that most people who complain about it (especially the ones doing so more than a decade later) don't really give a shit and just want to hate on HHH. But that doesn't make it not racist.
Because this is a guy blatantly saying blacks can't be champions and then beating the black guy while he is holding real backstage influence. That's just as bad, if not even worse than, a racial stereotype/offensive racial characture gimmick.
ReplyDeleteIf it's potentially "just as bad", then how come we never hear people complaining about it, while people *still* bring up the HHH/Booker thing?
ReplyDeleteAnswer: because it's HHH.
Hall cornered Muta in the locker room after the match and asked if he could get him some more of that green mist.
ReplyDeleteYou people need to get over WM 19. It wasn't even that big of a deal when it happened.
ReplyDeleteI was about to say...
ReplyDeleteIt actually seems logical and coherent when held up against a Russo show.
What do you mean, "you people"?
ReplyDeleteWhat do *you* mean by "you people"?
ReplyDelete"huh?!?"
ReplyDeleteI'll quote from Scott's review:
ReplyDelete" Both guys are out, and HHH, manly man, recovers first and Pedigrees him for the pin at 18:47. Remember: You can block the move, but once it hits, it doesn’t matter if you lay on the mat for a minute before HHH gets around to pinning you, it’s OVER. That was just insanely long and slow, especially for that weak-ass finish. And people thought I was just being cynical when I said that HHH putting Booker over on RAW was a bad sign. I guess ‘Booker’s type of people just aren’t meant for the main event after all. **1/2"
And:
" HHH-Booker was irritating for more reasons than I have time to list here."
So, uh, yeah, it was a big deal at the time. And people were pretty annoyed with it.
You're forgetting the follow-up to that promo, where HHH was at a sink backstage, flicked out a $1 bill and told Booker to hand him a towel, like he was a bathroom attendant/butler. Clearly, the angle had cheap racial implications.
ReplyDeleteBooker had momentum but he wasn't ready for the title. The reason many have problem with the angle is that the "racist guy" went over with no repercussions. Had the match been built any other way there wouldn't have been as much backlash.
ReplyDeleteEven the Rock thought it was bullshit, which is why his scheduled match with Booker on that one Raw was canceled.
ReplyDeleteWithout really going into it about context, Palmiotti (the writer of the comic) reacts: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/09/10/jimmy-palmiotti-responds-to-harley-quinn-furore/
ReplyDeletePlus other pros talk about it quick (and Mark Waid gets knocked down a peg): http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/09/10/the-harley-quinn-tryout-page-debate-that-refuses-to-er-dc-comics-gail-simone-mark-waid-kurt-busiek/
Booker won a random battle royal, yes. But he he won a random battle royal by eliminating THE ROCK.
ReplyDeleteWhile the Booker T stuff IS debatable, hence this topic, NO ONE can argue that Triple H winning in the Elimination Chamber after hitting Goldberg in the butt with a sledgehammer (his only offensive move the entire match) was a good idea.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that one was pretty bad. Wasn't HHH 'legit' injured? If he was too injured to wrestle the match, he was too injured to be champ.
ReplyDeleteOr drop kicking the arm into the ring post; or the flying knee to the shoulder: there's a lot of arm work he could do, but ignores, for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteYou would be correct in that theory.
ReplyDeleteI think he had a torn groin.
ReplyDeleteHe has tells.
ReplyDeleteThere's a little bit of over-reaction combined with just some stupid decision making going on with DC this last week (two years, maybe?). I've had to stop reading about what's going on with the company and just read the comics I enjoy, because otherwise, it's a giant frustrating mess.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a double groin pull. There's not much you can fix, other than stretch and continue your routines.
ReplyDeleteYou know you do have to find more than one source in order to consider a big deal right?
ReplyDelete6'6, 265 lb handsome guy that looks like Magnum TA's big brother and who can work. Nope! Can't find anything to do with this guy. - JCP
ReplyDeletePeople care about this?
ReplyDeleteBooker T started all of this! He called Hogan the N word!
ReplyDeleteI never got why they thought being a Teacher's Assistant would be a good wrestling gimmick for Magnum in the first place.
ReplyDeleteYou know you have to give more than one example for it be a "big deal" right?
ReplyDeleteYeah, he had a torn groin, hence the goofy bicycle shorts he wore during the match.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for somebody to bring up "so Triple H should have dropped the title to Goldberg because he was injured, but Punk shouldn't have been stripped of the title when he was?"
The difference being, the reason the match was turned into an Elimination Chamber match in the first place was BECAUSE Triple H was injured. Dropping the title to Goldberg after Goldberg DESTROYS everyone in the Chamber would have been huge.
Punk's match with the Rock was set in stone in July. There was no money in a Ryback/Rock match, and there was no way in hell they were doing Cena/Rock II at the Royal Rumble.
Agree. I think it would have been fine if HHH got the belt back in an Elimination Chamber match LATER (like Survivor Series?), but doing it then made no sense. Goldberg should have killed HHH in a one-on-one match for the belt, then HHH and Evolution could conspire to chase the title. Hunter finally gets it back by outsmarting and outlasting everyone in the Chamber (letting 4 other guys help wear Goldberg down?).
ReplyDeleteAgreed. That match had basically mid-card level build, given that Angle-Lesnar, Austin-Rock III, and Hogan-McMahon were all advertised more. It sucks for Booker and was the wrong way to play out an angle like that, but it hardly had any sort of huge implications like some people make it sound
ReplyDeleteIt was a big deal because Scott said it was irritating?
ReplyDeletelmao...I forgot about "GI Bro". So, so bad. That whole Misfits in Action thing was ridonculous
ReplyDeleteI still contend that they could have gone with Goldberg arriving to go after Brock Lesnar instead. Have him on SmackDown and run up to Goldberg vs. Lesnar at SummerSlam '03. They could have run with Booker as champ for a few months while HHH vs. Nash played out w/o the title. Booker could have faced guys like Jericho, Michaels, HHH for a decent reign
ReplyDeleteExactly. That show had Angle-Lesnar, Rock-Austin, and Hogan-McMahon all WAY more heavily promoted. It was the wrong story arc for that angle, but Booker's loss was hardly the monster deal a lot of people make it out to be
ReplyDeletePrecisely.
ReplyDeleteExactly. He should have gotten the satisfying win at Wrestlemania. He could always drop the belt back soon after for the HHH-Goldberg build. HHH vs. Nash didn't need the WHT.
ReplyDeleteThe creative idea behind the racist stuff sucked and was a stupid idea but let's not pretend Booker was some rising star who was robbed of his moment. They needed something to replace Steiner who crashed and burned and picked Booker. Who was coming off a comedy mid card tag act with Goldust.
ReplyDeleteHe wanted to put Goldberg over properly, as the story goes. As if murdering Jericho, Orton and HBK didn't put him over properly. So basically he could murder those guys, but not Trips. T'was stupid.
ReplyDeleteExactly. No matter how you look at it, it was a thrown-together stopgap feud that was probably designed to be Steiner-HHH originally. Either way, HHH is leaving WM with the title I'm sure.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I thought it would have made sense for Benoit to be the guy, from his '02 return on. Do the slow burn toward him resuming the underdog feud with HHH (from '01 when both guys go injured). Benoit loses a hard-fought classic at the Rumble against Angle, only to earn his way to a shot at the Other Title. You can either have Benoit beat Hunter for the belt at WM19 or have Flair help screw him over and build the story further. That's all hindsight, of course, and would have required a plan from 2002 on.
Also, Goldberg was coming in. Nobody was getting that belt until he did.
ReplyDeleteOh, it was a big deal. People were furious at the time and rightfully so.
ReplyDeleteThey booked a feud where the racist won.
Booker T was over big time in 2002 and 2003, and they just kept jobbing him out.
ReplyDeleteThe tag team with Goldust was one of the major highlights of depressing RAWs. They could've been bigger than they were, but they refused to ever let them win
Booker did not suck, he was over and he deserved the belt, especially in the context of the angle.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that bugged me even more than HHH going over Booker at WM XIX was his little digs at Booker on the "Mania Of Wrestlemania" special. So you know that you're going over the guy at the biggest show at the year (as the climax to a racist angle yet) and you STILL have to take shots at the guy in a shoot-style documentary just because you can? Really?
ReplyDeleteOf all the stuff HHH has (allegedly) done over the years, this is the one that still bugs me. Yeah, I should just get over it blah blah blah Goldberg blah blah blah irrational HHH hate and whatnot. Just do the angle without the racial overtones, and (most) everyone forgets about it in a month. The fact that it STILL irks people ten years later (and as noted, moreso than other racially insensitive angles and gimmicks) is more indicative of how egregious it was regardless of HHH's involvement.
6'8, 300lbs blond behemoth, wild brawler who can work, off-the-charts charisma, crossover potential and international appeal? That's all well and good, but what about my son Greg? Look at that dropkick! - V.G.
ReplyDeleteOsirus?
ReplyDeleteI agree everyone is very butt hurt. I love Booker T, I've been a fan since Global, but what exactly would they have done with World Champion Booker T at that point?
ReplyDeletehe had a black servant in mr hughes.
ReplyDeleteor the SLAPJACK!
ReplyDeleteCuz suckaz gotz ta know!
Usher in a new golden age in pro wrestling, revolutionize the business, and cure racism all over the world apparently.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with a heel using subtle racism to get heat. The problem was though, Booker T couldn't beat Triple H, which legitimized Triple H comments that "those people" don't belong. Whenever a heel goes that low, he has to lose. Triple H had no business winning at WM 19.
ReplyDeleteTrue. I kinda think they should have brought Goldberg in on SmackDown to start a slow burn toward Brock-Goldberg at SummerSlam. Raw had Nash, Michaels, RVD, Booker T, Jericho, HHH already to mix it up.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I think it's definitely a combination of HHH involvement/TOTALLY the wrong ending to that angle.
ReplyDeleteYou should challenge him to Texas Hold'em.
ReplyDelete