Booker T blasts "notorious, lying" WWE legend, threatens to sue for defamation
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T's days as an in-ring competitor are long behind him. But he is still relevant in the eyes of many among the WWE Universe today, thanks in part to his body of work over the years, his work in NXT and Reality of Wrestling, and, his presence online.
On the latest edition of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore, Booker T commented on Ahmed Johnson's disrespectful and defaming statements about him, and the Hall of Famer had a few things to say about it.
Firstly, Booker acknowledged his troubled youth, having performed robbery as a youth. However, the Hall of Famer added that he atoned for everything that happened in the past. He then pointed to how Ahmed Johnson talks about being in a gang as a youth, asking how that is any different:
"I did go to prison for robbing people. But I was a kid and I think I’ve atoned for every every piece of dirt that I put down back in the day. I was a kid that made a mistake. But he talks about being in a gang as a youth himself, what do gangs do? What do they normally do? They normally are not the pillars of society.” [H/T: Haus of Wrestling]
The industry veteran then claimed that what Ahmed Johnson has been badmouthing about him is utterly false and that he does not have any prison friends. He concluded with this:
"You tell a lie about me, he’s probably going to end up in court and he’s probably going to end up getting sued by defaming me. So please tell some story that you heard from some prison buddy that you had about me because it would be totally false. If you make up a story about me, [Ahmed]… I’m gonna just leave it at that. I’m not going to take it any further than that. Other than, [Ahmed Johnson] has always been a notorious, lying, piece of you-know-what.”
Booker T also recently weighed in about Charlotte Flair's untimely injury, pointing to how "gnarly" injuries like tha could happen in the wrestling business. Read more here.
Shawn Michaels at WWE NXT resonates with Booker T owing to their very similar ideologies
Shawn Michaels retired from in-ring competition following his WrestleMania main event with The Undertaker in 2010, aside from the one-off main event at the inaugural Crown Jewel PLE in 2018. He has spent the entirety of the last decade otherwise with the up-and-comers in NXT.
When discussing about the potential of CM Punk taking over NXT in place of The Heartbreak Kid, Booker T dismissed the notion. He then explained:
"I get a lot out of working with the NXT guys, and I feel a whole lot better when I go to NXT as opposed to just being at SmackDown or RAW, because I know I'm not doing anything," Booker T said. "I'm not contributing anything as much to those guys on the show. Those guys are working. At NXT, these guys are learning. So I can give advice here, pointers ... so for me, I think that's what he's [Shawn Michaels] feeling when he's down there."
Booker T made a one-off appearance at the Royal Rumble 2023, but assured that he does not plan on doing that again. It remains to be seen if the Hall of Famer would ever step inside the squared circle again. He even revealed how the whole thing came about at the last minute.