Booker T has shared his feelings about John Laurinaitis being removed from his post as Head of Talent Relations and given fans some insight into their long history of working together, dating back many years.
Booker revealed on his podcast The Hall Of Fame that Laurinaitis was instrumental in helping him become a better performer.
“I give that dude a whole lot of credit for making me a much better performer. He came over from the New Japan Pro Wrestling back in the day, and in New Japan, for all the wrestlers over there, he was the finish guy.” (h/t Wrestling News Co)
Booker then revealed that when be joined WCW in the late ’90s, Lauriniatis was eager to work with him.
“He came to me one day. He said, ‘I want you to do this tonight.’ It was five pages, written out. I was like, ‘Bro, I don’t work like this, man. I can’t do this.’ He’s like, ‘Just just keep an open mind and just try it out.’ I said, ‘Man, I’m sorry, but I don’t work like this.’ He goes, ‘I’ll tell you what. Just look it over. Whatever you like, keep it in there. Whatever you don’t like, throw it out.’ I was like, ‘Give it here.’ He gave it to me. It was five pages long, but it was only a finish. I looked it over. I’m thinking his guy doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about, but I’m gonna have a piece of it anyway, I’m going to flatter him.” (h/t Wrestling News Co)
Booker then continued on to say that Laurinaitis forced him to think about the small things that make a segment great on a show.
“I went out and I did it. It was so detailed. It was some of the smallest little bitty things, stuff that I just never really thought about. From that point on, every week, I would come to work and I would look for Johnny Ace, and I would say, “What you got for me?’ It was like that until WCW closed down.” (h/t Wrestling News Co)
He also said that Laurinaitis helped him when he eventually came to WWE.
“He was very instrumental in my career in making me challenge myself to think a whole lot more and to be better. So yeah, man, this is a sad day for me. I’m sad to see Laurinaitis step down if that’s the case.” (h/t Wrestling News Co)
Laurinaitis was fired from his job after news broke last month regarding his sexual abuse, misconduct and harassment of a former female paralegal for the company. Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon was also named in the reports and paid hush money to the woman (along with others) totalling millions of dollars.
Photo Credit – WWE
