On a recent edition of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, Booker T discussed Adam Copeland’s signing with AEW following his WWE exit, the upstart promotion pitting him up against his best friend Christian Cage right off the bat, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On clarifying his comments about Adam Copeland leaving WWE for AEW: “That’s my dog. But I just want to clarify something. I just want to clarify something because I say something and people seem to think I don’t know what they are listening to when I actually say it. When the news finally broke. That Edge may be leaving WWE. His contract may be coming up from WWE. And I was reading a lot of comments from the last time I talked about this and people said Ice, a lot of people saying that I said Edge would never leave WWE. I don’t think I ever said that. Did I? Did I? That’s what I was wondering. I’m trying to figure out if I’m slipping if I’m losing it a little bit. Because I always tell Brad that when I start saying stuff, and I can’t remember, please let me know because I don’t want to be one of these old guys that just spits out stuff and spews things that I’m talking about. And I don’t even know what I’m talking about. I don’t even remember what I’m talking about. So if you could clarify, Brad, if I ever said that Edge would never leave WWE under any circumstances…..My thing is, I shot that theory down immediately because I always think about this business from a check perspective. I never think about it from friendship. I never think about it. Right. Just. Just think for a second. Just think for a second. You think the boss is going to think that way? Do you? Do you think the boss is going to come to a time where the boss says, well, got to let this guy go? I got to let him. Got to let him go. Well, I can’t pay that number. We got to let him go. It goes both ways. That’s why I’ve never gotten close to my bosses. I mean, I love the boss that I work for. I mean, this is one of the best guys I’ve ever worked for, but I’ve never called him on his cell phone. And said, Hey, Vince, you know, how are you doing what you’re doing for the weekend? I’ve never gotten that because he may have to fire me. I may have to quit. May, you know, so it goes both ways. So when I see people say, well, somebody is never going to do something in this day and age. When there’s so much money out there on the table to be made elsewhere. Just like it was back in the day. WWE, WCW do, the same thing. So I never once, never once said Edge is so, so loyal that he would never leave. Said Edge was at the stage of his career where, you know, he’s thinking about one thing and one thing only, and that’s his family. Boom. That’s it. You can always go back. I think the door is always open for it. This is an experiment. I mean, but I don’t think Edge has left on bad terms or anything like that. Just like when I left, I didn’t leave on bad terms. When I came back, I came back. So I think I think it’s the best of both worlds. For, for, for, for, for that young man got tricked. Williams was calling me. I’m like, make sure to let him know. Hit him back. Hit him back.”
On AEW going straight to a feud with Christian Cage and Copeland: “I think. If you’re going to do it, you might as well do it. And then you stop beating around the bush. Yeah, I think if you want to get the water hot right off the bat, you do something like that. I mean, they could easily have come in and hugged and been friends and went out and did the tag thing and then turned. But, this is like the shot right out of the gun boom and things kicked off. So I think this is the right way to do it. I don’t know how much time both of these guys left. As far as, how long this run is going to be. So, yeah, if you’re going to do it, you go ahead and do it. I think it’s a great idea. And I don’t want to sit here. I saw that on YouTube when it happened. I think I saw some clips of it. Edge came out and then he picked a chair up and everybody screamed whatnot.”
On Copeland’s decision to join AEW: “You don’t want to go out on anybody’s terms. A lot of times, you want. I get that. I get it 100%. So when I see people, talking and seeing certain things just outside the realm of the way I think about this business. And if anybody has ever heard me talk, they would understand that I always have thought about how much money one can make out of this business at the end of the day, because it’s not something that lasts forever. And you got to know how to parlay, making that money and being able to take care of your family. Because I know a lot of us don’t want to end up like The wrestler. We want to end up, you know, being able to be smooth sailing. We want to live like Terry Funk our whole life on that double cross ranch, getting catered to all that stuff. But now. Yeah, exactly. And that’s and that was that wasn’t a negative that wasn’t a slight that wasn’t a jab or anything like that. It was the truth. It’s not mean anything. Yeah. And next thing you hate each other. You don’t want to be around each other. Some of the greatest tag teams that ever, ever lived, ever put on a pair of boots, come into this business, loving each other at the end of their careers. They don’t want to ever see each other, or talk to each other ever again. Trust me. Understand it. I’ve been there. I live it every day. But you’re not there.”
