On a recent edition of his “Hall of Fame” podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Booker T discussed AEW President Tony Khan taking a shot at Jinder Mahal for not winning a single match in a year and still being given a WWE World Championship bout with Seth Rollins.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Tony Khan’s tweets about Jinder Mahal: “That’s funny, man. I swear to God, to me, being an insider, man. Being a guy has been in this business for more than 30 years, and to hear someone like Tony Khan talk about a 28-1 winning streak? Bro, come on, we all know what this business is, okay? And then to throw Jinder Mahal — let’s say this. Jamal is doing some of his best work. I mean, he’s believable, he’s playing a role. He’s being put in that position for a certain reason to spark a certain reaction. And dammit, if that pop when The Rock came out didn’t solicit everything that I’m talking about, what the hell? You know what I mean? I’m serious, I’m serious. Because the pop that… The Rock got, it was because Jinder Mahal had a huge part of that, you know what I mean? You can’t knock the work.
“And then to talk about you know, a championship opportunity — you know, we were just talking about that just yesterday. Conor McGregor coming back, he’s gonna get a title shot. Colby Covington comes back, he’ll get a title shot. You don’t have to be a winner to get a title shot. You know, especially in professional wrestling. It is all about entertainment more than anything. I think for me, from my perspective, that’s the only thing it’s always been about, as far as this business goes, the entertainment. And for Tony to really start to look at this business like that, it concerns me more than anything.”
On the bad look for Khan: “That’s exactly what I mean, it makes no sense. It’s the stupidest thing ever. I hate using the term ‘mark.’ But this seems like someone who’s definitely, like you said, not thinking from a boss mentality. [He’s] thinking about what was going on social media and what people are saying. One thing about this business, one thing about his life — especially the life that we’re living in this time that we’re living in right now. No matter who you are. I don’t care if you’re Tony Khan, a billionaire, or the guy working at McDonald’s. If you have a Twitter account, you’re gonna get some hate from somebody. And if that’s what you’re living by, that’s what you’re running your company by? You got a serious, serious problem.
“I would suggest Tony Khan, delete X off his personal phone. Still let the company run the X, of course. Just like say, for instance, Reality Of Wrestling. I don’t do any of it. I don’t do any tweeting, I don’t do any Instagram posts, I don’t do Facebook stuff or anything like that. But I have all of it. And we do great numbers on all of it. But I’m not running any of it. Because I’m not going to get caught up in the cycle of what people are saying about me. Because trust me, I know I get hate on a weekly basis. Every time I leave the commentary booth, somebody probably saying something about Booker T…. most of those people are talking about me. They wish they were me.”
On Khan going after talent: “For me, it’s definitely low brow, as far as Tony Khan going after Jinder Mahal. Just like I said, talent has nothing to do with this war, other than being a soldier and going out there and doing the job. You know, if Jinder Mahal did not get a win for a year, and he went out there and did that job for that full year, he did his job. He was a soldier. So for me, [for] the generals to be calling out to soldiers — which Tony Khan should be looking at himself as a general, being the guy that’s commanding that company and then calling all the shots. To be on Twitter making comments like that, it just goes to show you that this guy’s got the job. You know, I feel Tony Khan has the wrong job. You should be in charge of social media. [laughs]”
