Booker T has had a long and successful professional wrestling career, and will soon be a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, a distinction shared only with the likes of Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels. While Booker T is celebrated as one of the top professional wrestlers of all time, he has had his fair share of trouble backstage. Besides the highly-publicized, real-world altercations with the likes of Batista, Booker T has also gotten in trouble with WWE executives for playing video games in the locker room, ultimately getting them banned.
This is according to Booker T himself in the first episode of his Hall of Fame podcast, where he had former WWE star and current AEW wrestler Chris Jericho on as a guest. The conversation went to video games, where Booker T revealed that after he won the World Heavyweight Championship in WCW, he asked to have a 50-inch television set up in the locker room to play games.
50-inch TV privileges didn’t follow Booker T to WWE after he signed with that company, but he brought a “portable system” with him instead. Booker T said he set up a game of Madden NFL backstage and played a game with fellow wrestler D’Lo Brown. They were interrupted by WWE agent Michael Hayes, who must have reported the video games to the higher-ups because a memo was soon sent to the locker room.
“From that point on; a note went out — no more video games. No one can play video games. I’m like, ‘These guys are crazy here man.’”
Booker T’s video game hobby may explain how he became aware of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Specialist character Prophet. Booker T feels as though Black Ops 4‘s Prophet looks so much like his comic book G.I. Bro character (in turn based on Booker T’s own likeness and former wrestling gimmick) that he actually decided to file a lawsuit against Activision over it.
Booker T’s Black Ops 4 lawsuit aside, the WWE seems to be a lot more accepting of video games in the locker room nowadays. This is largely thanks to The New Day’s Xavier Woods, whose gaming-themed YouTube channel UpUpDownDown has risen in popularity and often features WWE wrestlers as guest stars. So apparently at some point after Booker T left the company, the ban on video games in the WWE locker room must have been lifted.
Source: Fightful
Image Source: John Jewell
