Booker T clarifies the Starrcast III situation.
@StarrcastEvents Twitter account announced that WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T was slated to appear at Starrcast III this August for All Out weekend. Booker T immediately took to social media after the announcement and noted that he would not be appearing at the event and would explain in detail why he was not going to appearing at Starrcast.
Along with that came a report via the Wrestling Observer Newsletter which noted that WWE pulled Booker T from Starrcast and the report featured a quote from Booker, talking about the war between AEW and WWE becoming more intense and not wanting to be caught in the middle of it. Booker T explained during his Hall Of Fame podcast with Brad Gilmore that the only person he said the aforementioned quote to was Conrad Thompson. Booker said that he remembers telling Brad Gilmore at the previous Starrcast event in Las Vegas, that he was done with Starrcast because it did not feel right to him, working for WWE but doing appearances and signings at Starrcast.
“I do remember you and I [Brad Gilmore] talking and I said I wasn’t gonna do Starrcast next time, just because. I just didn’t think it was right for me to be working for WWE and being at Starrcast.” Booker said.
Booker added that Conrad Thompson texted him the August 31st date to do an autograph signing but it was made out to be just an autograph signing. Booker T said that Starrcast was never mentioned in the texts between he and Conrad and showed the text messages that the two exchanged.
“Conrad, he texted me a date that he wanted me to do an autograph signing. That autograph signing was August 31st. That date was in Chicago, he told me all of that, but what he didn’t tell me was it Starrcast. I didn’t know it was Starrcast. I didn’t find out it was Starrcast until Brad, you texted me and said, ‘Book, are you doing Starrcast?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not doing Starrcast’. ‘Well, they’re advertising you’. Immediately, I put a tweet out saying I wasn’t gonna be doing Starrcast just because I did not know that the Conrad booking was Starrcast because he did not say that it was Starrcast. He said it was an autograph signing. Now me pulling out, and my reasoning why was because I said I wasn’t gonna do Starrcast. I thought it should have been over with at that point but it seemed like the story kept getting bigger and bigger.” Booker T explained.
Booker T then stated that the report about WWE pulling him from the event was completely false and they had no influence on his decision to not appear at Starrcast III.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit Booker T's Hall Of Fame podcast with an H/T to Fightful for the transcriptions.