Booker T speaks candidly about being uncertain he would ever get the chance to win the World Championship in WCW.
Today, everybody knows that Booker T is a five-time WCW World Champion. He won four of those championships during WCW's final months in operation. However, Booker started his journey in WCW in 1993 and for the bulk of that journey, he wasn't certain if he would ever be able to reach the pinnacle of the industry as he had his doubts that the company would accept having a black world champion.
Booker T discussed these doubts during the third episode of VICE's "Who Killed WCW?" docuseries. A clip was played of Booker being interviewed during his time in WCW where he said winning the WCW World Championship hadn't been something he had viewed as a possibility.
When present-day Booker was asked about those comments and why he had those doubts, he responded, "Because I was black, to be honest. I knew how good I was. That wasn't a doubt in my mind, but you still wonder if that company would be willing to accept a black champion."
Booker T credited Vince Russo for having the outside-the-box thinking that allowed him to become a World Champion.
"It took somebody like Vince Russo, somebody who was outside the box, to push them to make a decision and check their clutches for a second."
Booker T would, of course, go on to prove everybody wrong. He would win the WCW World Championship on five different occasions, join WWE, win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice.
Elsewhere in this episode, The Rock, who faced Booker T at WWE SummerSlam 2001 to end Booker's final reign with the WCW World Title, gave his thoughts on Vince Russo joining WCW. Read his comments here.
Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp recently interviewed Evan Husney, one of the producers of the docuseries. Fans can check out that full interview embedded in the video above.
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