When it comes to today's world of scripted promos in professional wrestling, Booker T believes it takes away from a performer.
Appearing on the "Chasing Glory With Lilian Garcia Podcast," Booker T talked about how scripted promos aren't doing a lot of good for some wrestlers today as it doesn't give them the opportunity to be themselves.
"It's a different world now as far as the scripted promos. I think it takes away a lot of the originality of the guy actually being able to put himself against the wall and have to go out there and get over, the guy to have to think about it, opposed to when you just have someone writing it for you. You're not going to take the time like I did to go and look in the mirror and pretend I'm cutting a promo on myself. You're not going to do that. You're not going to go and look in the mirror and just ... Just to try to make your top lip move, to see how angry you can make yourself look. It's just small, little bitty things. You're not going to take the time to actually try to hone your craft, because you got someone handing it to you, unless you're that driven," Booker T said.
Booker T spoke about his experience with scripted promos and finishes, recalling the time he worked with John Laurinaitis. Booker said he isn't opposed to the idea of scripted promos, but wants performers to have the option to be themselves and decide whether or not something that was written for them would be beneficial. For Booker T, that was Brian Gewirtz.
"I remember back in the day, John Laurinaitis, he used to write a lot of my matches for me. Just the finish, he would write the finish for me. In the beginning I told him, I go, "Man, I don't work like this. I'm an artist." He'd go, "Just look it over and just try it." I went out and I was like, "All right, I'll try it." I went out and I did, and I was like, "Wow, man, I look like a million bucks." If I got someone working with me and I know they can make me look better and then they give me the liberty to say, "Hey, use it if you like it. If you don't, throw it out," that's going to make me a whole lot better, opposed to someone just telling me, "Hey, this is what you got tonight." For me, I had Brian Gewirtz, back when I was doing the King Booker," Booker T said.
The full podcast can be heard at this link and in the video at the top of the page. Credit to "Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia" for the transcription.
