WWE Hall of Famer Booker T says “never say never” in regards to WWE possibly purchasing AEW in the future. During a recent episode of his Hall of Fame Podcast, Booker was asked if he could see WWE buying AEW one day, like they did WCW in 2001.
Booker said he’s not someone who is rooting for other pro wrestling companies to fail, and he wants to see more promotions provide jobs for wrestlers.
“Hey man, never say never,” Booker said. “I’m not saying that could ever happen or wouldn’t happen, but I’m not going to say it is going to happen. You might be waiting a long time. The WCW guys were waiting 12 years for Vince McMahon to buy WCW. He finally did, but it was a long battle, a long war, a lot of bodies and casualties of war. When he did buy it, there were even more casualties, guys never wrestled in the business from a big time perspective ever again after WCW doors closed down. Me personally, I’m not one of these guys that’s going to be talking about, ‘man, I wish these guys would go out of business or anything like that,’ because every guy that has a job in this business is a good thing.
“One thing about WWE, they cannot supply every wrestler out there that wants to do this. For me, it’s all about guys being able to live out that dream, doing one percent at the highest level and being able to look back on their legacy. And hopefully you fans got to win more than anybody because you got to see two awesome companies at the same time just like it was back in the day. WCW, WWE, it was two awesome wrestling companies that you guys got to see. Even though we made it a war– and the only reason it was a war was because it was that damn good. Just enjoy the ride.”
Booker also talked about how TNA tried to compete with WWE, noting that AEW feels more like competition than TNA did. He said he never thought we’d see another promotion battle like we’re seeing now, at least in his lifetime.
“It was on its way to being an established number two,” Booker said. “The thing is, it never stuck to the point where we really got to see the real combat go down. At one point, we were getting really, really close to seeing that. I’ll tell you, I’m not saying that was because of me or anything like that because that was before I even got to TNA. Those guys were really doing some good work, and man, this was different. And are they going to sustain and move to the next level?
“The six-sided ring, for me, I wish I had thought of it. Especially for this young group of guys that want to do all this high-flying. I’m seeing the way the world of wrestling is gravitating towards that. I wish I would’ve thought of that, but unfortunately, [TNA] lost focus. And we saw WWE pretty much blow them out of the water, and then AEW came along. I never thought we’d see another battle like we’re seeing right now, not in my lifetime anyway. But it just goes to show you anything is possible. Right now, all we’ve got to do is just hang on.”
(H/T to WrestlingInc for the quotes)
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