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Tag: Booker

  • WWE legend Booker T spells out what Jey Uso’s Royal Rumble win actually means

    WWE legend Booker T spells out what Jey Uso’s Royal Rumble win actually means

    Jey Uso will be among the headliners at WrestleMania 41 after winning the 2025 Royal Rumble and challenging Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship.

    Uso eliminated John Cena to become the winner of the marquee event, which plays a critical part on the road to WrestleMania. It will also be a chance at redemption for Uso as he was nearly able to pin Gunther for the title at Saturday Night’s Main Event last month.

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    WWE superstar Jey Uso rallies the fans during his entrance. (Dylan Azari/Special to the Telegram & Gazette/USA TODAY NETWORK)

    WWE legend Booker T reacted to Uso’s win in an interview with Fox News Digital. He said Uso, and his brother, Jimmy, were one of those athletes who got to the gym early, stayed late and did everything anyone asked of him. For him, watching Uso win the Rumble was special.

    “And then I watched Jey Uso make his meteoric rise from tag-team wrestling to singles wrestling,” said Booker T, who talked to Fox News Digital ahead of the debut of “WWE Legends and Future Greats.” “Not really wondering how far this thing is going to go, but let me go out here and do it and do it to the best of my ability. Let me go out here, give 100% every time they give me a task. Every time they put the microphone in front of me, let me go out here and try to make the fans feel something. And this ‘yeet’ thing has totally caught on, got everybody raising the roof – another aspect. I wonder where he got that from?

    “To see Jey go out there and win the Royal Rumble, it definitely put him in that position where the company trusts him. Wouldn’t have won that Rumble if the company didn’t trust him. He has that title now, you know. When the company trusts you, it’s more than the best. For Jey to make it and cash in like that, I’m so proud of him, I really am.”

    PRO WRESTLING LEGEND BOOKER T SETS EXPECTATIONS FOR NEXT GREAT SUPERSTAR AHEAD OF ‘WWE LFG’

    Jey Uso pushes John Cena

    Jey Uso pushes John Cena off the ring, Feb. 1, 2025, during the WWE Royal Rumble at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Grace Smith/IndyStar/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

    Cena inserted himself into the men’s Elimination Chamber match in March.

    The winner of that match will get a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes since Uso already chose Gunther. Cena made clear at the post Rumble press conference he was using his veteran card to put himself in the match without having to go through the qualifier.

    Booker T said it showed him that Cena is “not finished” with pro wrestling just yet.

    However, he gave Cena his props for giving Uso the veteran rub as guys had given him in the past.

    “John Cena did the right thing, though,” he told Fox News Digital. “John Cena went out there and did the right thing for the right guy, and he knew exactly what he was [doing]; don’t think that happened by accident or anything or happened any differently than John Cena wanted that to happen. 

    “John Cena, once upon a time, was that same kid as Jey Uso who needed a rub, that needed someone to believe in him and give him a shot. John Cena is the perfect person for that job.”

    Booker T at an Astros game

    Booker T reacts after throwing out a ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers at Minute Maid Park in Houston in 2019. (Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

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    WrestleMania 41 is set for April 19-20 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

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    Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

  • Pro wrestling legend Booker T sets expectations for next great superstar ahead of ‘WWE LFG’

    Pro wrestling legend Booker T sets expectations for next great superstar ahead of ‘WWE LFG’

    Legendary professional wrestler Booker T will be one of the four coaches tasked to find the next top competitor on the upcoming A&E series “WWE Legends and Future Greats.”

    The show, also known as “WWE LFG,” takes 16 budding professional wrestlers and lets them learn under the guided eyes of Booker T, Mickie James, Undertaker and Bubba Ray Dudley. While each coach has their own styles and backgrounds, Booker T has experience as a coach.

    CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM

    A fan, right, takes a picture with WWE wrestler Booker T before the Houston Dynamo play the Seattle Sounders in the first leg of the MLS Western Conference Championship at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston on Nov. 21, 2017. (Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports)

    Booker T is the founder of the independent promotion Reality of Wrestling (ROW), which became an independent wrestling school for WWE’s latest developmental program, WWE ID. Much like his fellow coaches, he has been through the ups and downs that pro wrestling has to offer. He has been a world champion with WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action (TNA) Wrestling, and he has been on the independent and international scenes.

    He explained to Fox News Digital in a recent interview what he is looking for in a pro wrestler.

    “How much heart they have, how much they really, really want it, and how far they’re willing to go because with professional wrestling, I tell my students, it’s not going to come to you,” he said. “You got to go to it as far as the studying side of it.

    “Do you really want to be a professional wrestler or do you want to just play wrestling? It’s so many different elements that goes into it. But I’m looking for the guy that wants it. It’s hard to judge a book by its cover because you might see the one guy, he may have everything on the outside you’re looking for, but it may have zero on the inside that you’re looking for. On the other hand, it could be totally the opposite.”

    Aside from being a prolific singles competitor with multiple world championship reigns, Booker T broke into WCW as a tag-team wrestler with his brother, Stevie Ray. The two were known as the Harlem Heat and took the tag-team scene by storm.

    Booker T talk to reporters

    Former WWE Superstar Booker T cuts a promo for the upcoming 2020 Royal Rumble to be held at Minute Maid Park, on Sept. 18, 2019 in Houston. (Bob Levey/Getty Images)

    JEY USO CHOOSES GUNTHER AS WRESTLEMANIA 41 OPPONENT WITH WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE LINE

    The Harlem Heat were 10-time tag-team champions in WCW. Booker T also won tag titles with Rob Van Dam, Goldust and Test.

    He told Fox News Digital he was not looking for one person to have a certain specialty, rather a person who is ready for any type of challenge.

    “I’m looking for someone who can find themselves in situations, and no matter what the situation is, they know how to figure it out,” he said. “A lot of these guys are dealing with this competition from just about every aspect we possibly can put them in – from a tag-team perspective, from a singles perspective, from a surprise perspective.

    “There’s going to be so many different elements that we’re going to put them through. They’re going to, like I say, run the gambit as far as that goes. But I’m looking for someone who’s prepared for those situations because, just like I’ve been talking to my students since day one, preparation is the only luck you’re going to have in making it in this business.”

    A promo poster for 'WWE LFG'

    “WWE Legends and Future Greats” features four coaches trying to develop the next great superstar. (A&E)

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    “WWE Legends and Future Greats” is on A&E at 8 p.m. ET starting Sunday.

    Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

    Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.