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00:00All hail King Booker!
00:05Get your spinnaroonies ready for the five-time
00:09WCW Champion.
00:13Booker T's the champ!
00:15Yeah, we did just say that.
00:17Today, we look back at the very best of Booker T.
00:20Give him all the hardware!
00:22He's the man!
00:23This is WWE's Greatest Moments.
00:27Now, can you dig that, sucker?
00:35Oh, God!
00:36This is surreal!
00:40Look at that!
00:48Welcome, everyone, to WWE's Greatest Moments.
00:51I'm Michael Cole, and on this edition,
00:53we're looking back at the greatest moments
00:55in the two-time Hall of Fame career
00:57of the one and only Booker T.
01:00The Booker Man has one of the most decorated careers
01:02in all of professional wrestling.
01:04A five-time!
01:06Five-time!
01:07Five-time!
01:08Four-time!
01:09Five-time!
01:10WCW Champion!
01:12Holding 21 titles, the most in WCW history.
01:16King of the Ring.
01:17He's the voice of NXT.
01:19A coach on LFG.
01:20But when they feel you, it's in here.
01:22And even had a Latin Grammy award-winning
01:25Bad Bunny song about him.
01:27Can you dig it, sucker?
01:29There's no denying the charisma
01:31that comes with Booker T.
01:32Boom!
01:33Right there!
01:34Right there!
01:35And one of his signature moves
01:37is the infamous Spinneroonie.
01:39There's nothing like seeing Booker get in the zone
01:41to get the crowd hyped.
01:43But many fans wonder where the genesis
01:46of this break dance took place.
01:50Major League Wrestling fans were taking our first look
01:53at a new tag team here in the area.
01:56Booker T and Stevie Ray.
01:58When it came to wrestling,
02:00I didn't know what was going to happen.
02:02I had to do everything to make it happen.
02:04I used to love dancing.
02:06If you were a kid from the neighborhood,
02:08you was offered to dance.
02:10Break dancing was really, really huge.
02:12I said, man, I'm going to try this down.
02:14So I started break dancing.
02:16Whoa! What do you think of that, Gary?
02:19When I got a chance to just bring a little bit
02:21of that world inside of the wrestling ring,
02:23I learned the power of entertainment that night.
02:26And it's been a part of my career since day one.
02:30I think the Spinneroonie started out as this cool thing
02:32that Booker could do and slowly morphed itself.
02:35It just takes on a whole life of its own.
02:37J.R., here it is!
02:38Right here!
02:39Here it comes!
02:40Here it comes!
02:41You're about to witness it!
02:42Oh, it's the most electrifying
02:44Spinneroonie I've ever seen!
02:46Did the Spinneroonie.
02:47He had the leg thing.
02:48He had the look.
02:50Look at that hand.
02:51The flair for drama.
02:53It starts with the hand, of course.
02:55You drop the one knee.
02:56All the centrifugal force comes from the dress.
03:00You know, shake.
03:01Once you shake the dress,
03:02it goes through the body all the way down to the legs.
03:05Everybody's doing Spinneroonies all over the country!
03:08You want to see The Rock do?
03:09The Rock-a-roonies!
03:13When I did the Spinneroonies, everything changed.
03:16It was pretty awesome to see the effect that it had
03:18on not just those fans, but throughout my whole career.
03:24Upon their debut, Booker T and his brother Stevie Ray dominated
03:27the WCW tag team scene as Harlem Heat.
03:30With their manager, Sister Sherry, by their side,
03:32the duo were undeniable in the ring.
03:35Harlem Heat is the most collectively cohesive unit
03:39in professional sports.
03:41And it didn't take long for them to have the opportunity
03:43at their first tag team championship
03:45against the team known as Stars and Stripes.
03:51Booker T, Stevie Ray looking to become
03:53yet another great brother tag team to hold the belts.
03:56The most prestigious tag team award in this sport.
03:59We were pretty good as a tag team,
04:01but we did know that we wanted to be the greatest tag team
04:04that ever put on a pair of boots.
04:06The right foot right in the eye.
04:08Well, the match we have going on.
04:10Two teams giving it their all.
04:11My brother played his role.
04:13I played my role.
04:14We were a cohesive unit.
04:16Both of us brought the pain in our own way.
04:18Together, we gelled.
04:20We had good chemistry.
04:21People came to see us.
04:23People wanted to see us.
04:24We took pride in that.
04:26The Patriots missed the clothesline.
04:28So did Stevie Ray.
04:29They both go down.
04:31And I don't think they're the legal man here.
04:34Here's a cover by Booker T.
04:37That's not the legal man.
04:38One, two, three.
04:39That's good enough.
04:40We got new champions.
04:41That's one of the matches that everybody remembers.
04:44It really solidified us as players in the game now.
04:47The World Tag Team Champions.
04:49It was a hell of a night winning our first WCW Tag Team Championships.
04:53They let us know that we were on the radar
04:55and let us know we had a chip in the game.
04:57Straight to the top of WCW.
04:59That's something we always took pride in,
05:01is that we played an intricate part of WCW going to the next level.
05:06To let us know that that was the beginning of something very, very special.
05:12Booker T eventually went on to have a very successful singles career in WCW as well.
05:17But on March 26, 2001, World Championship Wrestling would close its doors for good.
05:23I, Vince McMahon, bought my competition.
05:28That's right.
05:29I own WCW.
05:32The last Monday Nitro aired with a special title unification match
05:36between world champion Scott Steiner and United States champion Booker T.
05:41Booker T looked to end the WCW story by holding not one, but two championships.
05:46The final telecast of Monday Nitro on TNT, a historic day in sports entertainment.
05:57The end of WCW was the end of an era.
06:00If you were there, you definitely felt a certain way.
06:03A lot of people backstage, it was like, what the hell is going on?
06:07It was shocking.
06:08We're going out with the bang.
06:10All the titles on the line.
06:12Here we go.
06:13That's a match that I remember vividly, like, seared in my brain.
06:17Booker T brings into this match heart and athleticism.
06:20And a Harlem sidekick.
06:23We did the best show that we could do.
06:25Steiner's got him in his punches.
06:26Oh!
06:29Scott went out there.
06:30He made me look good.
06:31Booker T calling for the fans.
06:33He put me in a position where I was making history.
06:38Here he comes!
06:40It was awesome.
06:42The energy in the arena was fantastic.
06:45Picks him up, Booker T.
06:47Lanes on his feet.
06:48He's got it!
06:49Booker!
06:50One!
06:51Two!
06:52Could it be it?
06:53Yes!
06:54Yes!
06:55Booker T!
06:56He's got two titles.
06:57Give him all the hardware!
06:58It was awesome, as an African-American youth, watching someone like Booker do great things.
07:04We wanted to have, you know, happy, happy, joy, joy last night for the WCW audience.
07:10It was the right thing to do, to put the championship on him.
07:13I felt really good.
07:14I'm the US champ and the world champ, and I'm closing the company now.
07:18This is a good night.
07:19Good night.
07:20Still to come.
07:22Wait a minute!
07:23What the hell?!
07:24They believe they don't need his Booker T!
07:27Yes!
07:28Oh!
07:31While WCW was ultimately purchased by WWE, many of WCW's former superstars began invading
07:38WWE programming.
07:40WCW is now a page!
07:42D&D!
07:43It's Lance Storm!
07:44The WCW wrestler!
07:46Many were anticipating the arrival of its champion.
07:51We are at our main event in the King of the Ring!
07:56The Triple Threat Men to determine the richest prize in the game.
08:00Booker T said, I want to be a star on the biggest platform I can.
08:04Booker had enough confidence in himself to step up and say, put me in.
08:09Wait a minute!
08:11What the hell?!
08:12Wait!
08:13That's Booker!
08:14That's Booker T!
08:17He's the WCW champion!
08:19The WCW champion has just attacked the WWF champion!
08:24Coming from WCW and coming over to WWE, I was ready to go out there and show those guys
08:29I was just as good as I said I was.
08:32Oh my God!
08:33The sidewalk slam!
08:34Booker T just rose so cold!
08:35Toco Steve Austin bouts off the topless table all the way to the floor.
08:39Bang!
08:40My first thought was, what in the F just happened?
08:45What the hell?!
08:46When you take out one of the top guys in your first day, it makes people look at you a little
08:51bit differently.
08:52Booker T has decimated the WWF champion!
08:55It was a great night for me.
08:56I was pretty hyped up.
08:57Booker T came through the crowd, is leaving through the crowd, but he has done his damage.
09:11Our next moment would lead to an intense rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Booker T.
09:18Stone Cold!
09:19He's got it to the fireman!
09:20And Booker T running for his life!
09:25As much as Booker T tried to evade the Texas Rattlesnake, there was nowhere safe to go.
09:31I took a shot, but you've been serious to look at us on aisle two.
09:36That's aisle two.
09:38Jesus.
09:39Here's a blank canvas that Booker T and I are going to have an opportunity to paint together.
09:44Action.
09:45We created magic.
09:46Yes!
09:47Now Austin!
09:48I've got a pocket for your team!
09:49You guys let loose in a grocery store.
10:01It was a spectacle.
10:02It was a great piece of entertainment.
10:04As he's beating Booker T up, he's able to do all the catchphrases for the products
10:08that he's using on him.
10:09You have any grapefruit bun?
10:11Everything Steve said, it was ad lib.
10:18Everything that I said, was ad lib.
10:21Please, I won't do it no more.
10:22You look like you're using COVID, Booker.
10:23Please, I won't do those.
10:24Please, please.
10:25The grocery store stuff with Steve, the ability to make an ass of yourself is an art.
10:31He didn't care.
10:32He was all for entertainment.
10:33That's how Booker was.
10:34Booker with a shot to the jaw of Austin.
10:37All right, Booker.
10:38You got built this.
10:39Oh!
10:40Got built!
10:41Man, we can really get something out of this.
10:43That's what I'm thinking.
10:44You want it, Bert?
10:45Ah!
10:46Ah!
10:47Something like this, with someone like Booker T, who embraces the theatrics and the drama
10:52and the shenanigans that go with it, is all the more fun.
10:56Ice kick on dick ass!
10:58Oh!
10:59It was a moment that people got to remember for the rest of their lives.
11:02Now we get to.
11:04Till they come.
11:06Booker T, the mental dropkick!
11:08All hail King Bacar!
11:11When you think of the most outrageous duos in WWE history, you have to mention the odd pairing
11:18of Booker T and the bizarre Goldust.
11:21Sucker.
11:25These two formed an unlikely partnership and led to some of the most entertaining moments
11:30in WWE history.
11:31Tell me I don't look like that!
11:34Welcome to the premiere edition of Goldust and Booker T at the movies.
11:44What up, dog?
11:45Me and Booker are an odd couple.
11:47Completely opposite.
11:48And our chemistry just clicked, man.
11:50It was so easy with Booker.
11:52Booker, thank you.
11:53Thank you very much.
11:54The entertainment part, he was perfect for it.
11:57Man, pick that gold crap off!
11:59To me, it was just another match made in heaven.
12:02It was some of the best stuff WWE has ever done.
12:05But there ain't no Star Wars geek.
12:07I ain't never watched a movie, it never will!
12:09We didn't know how big it was gonna get, uh, how much the fans were gonna really buy it
12:12and how much they were gonna love it.
12:15Can you dig it, sucker?
12:18The music hit.
12:20Boom!
12:21The place erupted, and I was like, holy hell.
12:23The World Tag Team titles on the line, period Armageddon!
12:28Everybody's here for the same thing, and that is to walk out.
12:31The New World Tag Team Champions.
12:33Booker T and Goldos, perhaps, in the eyes of many of the emotional favorites here tonight.
12:41Oh, wait!
12:42The bookend!
12:43Jericho walked into the bookend!
12:45Look at the line!
12:46Oh, no!
12:47And the-
12:48Booker T and Goldos have done it!
12:50In the beginning, it was just a novelty, but at the end, people felt a certain way about it.
12:55Everybody in this arena, they believe in Goldie and Booker T!
13:02By 2003, fans were digging Booker T as he had proven himself to be one of the most popular WWE superstars of the year.
13:09I will become the new Intercontinental Champion!
13:14Now can you dig that, sucker?
13:19So, needless to say, when Booker challenged the villainous Christian for the Intercontinental Championship on RAW,
13:25he was a clear odds-on favorite.
13:28Now y'all can dig this!
13:33Booker T getting an opportunity for the Intercontinental Championship!
13:38That is the workhorse title, and Christian and Booker T are both, in my opinion, workhorses, so I was excited as a fan of Washington.
13:45And here we go!
13:47The Intercontinental title is officially on the line!
13:51These men know each other very well.
13:53They have developed one hellacious right over here.
13:56I remember just having so much fun in the chemistry Christian and I had.
13:59It was awesome.
14:00Two guys who can absolutely go in the ring.
14:04Oh, no!
14:05Christian and I, we had been working together for some time,
14:09and the championship just had been eluding me, eluding me.
14:14But Booker T!
14:15No!
14:16Doesn't miss with a scissors kick!
14:18That's gotta be it!
14:19Will it be?
14:20Yes, it is!
14:21Booker T!
14:22Booker T has done it!
14:24After one, two, three, the crowd erupted.
14:25Finally, Booker T has fought his way to the mountaintop!
14:34Winning the championship was really, really cool.
14:36That was a moment.
14:37Finally, for the first time, Booker T is the Intercontinental Champion!
14:49The pageantry of the King of the Ring Tournament has been one of the most celebrated events for decades.
14:54We proclaim ye the King of the Ring!
14:59The 2006 finals took place at Judgment Day, where Bobby Lashley battled Booker T.
15:04And while we didn't know who would be crowned that night, we never expected the winner to become such a royal pain.
15:15Superstars repeat in a tournament, with the winner being crowned the King of the Ring!
15:20So this is it!
15:21The finals of the King of the Ring Tournament!
15:23Bobby Lashley, like the young powerhouse, you look at the guy, it was like a million bucks.
15:28Lesley's feeling it!
15:30Sharp now!
15:31Got his leg!
15:32Come on!
15:33He's gonna, of course, cheat at some point to win.
15:35What the hell?
15:36No!
15:37This way!
15:38All hell, King Booker!
15:40It wasn't just that he won the tournament.
15:42It's that he put the crown on his head.
15:45And he put that single pinky up in the air.
15:48I'm gonna make sure that this character is something that people are gonna remember for the rest of their lives.
15:55All hell, King Booker!
16:01I don't know why he had an English accent.
16:04Who is this rogue?
16:07What is this unsottling maiden?
16:11To be able to snap back from my British accent to getting really hot, to talking like a street kid.
16:16Put the damn crown on my dome!
16:18Put the damn crown on my dome!
16:21He had the ability to pull off just about anything.
16:23Like one of the most entertaining characters ever, King Booker.
16:26I could not have been King Booker without Queen Charmell.
16:29If she had to play a role and do the dastily deed, she would be there to do it every time.
16:33It's like King Arthur coming out with Gwyndivere.
16:37Long live King Booker!
16:43Up next is our final two moments in the countdown.
16:45Oh, wow!
16:46What will take the number one spot?
16:48Spin on it!
16:49Spin on it!
16:50Spin on it!
16:52With his pinky held high, King Booker led a tyrannical reign over the SmackDown Kingdom.
16:58You will kiss the royal feet of King Booker!
17:05God!
17:06Oh, man!
17:07But His Majesty's sights were set on more than just the crown.
17:10At the Great American Bash 2006, His Royal Highness promised to vanquish Rey Mysterio of the World Heavyweight Championship.
17:20It is a big fight field here tonight in Indianapolis, Indiana.
17:23You didn't go up eating tonight, Ray.
17:24The champion, Rey Mysterio, and the challenger, King Booker.
17:29This will be one hell of a matchup.
17:31Working with Rey Mysterio, who I always considered as my favorite wrestler.
17:35I remember going out there with Booker T. The chemistry was just there.
17:40Oh, wow!
17:42To me, the guys that are really great in this business are guys that can do it all.
17:45It's what, to me, puts Booker in the top echelon is his ability to tear it up.
17:50Royal Booker!
17:51The Booker!
17:52The Royal Booker!
17:53The Booker!
17:54The Royal Booker!
17:55God!
17:56King Booker is world champion.
17:59It is the King's time.
18:01That was an incredible match.
18:03Wow.
18:04The only King to ever win that World Heavyweight Championship.
18:09It meant a lot.
18:10It meant a lot.
18:11Long live the King!
18:15It is now time for our number one moment.
18:19We've spoken about the impressive resume of Booker T with his many championship titles.
18:24But let's go back to the very first world title.
18:27Booker T was finally granted the opportunity he had waited his entire career for.
18:32Opportunity has knocked and I will be damned if I don't answer that door.
18:36A world championship match against Jeff Jarrett at WCW's Bash at the Beach 2000.
18:45Opportunity knocks and Booker T has stepped through the open door.
18:49I always wondered if the fans wanted to see a black champion.
18:52If the fans really wanted to see me in that position or they didn't want Jeff Jarrett to win.
18:57I don't know.
18:58Look at that agility.
18:59Is he amazing?
19:00Oh!
19:01Drop, kick the boot.
19:02His athletic ability.
19:03He had hops, as we say.
19:05Scissor kicks and his spinning back kick.
19:08Booker T and Jeff Jarrett brawling through the crowd.
19:12Giving the fans everything they bargained for went frankly a little bit more.
19:15I was like, wow.
19:16They really care about me.
19:17They really want to see me win.
19:19Booker doesn't see Jarrett.
19:21He can get him now!
19:22Book in!
19:23Book in!
19:24Book in!
19:25There's a referee in two!
19:26Three!
19:27Yes!
19:28Oh my God!
19:29Booker T is the world champion!
19:31It's very, very important to see people who look like you doing great things because
19:37it just gives you a visual confirmation and affirmation that you too can do it because
19:43you've seen it done.
19:44If Booker T can do this, so cannot.
19:46Anybody who knows Booker T behind the scenes like we do knows that he is a man deserving
19:51of this moment.
19:52It's one of my most fond memories in my career.
19:55I'm the guy that Booker B become the world champion for his very first title reign.
20:00I'm pretty proud of him.
20:01It's every young man's dream to be the champion and on this night Booker T earned it.
20:07I was a part of it and I'm definitely happy to have been a part of the moment that changed
20:11my life.
20:13Booker T is the literal embodiment of hard work paying off, which garnered him Hall of
20:18Fame status.
20:19Not once, but twice.
20:22That'll do it for this edition of WWE's Greatest Moments.
20:25I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the greatest moments from the legendary Booker T.
20:30Now can you dig that sucker?
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