Booker T Says Sting Not Joining WWE In 2001 Was ‘Unwise’

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T was a guest on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast this week, and the two spoke at length about the five-time WCW Champion’s career.

During the course of the one-hour plus interview, the conversation shifted to Booker’s former WCW colleague Sting, who recently debuted in AEW:

“Some guys just don’t want to quit. I never thought I would see Sting still doing this at 61 years old. I just didn’t think that. It’s hard sometimes to walk away from this business and then again, after you have done it so long, you want to walk away from it your way.

“He didn’t get a chance to do that in WWE. Now in AEW, he may feel like he has a chance to go out there and do it and do it his way and walk away from it. But for me, I don’t know. More power to those guys that want to go out there and do that.”

On the topic of Sting in WWE, Booker T believes Sting not joining after WCW folded was a mistake:

“I remember when I went to WWE in 2001, Sting did an interview and said that the reason why he never went to WWE was because of the way they treated Booker T when he first got there. He said I was disrespected by The Rock when I first got there and felt I should have been treated better. What he was talking about was, when me and Rock did our angle, and Rock said, ‘Who are you?’  I said, ‘My name is’ and Rock said, ‘It doesn’t matter what your name is.’ I always looked at this as wrestling. I’ve never looked at it like it was a serious thing and I think if Sting came and he did an angle with the Rock, Rock perhaps would have done the exact same thing with him

“But, it’s wrestling, and for him to have missed out on 15 years maybe, of time, because of that angle that I did with The Rock, I thought that was very, and I don’t want to disparage him or anything like that, but I thought that was a very unwise thing to do. Let’s just say that. To miss out on all that time to live out that Sting dream in the WWE, but I think a lot of guys were scared to come to the WWE.

“A lot of guys did not want to have to put in the work and really establish themselves all over again. But me, I was like, let me go up here and see how good I really am. I wanted to challenge myself with the best workers in the world. But for Sting to do it now, at 61, I just think is an unwise move to go out there and try to work with these young guys.”

Credit: Chris Van Vliet

H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription