10 Times WWE Stupidity Sabotaged Storylines

7. Thinly-Veiled Racism Ends Booker T's Big Break

Triple H Booker T
WWE Network

What Happened: In the lead-up to a tasty World Heavyweight Title clash at WrestleMania XIX, Triple H suddenly began talking down to Booker T. His comments went further than claiming Book didn't belong in the ring with him because of prior WCW allegiance or midcard status. They were borderline racist at times, and included the Evolution head saying "people like you don't belong at this level" to his rival.

Why It Was Stupid: It was unnecessary to even imply race as part of the angle in the first place. Even if Trips' remarks could be explained away as more WCW bashing, they were a little too close to the bone and ended up leaving a bad taste in everyone's mouths before the title showdown at 'Mania.

WWE obviously knew Booker T would lose when push came to the shove, and this made the build even more intolerable. Neither man came out of the situation looking great; Booker looked like a total loser for being unable to rise to the challenge, and Triple H came across as an offensive bigot when he already had ready-made aloofness by virtue of being champ.

What a dreadful decision, one that sabotaged the feud's promise.

Advertisement
Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.