10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (18 Oct)
7. Booker T Actively Avoided Gimmick Matches
Some of Booker T's most famous matches came against Jeff Jarrett, The Rock, Triple H, Chris Benoit and The Undertaker. There's something that ties all of those matches together: WWE booked most as straight up one-on-one singles. That wasn't an accident.
On his 'Hall Of Fame' podcast, Book said that he was never a fan of gimmick bouts or senseless stipulations being tagged onto his run. He also admitted that he's afraid to jump off steel cages and generally prefers working standard matches when he can. This distaste for gimmicks must have been hell for Booker when Vince Russo was in charge of WCW affairs.
Obviously, the legend did work stips like cages, Elimination Chamber and more throughout his career. It was practically unavoidable during the period he worked, but he did go out of his way to avoid gimmicky favourites wherever possible.
Lord only knows what he thought of WCW's 'San Francisco 49ers' match.