15 Exact Moments Failed WWE Ruthless Aggression Gimmicks Actually Got Over
10. Booker T | June 10, 2002
Booker T was a very funny and charismatic dude. He was treated like a punchline during the Invasion, just like the rest of the WCW crew, but if it even counted as a push, he got one. He was programmed against the Rock. Relative to everybody else, he was promoted and was over - but in reality, he was sort of a joke, even if the joke was funny. He was the guy that the top stars made fun of, and the guy who got his ass kicked in a supermarket by Stone Cold Steve Austin when the “Invasion crap” was done and dusted. After that, Booker slid down the card, had to endure a Worst Feud of the Year-calibre rivalry with Edge, and basically became just another midcarder. The Booker T who had wowed the industry in a famed WCW Best of Seven series with Chris Benoit was a vanishingly rare sight.
Things started to shift in 2002. He was no longer a punchline; he was the one making the jokes. His strange bedfellows partnership with Goldust was a rare joy in a dismal and desperate year. Plagued by top stars leaving and a post-Attitude Era malaise, the WWE of 2002 was downbeat. The levity provided by Bookdust was fun and quietly necessary. The only time that the WWE take on the New World Order was any good was when BookDust got one over on them - but it was actually when Booker was briefly in the nWo that fans took notice of him as a hilarious performer built for the daft context of sports entertainment.
On the June 10, 2002 episode of Raw, Booker expressed his enthusiasm to “collaborise” with new member Shawn Michaels. He even performed his own riff on Shawn’s ‘Sexy Boy’ theme, and it was so good - “I’m not your sucka, SUCKA!” - that he made Kevin Nash and X-Pac corpse.
Booker was actually kicked out that very night. This could have scanned as a burial, but his bit was so priceless that fans wanted him to exact revenge.