Becoming King Booker
Throughout the 1990s, The King of the Ring tournament was one of WWE's more prestigious events, which helped established such stars as Steve Austin, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. As time progressed, the tournament was no longer a launching pad for future main eventers, but in Booker T's case, it allowed him to radically change his character which led to more gold, main events and a new accent.
Becoming King Booker
In 2006, WWE held the King of the Ring tournament for the first time in four years with the finals pitting Booker T and Bobby Lashley against each other to determine the new King at Judgement Day. Long gone were the days of standalone King of the Ring events. Ultimately, it was Booker T who would emerge victoriously and be crowned the 2006 King of the Ring.
The win injected a new life into Booker who over the course of the past 3 years had been used indifferently. He embarked on a major feud against The Undertaker, a Wrestlemania match with Triple H and more recently a WWE Championship program with JBL but would always fall short in the big matches. Booker was sandwiched between the mid-card and the main events. He would frequently switch from feuding with a top star like Kurt Angle to facing The Boogeyman at Wrestlemania 22. The King of the Ring victory breathed some much-needed fresh air into the Houston native’s character.
During the May 26, 2006 edition of the SmackDown episode, a coronation was held for Booker T with his allies William Regal and Finlay in attendance. He proclaimed himself to be King Booker and anointed his wife as Queen Sharmell. The former Harlem Heat member started wearing a crown and cape while also began speaking with an over-the-top English accent. To further establish his reign as King Booker, he created his own stable called The Kings Court. He knighted William Regal and Finlay to become Sir William and Sir Finlay, who would both do the dirty work of the dastardly King.
King Booker continued his feud with Bobby Lashley, which included Lashley having to kiss the feet of the King. They squared off inside a steel cage on the June 30, 2006 edition of SmackDown with Lashley escaping the cage to earn a victory.
At The Great American Bash, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio was scheduled to face the winner of a number one contender Battle Royal. The winner of that match just happened to be the newly appointed King. At The Great American Bash; Booker, with the assistance of Chavo Guerrero, would defeat Rey Mysterio and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. This would be the sixth world championship reign for the man who once famously used the catchphrase ‘5-time, 5-time WCW champion.’
Trouble with Batista
With King Booker now positioned on his throne as World Heavyweight Champion, the first challenger would be The Animal Batista. Batista had just returned from injury after relinquishing the championship and was poised to claim the title he never officially lost in the first place. As Summerslam was approaching, tensions outside of the ring reached a boiling point with both men colliding in a legitimate fight whilst filming a commercial. Reports suggested that Booker was upset with Batista's attitude backstage, believing he was above some of the other talents. Booker T recalled the fight in his autobiography.
“I remember being out in the pool with Tatanka, and then Dave Batista shows up and it was almost like a cloud coming over that nice beautiful scenery. What ticked Batista off with me was that I was always vocal with things. At this shoot, I told Batista, ‘Hey man, let’s just get this out in the open… I really don’t like you, you really don’t like me, but we gotta work together! It’s our jobs! We gotta go out and perform together, ya know what I mean? But if you ever cross me, you gonna have to deal with these [fists]!
Later on him and I actually confronted each other like men, the fight went down and ya know, I’m not gonna get into too much detail but I got fast hands man, I’m quick with my hands.
I remember when I was a little kid, I was about 13 years old and I got beat up in my front yard, that was the last time I lost a fight. Needless to say, I put a good beating on the boy!”
Batista commented on the altercation between the two on WWE.com.
“Some guys say I’ve been running around claiming to be the top-money draw in the company, that I’m carrying the WWE on my back,” Batista said. “I never said anything like this, the rumours break my heart. I would never disrespect guys like Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H with comments like these. I am not a p***k!”
“We had to get past this. It had been brewing for a long time. It’s over. We will agree to disagree. We won’t be friends, but we will work together.”
Their match at Summerslam was not as explosive as some of their exploits outside of the ring. The match would end in a disqualification as Queen Sharmell would interfere which allowed her husband to retain the title.
Batista, still hunting for the World Heavyweight Championship, The Animal would earn a rematch against King Booker in a Fatal 4-Way match. The King would defend his title against Batista, Bobby Lashley and his own stablemate Finley.
Kings Court Dismantles
The cracks within the foundation of Kings Court started to appear as Finlay was chosen to face his King. This was thanks in part to the General Manager allowing Batista and Lashley to pick opponents for the Kings Court members. Backstage prior to the match, Booker asked Finlay to lay down for him, Finlay answered with the fact he never lays down for anyone. Finley would pick up the win over the World Champion in their match. With Finley not aligning with the leader of Kings Court, Sir William was asked to get Finlay onside. Failing, Booker called Regal pathetic. William Regal would then punch King Booker and walk away, confirming the end of Kings Court.
King Booker was set to defend his World Heavyweight Championship once again against The Animal Batista at Survivor Series. Booker demanded that this would be Batista's last shot at the gold to provide if he was champion. Teddy Long added a stipulation that Booker could lose his championship by disqualification or count-out, a rule usually in favour of the champion.
The match at Survivor Series would bring an end to King Booker’s championship reign. He and Finlay would form an alliance again as they headed into a tag team match at Armageddon to face World Heavyweight Champion Batista and his partner, the WWE Champion John Cena. After another losing effort for King Booker, he would enter the 2007 Royal Rumble as Entrant #12 only to be eliminated by Kane in under 10 minutes. To exact revenge, Booker would enter the ring and threw Kane over the top rope, which set up a match between the two at No Way Out, in which Kane scored the pinfall.
At Wrestlemania 23, King Booker would enter the Money in The Bank Ladder match in an effort to capture the briefcase and reclaim his past glory. Unfortunately, Mr. Kennedy played spoiler. He did have the perfect opportunity to secure the briefcase but Matt Hardy grabbed Queen Sharmell as Booker reached for the briefcase. The King was forced to choose between grabbing the briefcase or preventing his wife from receiving a Twist of Fate. Being a loyal husband, he chose Sharmell, but it cost him the briefcase in the process.
After a string of losses, the Queen labelled King Booker as a disappointment. Shortly after, Booker would sustain an injury, which forced him to the sidelines for an extended period of time.
At the 2007 WWE draft, King Booker and Queen Sharmell were drafted to RAW and the King immediately set his sights on the WWE Championship. But once he failed to defeat John Cena, he set his sights on someone else. He proclaimed that he was the true King of WWE and Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and Triple H could not call themselves Kings anymore. King Booker defeated Lawler in a match where the loser must crown their opponent. But in defeat, Jerry refused to crown Booker T and instead announced that at Summerslam; King Booker would face the returning ‘King of Kings’ Triple H.
After a losing effort to the returning Triple H, Booker T would request his release from WWE and see it granted in October. This signalled the end of Booker’s entertaining run as King Booker.
Booker T’s portrayal of a King not only rejuvenated a character that was becoming stale but propelled him into the main event scene on SmackDown. It’s fair to speculate that Booker T would have never won the World Heavyweight Championship without referring to himself as the King. It’s also fair to point out he’s arguably the last winner of the King of the Ring which elevated a talent instead of demeaning them. The highly comical use of an English accent only to drop it when things didn’t go right for the Texas native was a brilliant piece of the comedic character work which also allowed him to become the focal point of the SmackDown brand for several months.
To gain everything and lose everything in the space of a moment. That is the fate of all kings destined for the throne.
