Booker T (wrestler)

"Booker T" redirects here. For the politician, see Booker T. Washington.

Booker T. Huffman Jr.^[a] (born March 1, 1965 in Houston, Texas), better known by his ring name Booker T, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, working on their NXT brand as a commentator and also founded and owns his wrestling promotion, Reality Of Wrestling. Aside from WWE, he is also known for wrestling for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993-2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2007-2009.

Booker T
Booker T in 2018
Birth name	Booker T. Huffman Jr.
Born	(1965-03-01) March 1, 1965 (age 60) Plain Dealing, Bossier, Louisiana, U.S.[1]
Spouse(s)	Levestia Huffman ​ ​ (m. 1996; div. 2001)​ Sharmell Sullivan ​ (m. 2005)​
Children	3
Relatives	Stevie Ray (brother)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Black Snow[2] Booker Booker T[3] GI Bro[4] King Booker[5] Kole[6]
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[7]
Billed weight	256 lb (116 kg)[7]
Billed from	110th Street in Harlem, New York Houston, Texas[7]
Trained by	Ivan Putski Scott Casey
Debut	1986
Retired	January 28, 2023[8]

Booker T has held many championships in his career. He most famously is a six-time world champion (five-time WCW Champion and one time WWE World Heavyweight Champion), an 18-time tag team champion (13 times teaming with his brother Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat), a six-time WCW Television Champion, a four-time United States champion, and the winner of the 2006 King of the Ring. In January 2011 he returned to WWE as a surprise entrant during the Royal Rumble. He is one of seven men to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame two times.

Championships and accomplishments

King Booker as World Heavyweight Champion, with his wife Queen Sharmell

Booker T as TNA Legends Champion

• Cauliflower Alley Club
  • Tag Team Award (2018) – with Stevie Ray^[9]
• George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 2018
• Global Wrestling Federation
  • GWF Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Stevie Ray^[10]
• Las Vegas Pro Wrestling
  • LVPW UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[11]
• Prairie Wrestling Alliance
  • PWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[12]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (2000)^[13]
  • Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1998)^[13]
  • Tag Team of the Year (1995, 1996) with Stevie Ray^[13]
  • Ranked No. 5 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2001^[14]
• Southern Championship Wrestling Florida
  • SCW Florida Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Texas All-Pro Wrestling
  • TAP Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[15]
• Reality of Wrestling
  • ROW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Stevie Ray^[16]
• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
  • TNA Legends Championship (1 time, first)^[17]
  • TNA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scott Steiner^[17]
  • TNA Year End Awards (2 times)
    • Memorable Moment of the Year (2007)^[18]
    • Who To Watch in 2008 (2007)^[18]
• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship (4 times)^[19]
  • WCW World Television Championship (6 times)^[20]
  • WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[21]
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (10 times) – with Stevie Ray^[22]
  • Ninth WCW Triple Crown Champion
• World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
  • WCW Championship (1 time)^[b]
  • World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)^[23]
  • World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Test (1), Goldust (1) and Rob Van Dam (1)^[24]
  • WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[c] – with Test
  • WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)^[25][26]
  • WWE United States Championship (3 times)^[21]
  • WWF Hardcore Championship (2 times)^[27]
  • King of the Ring (2006)^[28]
  • Sixteenth Triple Crown Champion
  • Eighth Grand Slam Champion (under original format)
  • WWE Hall of Fame (2 times)
    • Class of 2013 – individually^[7]
    • Class of 2019 – as a member of Harlem Heat^[29]
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Most Underrated (2002)^[30]
  • Worst Television Announcer (2017, 2023)^[31][32]

Footnotes

1. See:

   • "Booker T Plays WikiFact or WikiFiction". Reality of Wrestling. July 10, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved July 15, 2021. My name is Booker T. Huffman Jr., and the 'T' stands for nothing; it's just 'T', period ... that's been my name since birth.
   • Oliver, Greg (September 26, 2012). "The book on Booker T ends too early". Slam Wrestling. Retrieved July 15, 2021. His father died shortly after he was born, so Booker T. Huffman Jr. — 'Junior' to his family — is raised by his mother ... .
   • "WWE Hall of Famer Booker T Announces Mayoral Run". TheWrap. December 13, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2021. Booker T's full name is Booker T. Huffman Jr.
   • "WWE CEO Vince McMahon once used N-word in awkward comedy routine with wrestler Booker T". New York Daily News. July 24, 2015. Archived from the original on July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 15, 2021. ... wrestler Booker T. Huffman Jr. ... . {{cite web}}: More than one of |archivedate= and |archive-date= specified (help); More than one of |archiveurl= and |archive-url= specified (help)
2. Booker T's fifth WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign happened in the WWF, where it was known as the WCW Championship.
3. Booker T's eleventh WCW World Tag Team Championship reign happened in the WWF, where it was known as the WCW Tag Team Championship.