Booker T is a two-time Hall of Famer. He's legitimately one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, and in addition to his decorated career as a wrestler, Booker T's involvement in NXT, Tough Enough, Reality of Wreslting and now WWE LFG could make him eligible to be three-time Hall of Famer -- this time as a trainer.

WWE is hitting on all cylinders. 2024 saw more sold out live events than any in history. So much so, the ornery hardcore wrestling fans who subscribe to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted "WWE talking about sellouts and record gates" received the sixth-most votes for the Newsletters award for "Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic."

Despite WWE's undeniable success in the TKO Era, also known as the Netflix Era, WWE is not resting on its laurels. In fact, WWE LFG is just one of WWE Developmental offshoots where WWE will find its next great Superstars. WWE NXT, the WWE ID Program -- where Reality of Wrestling is a partner -- WWE's Next in Line (NIL) program, EVOLVE and even TNA are all partnerships where WWE is investing in its future. Even young main roster rookies like Tiffany Stratton and Bron Breakker are already established well before their primes.

Meanwhile, AEW has very little developmental to speak of and is instead relying on names from the past such as a 57-year-0ld Jeff Jarrett, Edge (51), Bobby Lashley (48), Shelton Benjamin (49), Samoa Joe (45) and Christian Cage (51) to name a few. Some of these names were featured on AEW's Grand Slam Australia television event, where furious fans in Australia booed Tony Khan after paying stadium prices for an event that was later moved to an arena and announced as a television event. Those who bought tickets late paid significantly lower prices than presale customers.

A truly disgusting promotional tactic indeed.

With WWE doubling down on its future to continue its present success, a Hall of Fame cast of legendary trainers is taking part in a competition series that will help discover WWE's future greats.

Alfred Konuwa: As such a decorated trainer, what is the No. 1 quality that you think makes a great wrestling trainer?

Booker T: You can't judge a book by its cover. I Had one of my students, his name is Gustavo Mendoza, and he couldn't do a front roll. He couldn't do a left roll or a right roll. He just was the worst athlete in the world. But one day I gave him a shot and he went out and did something in the ring that was so special. And from that day forward, he was the guy. And I was like, 'wow.' You know what I mean? So I learned not to judge a book by its cover because this business is how much you want it. It's going to will you to go out there and do what you need to do in the middle of that ring to be the best. So I think that will be it.

AK: One thing that really impresses me about WWE, is despite the fact that they're on fire right now, they're doing record numbers and hey sell out everywhere they're go, they're not resting on their laurels. There's no less than five branches of training in WWE. You've got WWE NXT, LFG, the NIL program, the WWE ID program and Evolve. What does it mean to you how invested WWE is in its future?

BT: I love it. Now being a part of the ID program, Reality Wrestling, yeah, it is awesome to actually see that the next generation is being cultivated. I mean, they're actually being mentored from a perspective to where if they really want to get to the next level. There's an avenue. There's a way. Before, you was just rolling the dice trying to get in any way you possibly you could.

I look at the NIL program where these athletes are getting second chances at going out there and still being performers, and they're turning it into gold. I look at the Tiffany Strattons and the Oba Femis and whatnot, and then I look at the ID program where so many independent wrestlers out there that are good enough to make it to this next level. And now being taught from a television perspective, not just an indie wrestling perspective. They may have a chance at making to the next level and living out that dream as well. So for me to actually be a part of it, at the same time, I'm living my best life. But this is something I talked to about wrestlers also, preparation is the only luck you're ever going to have. I've been planning on this for the last 20 years, and I was happen to be getting in on the ground floor. So it's pretty awesome.

AK: What do you think AEW could do to build up its future? Because right now, if you look at the product, they're relying on a lot of the current and older names in wrestling.

BT: Well, I could tell you this, it's hard for me to say what they should do or anything like that. But I could tell you back when I was in WCW and things were just running and everybody thought everything was good just because we were on television, like what we may see with those guys, you could wake up one day and they could be all over it.

So you better be thinking about what's next. You better be thinking about the future. Just like I think we're thinking about right now with WWE, with so many programs, trying to think about the young talent out there that's going to be fueling this next generation. And I say that because sports is a young-person's business. And I say that with Reality of Wrestling, because everybody that's a champion, they're young because it's hard to aspire to be ac champion when you're 60. But you see a 20-year-old kid that's the champion, at 14-year-old, you say, "Man, I could be that. I want to be that." And I think that's what's so cool with WWE right now. Everything is so young. Everything is so bright. Everything has a great feel to it, and it's making people gravitate like we haven't seen in so many years. A promoter told me a long time ago, you just can't set up a tent and do wrestling.

AK: You talk about these young stars and gravitating. I'm glad you said that because coming out of this episode, I had so much heat with Brayden "BJ" Ray. That guy, not only did he seem to be the villain of that episode, but he pissed off the trainers. Bubba Ray seemed like he wanted to fight him. But in pro wrestling, hate and love is a good thing. There's something to be said with somebody getting a heel reaction out of legendary trainers. What do you make of Brayden Ray? I don't know if you saw some of the comments he made in his interviews behind the scenes. What do you make of him and his prospects?

BT: I can just tell you this: "stay tuned." That's just the tip of the iceberg with this.

And the thing is, I say sometimes you got to crack a nut with a sledgehammer. You know what I mean? It's hard for them to learn. Sometimes they got to learn the hard way. And BJ Ray, he's going to be one of those kids, perhaps he's going to learn the hard way or he's going to not learn at all. He's going to get it or he's going to get along. It's going to be one of the two, at the end of the day, because we're only going to take it for so long. We're only going to take it for so long before one of us snap. So I'd say keep watching. And you're going to see some clips and probably a lot of bonus clips as well when it comes to BJ Ray.

AK: Without giving any spoilers away, what does your gut tell you about how far he's going to make this in this business?

BT: Guys like BJ Ray is very, very unique, but we're in a different time now. I look at guys like Shawn Michaels. You could compare him to a BJ Ray being a guy who was very, very hard to deal with. A guy who had a very, very bad attitude. A guy who wanted to do it his way and his way only, no matter what. The thing was, Shawn was so talented. He was so talented. With guys like that, with the [Tom] Bradys of the world, you let them do whatever the hell they want to do. You know what I mean? BJ Ray could find himself in that position. He might could write his own ticket. We'll see. We'll see, at the end of the day.

AK: One of my favorite parts of the show is you get to see that wrestler mind behind the scenes. And Bubba Ray gave this great advice where he was talking about getting a wrestler in a headlock. And when it's time to go to the ropes, you don't walk back to the ropes. You let them push you to the ropes. Make it look like a struggle, not a dance. What are some of the pet peeves you have as a wrestler that you see young wrestlers do -- or any wrestlers do -- that you think "exposes the business?"

BT: Well, first of all, Bubba Ray has stole a lot of my technique, okay? I just want to put that out there first and foremost (laughing). But I said it on my radio show that every wrestler that does the leg pop should be fired. Every one of them. Every wrestler that does that should be fired.

AK: By leg pop. Are you talking leg slap?

BT: Yeah, the leg slap. Yeah, the leg slap where they slap their leg. And a lot of them, they'll get hit and they'll slap their leg. It's just the craziest thing in the world. And they do it right in front of the fans like the fans don't see it. It's the most disrespectful thing, I think, in all professional wrestling, the leg slap.

Now, if you could do it and get away with it -- probably. I don't care what you do, because I did things back in the day myself. But trust me, the fans didn't see it. And that's the art of going out and being able to do our tricks. I don't think you're going to go to Vegas and go see the mind freak, and you how he does his trick and you say, "Oh man, this was a great show." You're not going to do that. You want your disbelief to be expelled. And that's what professional wrestling is. And I think when the guys go out and do that, they totally disrespect, not just themselves, but the fans that's watching them. They got to fix that.

AK: There was a lot of online backlash from the Royal Rumble. It didn't translate to real life with Jey Uso, but there were some boos for Charlotte Flair on RAW. What do you make of some of the backlash and passion from fans reacting to the Royal Rumble winners?

BT: She just used the Hulk Hogan defense and said she got booed because she's a heel. Which I think that's one of the reasons why Charlotte Flair got booed because she came back and she's trying to play this role where she's nice. Everybody knows Charlotte Flair. She's the dirtiest player in the game, and perhaps they didn't agree with her winning the Rumble. But even more so coming to RAW and still trying to play that role. That role is not going to work for her. I mean, she is truly just like the old man. She's going to go out there and she's going to get it done by any means necessary. And the thing is, that's the way we want to see it from Charlotte Flair. We don't want to see Charlotte be nice. That's just not in her DNA. But I think that may have had a lot to do with it.

But also with Jey Uso, he got a little backlash as well. Thing with that, in this day and age with social media and everybody having an opinion, you're going to have your haters. You're going to have your detractors. You know what I mean? So let the haters hate. Let them drink all the haterade they want to drink. Because most of those haters, most of those people that are making those comments, they wish -- not hope -- they wish they could be in your position. So I say, guys, just keep doing your thing more than anything.

I've been there, I've seen it. I've been a part of it. People hate on me. But I'm not going to hate on them. I'm not going to post nothing negative. And I don't think Jey or Charlotte need to do anything but just keep going out and doing what they're doing. I'm going to tell you right now, Jey has done such a hell of a job. He's done such a hell of a job. He's the guy that's done it on both ends, though. He's done it in the ring as well as out of the ring. He's the guy that you're not going to have to worry about him showing up on time. You're not going to have to worry about him being able to do media. He's the guy that the company has grown to trust. That's why he won the Royal Rumble. You don't get in that position unless the company trusts you to be in that position. So he's done a hell of a job. He's done something that I never did, even though the company trusted me.

AK: You did mention Hulk Hogan. I was not going to ask this, but dating back to one of your most famous promos, are you still coming for Hulk Hogan?

BT: (Laughing) Nah, man. Hulk Hogan is coming for himself.

AK: I was there in that building. We were coming for Hulk Hogan in Inglewood.

BT: That's still following me (laughing)). You know what? Just think about that for a second. That happened well before the internet. So just think about what these guys like Jey and Charlotte got to deal with today.

AK: Your career dates back to one of my favorite tag teams ever in the Harlem Heat. If you were to have one more match with the Harlem Heat against a current tag team today, who would it be?

BT: Probably I guess... Let me see, man. See, man, I don't know, man. It's kind of hard to say who it would be. Man, throw me some tag team names out there.

AK: Right there in NXT, the best tag team I think in the world -- Axiom and Nate Frazer, Fraxiom.

BT: See, I wouldn't put Harlem Heat against those guys. It'd be such a disadvantage. Such a disadvantage because Harlem Heat, I mean rompin', stompin', grave-diggin' destruction. Big Brother Stevie Ray is six foot, five inches tall. It would be such a disadvantage, even though I know those guys, they're really, really good.

AK: War Raiders?

BT: No, you know what? Creed Brothers. It would be a Steiner throwback and we can go out there and beat the hell out of both of those guys and show them what wrestling is truly all about. But Creed Brothers. Yeah, yeah.

AK: Final question: It wasn't too long ago on NXT, that Trick Williams invited Cody Rhodes to the cookout. Which one of your trainers, whether it be Bubba Ray, Mickie James, Undertaker, are you inviting to the cookout?

BT: Probably be Mickie James.

Because like I said, I have no love lost for Bubba Ray, as well as the Undertaker. Me and Mickie James, we got a history together. We've worked together. As well as Mickie and my wife is really, really close at the same time, so that's probably why she'll get invited.