Sam Roberts was WWE Hall of Famer Booker T’s guest on this week’s edition of the Heated Conversations podcast. Booker T asked Sam Roberts about his controversial NXT TakeOver Pre-Show remarks about Bianca Belair. Their conversation is transcribed below:
(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, WrestleZone)
Booker T: I watched it and I tell you (talking about NXT TakeOver in Phoenix – big news as far as Sam and Bianca Belair) – is there heat there? That’s one question people are asking, but Sam had an opinion and he had to get it off of his chest (laughter), you know what I’m saying? It seems like it was something that was weighing on you because before you even could make the statement you felt perplexed.
Roberts: Right.
Booker T: You seemed like B-B-B-B-Bill
Roberts: You said it was a crisis of consciousness, right?
Booker T: He didn’t want to get it out, but when it finally came out, man. To me, when I saw it, man, it seemed like you had some inner frustrations, something you just had to get off your chest. Talk to me about that, man.
Roberts: I told the truth, right? You know me on these panels. I try to an extent, but you know how the panels are. You’re in this mindset of making sure you do right by everybody, but at the same time everybody before the show is saying, ‘Be Sam. Give your opinion.’
Booker T: Do your thing.
Roberts: I’m like, ‘OK.’ I don’t know exactly how this message is going to come off, but I think you can tell – anybody watching the TakeOver Pre-Show can tell – it’s not like those words were crafted ahead of time. It’s like, let me just say what I feel right now. This is what you asked for.
Booker T: I knew it came out in that moment, but do you just feel like it was just that moment that you felt that way, not perse about her or anything like that (because she’s talented), or is this just the beard? (laughter) I’m serious, you know what I mean? You get the beard. It’s almost like a truth serum.
Roberts: Well, you know.
Booker T: I’m gonna tell it like it is. Is it the heel coming out of Sam Roberts, that’s what I want to know?
Roberts: I mean, I don’t know. If I’m a natural heel then maybe that’s –
Booker T: I mean, you know, there are heels, there are babyfaces. That was a heel promo. It was a heel moment and you got a lot of heat, a lot of buzz all over the Internet.
Roberts: Right. A lot of buzz, a lot of people had to be avoided after the show. That was me in a room by myself, ‘Let me not deal with anybody after this show.’ Let me just hide backstage until the show is over and then I can sneak out after everything.
Booker T: You know what though? I respect that. I respect you being able to voice your opinion because it’s an opinionated sport. That’s what we do. We talk about what’s going on.
Roberts: I never said she wasn’t talented. I thought I got everything across. I didn’t say she wasn’t talented. I didn’t say that one day Bianca Belair is not going to possibly be the NXT Champion. I said not tonight. Then we get to TakeOver and the match happens and everybody’s like, ‘Do you take that back because she had a good match?’ I said, ‘Is she the champion? No.’ I think I was right on all counts…..TakeOver, there’s five TakeOvers a year. There’s 4 or 5 matches on each TakeOver and these moments are precious. TakeOver for wrestling fans have been, I think, the premiere show in sports entertainment. 2018 was the year that every single TakeOver – those weekends wrestling fans left going, ‘Oh my God, did you see TakeOver?’ So, when I look down the card and I see a championship match where everybody knows Shayna Baszler is leaving with the title – everybody. I’m sitting there going, ‘Look. You want me to be the voice of the fan. I’m going to be the voice of this fan, me. I can’t speak for everybody, but I know there are people like me and I know there are people that disagree with me if we’re being honest. They would say, ‘We know she’s not gonna win the title.’”
Booker T: In a heartbeat. Tell it like it is. Don’t just go around beating around a bush. If you feel like someone don’t have it – that’s probably why I’m not on commentary anymore because I was always outspoken. I was always opinionated. I called it like I saw it. If the match was crap and the guys didn’t give me what I wanted to see, I wasn’t having a good time out there and that’s just the way it is.
Readers may listen to Heated Conversations in its entirety below:
