Booker T Responds To Criticism Of The Hardys’ AEW Dark: Elevation Appearance

Booker T believes AEW Dark: Elevation should be reserved for up-and-coming talent, and stars like The Hardys should be more protected.

On the latest episode of The Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T discussed the topic of top stars competing on AEW Dark: Elevation, as Matt and Jeff Hardy did this past Monday. Booker would go on to note that his take would draw some attention, but he felt as if putting names like The Hardys on Elevation was a demotion.

“Hell yeah, it’s a demotion. I know that’s gonna get picked up but hell yeah it’s a demotion. Damn it, I’m not working on Dark, okay? Of course, for me working on Dark, which is a show that’s only on the internet, should be for the young guys coming up. I didn’t come up from the big show, no pun intended, which I’m talking about WWE,” Booker noted, “I didn’t come from WWE to work Dark. I don’t even know what Dark is and I don’t know who’s on it, I don’t know when it’s aired or anything like that, so for me, to be on Dark, it would make me feel a certain way, me personally, yeah it would.”

Booker claims that although he probably would have done it if asked, Vince McMahon respected him too much to ever put him on a smaller show such as WWE’s Velocity during his run with the company.

“Let me re-do this. If Vince [McMahon] came to me and said ‘hey, Book, I need you to work a Velocity show for me, we need to bump the ratings up on that show, we need some star-power to it’…what do you think I’m gonna say? I’m gonna say yeah but my boss, he respected me enough not to put me on that show,” Booker said. “He respected me enough as far as, you know, to keep my star-power at a certain position, so he kept me working around the main event guys and if I wasn’t working the main event guys, if I didn’t have anything, just say for instance, that ya know, wasn’t interesting for the show, I wouldn’t be on it. And that right there, for me, I didn’t take it as a knock, me not being on the show. So, yeah, I’ve been at WrestleMania and wasn’t at WrestleMania but they’d put me in the Battle Royale and let me win the Battle Royale and I’m like ‘did I actually need that?’ Not really but to get the extra check, all right, that’s cool [laughs]. Nah, I’m serious, you know what I mean?”

According to Cagematch, Booker T made ten total appearances on Velocity between 2004-2005, including one when he was the reigning WWE United States Champion. On a related note, Matt Hardy commented on some of the feedback in regards to The Hardys appearing on Dark: Elevation. Matt said that Tony Khan not only asked him and Jeff if they were OK with the appearance, but they were both willing to do it.

Read More: Booker T Looks Back On Feuding With Edge Over A Japanese Shampoo Commercial

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