The Life and Times of Booker "T" Huffman

Booker “T” Huffman is one of the most underrated professional wrestlers in the business today.

He has done almost all there is to be done in the world of professional wrestling during his 20 year career, but his story starts much earlier.

Born on March 1, 1965, Booker was raised in the rough area of South Park in Houston, and was the youngest of eight children.

He grew up wanting to be a professional dancer and spent most of his spare time practicing to break dance, along with several of his friends.

The group of them would go from park to park, looking for other kids to challenge or "battle."

After the unfortunate death of his father when he was very young, and the passing of his mother by the time he turned 14, Booker's older brother Lane stepped up to raise Booker and his siblings. 

After high school Booker went on to work a few jobs, including one at a Wendy's restaurant. After working there for 2 1/2 years, Booker and three other employees hatched a plan to rob the restaurant.

Their attempt was unsuccessful and the four men were arrested and sent to jail. Huffman was sentenced to five years, but only spent 19 months inside and spent the remainder of the time on parole. 

Shortly after being released from prison, Booker was working at a storage company in Houston when his brother Lane approached him about checking out a new local wrestling school that was being run by former WWF wrestler Ivan "Polish Power" Putski as part of the Western Wrestling Alliance (WWA).

At the time Booker was a single father and he was looking for a better life for himself and his son.

Here's what Booker told Slam! Wrestling: "I am the youngest of eight kids and my mother was a single parent too. So, the only way I could look at it was, if my mother had EIGHT, man, what kind of father would I be if I can't take time out to look over the ONE I have?"

"It was $3,000 to go to the school. At the time, I was just working a regular job and raising my son as a single parent. I was just trying to make everything work.

"It just so happened that the guy who I worked for at the American Mini-Storage wanted to see me succeed. So, he put the money up for me. He was a damn good boss."

Booker went to the school and was trained by Scott Casey, who helped to turn Booker's background in break dancing into "sports entertainment," while also teaching him about ring psychology. 

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