Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for Booker T

"Can you dig it, sucka?"

Fans in arenas across the globe rose to their feet and erupted with a thunderous ovation every time a certain six-time world heavyweight champion and 13-time tag champion made his way to the ring to do battle with some of the top stars the industry has ever seen.

A charismatic star with the ability to win audiences over with unrivaled athleticism for a man of his size, Booker T overcame the label of "tag team specialist" and New World Order-centered booking to emerge as a breakout star in Ted Turner's WCW before making the jump to WWE in 2001 and cementing his legacy as one of the premier stars of the decade.

Multitalented, Booker proved himself to not only be a fine in-ring worker but a comedic genius, as fans witnessed during his partnership with Goldust and his reign over the SmackDown brand as King Booker.

With a career spanning nearly three decades, Booker entertained millions and enjoyed tremendous success across three internationally recognized promotions.

In 2013, he was deservedly inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by brother Stevie Ray.

This is his story, told via his greatest matches and moments.

WCW Tag Team Champions

Booker T got his start in the pro wrestling industry in 1989 in his hometown of Houston. He and Stevie Ray worked for the Global Wrestling Federation but soon found their way to WCW, where they initially made an impact under the aliases of Kane and Kole.

A mainstay of World Championship Wrestling until its dying days, Booker established a connection with the audience during his time teaming with Stevie Ray in Harlem Heat. Together, they waged war with some of the top tandems of the 1990s, including the Nasty Boys and the Steiner Brothers.

Along the way, they compiled 10 WCW Tag Team Championship reigns and became the standard-bearers for tag team wrestling in the Turner-owned promotion.

Until The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) arrived in 1996 and began dominating the division, both in front of and behind the scenes, there was no question that Booker and Stevie Ray were the top team in the company.

Unfortunately, an injury to Stevie in 1997 left Booker aimless. At least, that is, until he was given the opportunity to try a singles run.

It was an opportunity he absolutely made the most of.

Going Solo

As the New World Order story began dominating airwaves, Booker enjoyed singles success in the absence of his brother. He captured the WCW Television Championship and battled the likes of Chris Benoit, Fit Finlay and the vastly underrated Rick Martel to hold onto it.

Two of those three stars he would become even more familiar with down the line.

It was during his days as the TV champion that fans and critics alike began to recognize the talent that Booker possessed. Oftentimes confused for a big guy with some solid athleticism but no real ability to put on anything more than a passable match, Booker proved all doubters wrong by busting his back to show just how special he was between bells.

The best-of-xeven Series for the TV title that he had against Benoit in 1997 not only resulted in some of the best free television matches of the year, but it served as the breakout Booker needed to show fans the type of talent he had.

Naturally, Booker's success would cause friction between him and a returning Stevie Ray, who betrayed Booker more than once.

After nearly seeing all of his momentum erased via an awful feud with his brother and the debuting Big T, not to mention the entire G.I. Bro fiasco, Booker capitalized on an opportunity given to him by Vince Russo and accomplished his dream of one day becoming WCW champion, defeating Jeff Jarrett at the 2000 Bash at the Beach pay-per-view.

Booker would wrestle numerous rematches against Jarrett and feud with both Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner, whom he traded the world title with on several occasions. By March, he had regained the gold for a fourth time and was clearly the face of the company.

But even the bright, young, charismatic star was unable to right the sinking ship that was WCW, and by March 2001, the company was out of business and Booker was one of the few stars willing to sign a contract with WWE.

Jumping Ship

Though things were not always particularly smooth, thanks in large part to backstage politics in regard to the former WCW talent, Booker managed to enjoy a great deal of success in Vince McMahon's company.

First, he forged an unlikely partnership with Goldust, which became one of the most unexpectedly great aspects of WWE television. Their on-screen chemistry and comedic timing, not to mention some of the absolutely ridiculous scenarios they found themselves in, entertained audiences at a time when WWE was very much struggling to create an identity for its Monday Night Raw brand.

Together, the team would capture the World Tag Team Championships at the 2002 Armageddon pay-per-view after months of trying to wrest them away from the likes of Chris Jericho and Christian and Lance Storm and William Regal.

Unfortunately, their reign would be short-lived, as Booker began a build to his first major world title opportunity and a date with Triple H.

WrestleMania XIX

One of the sorest subjects in the wrestling community is the World Heavyweight Championship match between Booker T and Triple H at WrestleMania XIX, mainly due to the racial overtones that the rivalry between the Raw stars had and the less-than-satisfying result of their gigantic title clash.

The March 3 episode of Raw in 2003 saw Booker eliminate The Rock and win a Battle Royal. As a result of that victory, Booker earned a shot at Triple H and his big gold belt. After two years of hard work and connecting with audiences even after WWE Creative had repeatedly done him wrong, it appeared as if Booker was finally going to capture the elusive world title on the biggest stage known to sports-entertainment.

When Triple H began mentioning that "people like Booker" and "his people" did not win major titles, what started as a wrestling feud became increasingly uncomfortable. Suddenly, it felt very much like Triple H was implying that Superstars of color are not championship material.

It was a sentiment repeated more than once, which meant even after the initial uproar, Vince McMahon made the decision to roll with it, at least for one more week.

It eventually disappeared, and the story transformed into a more traditional one, but there was still a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

At least the company would have the sweet payoff of Booker finally capturing the title and becoming the top babyface on Raw, right?

RIGHT?

Wrong.

Following a hard-fought, highly competitive match that saw Booker break out the Harlem Hangover for the first time in his WWE career, Triple H caught him with the Pedigree, then laid around for what felt like forever before finally pinning Booker and putting an end to any real shot he had of carrying over the pre-Mania momentum into the spring.

He would go on to capture the Intercontinental Championship and feud with Christian, but that was hardly a satisfying consolation prize, all things considered.

King Booker

The years 2004 and 2005 were not particularly good to Booker. Drafted to the SmackDown brand, he was a punching bag for The Undertaker, then turned babyface on a whim and feuded with John Bradshaw Layfield over the world heavyweight title in a program that did neither man any real favors.

From there, he missed out on a WrestleMania 21 match (because WWE Creative was stupid) and engaged Kurt Angle in a rivalry that began when the Olympic gold medalist made public his desire to have, um, relations with Booker's wife, Sharmell.

Sprinkled in was a best-of-five series for the United States title with John Cena and a rehash of the best-of-seven series with Chris Benoit, again for the U.S. Championship.

It was not until Booker defeated Bobby Lashley in the finals of the 2006 King of the Ring tournament that he finally regained momentum.

As the delusional King Booker character, the decorated in-ring competitor was able to flex his entertainment muscles.

He was completely over the top with the royalty aspect of the persona, honestly believing that he was the King of WWE and that all of his subjects on SmackDown should bow to him. It was completely ridiculous, but Booker was so invested in the character that it became some of the best television WWE produced all year.

King Booker captured the World Heavyweight Championship from Rey Mysterio at the Great American Bash in July and set off on a phenomenal run.

Sharmell was absolutely key to the success of the character, as were the previously mentioned Finlay and William Regal, both of whom became members of his "court."

For nearly six months, Booker became the centerpiece of SmackDown, the top heel and someone fans could not wait to see vanquished by the returning Batista.

They got their wish in November 2006, when The Animal defeated him for the gold at Survivor Series.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

In 2007, growing dismay with the way that he was being used led to Booker leaving WWE. With TNA Wrestling being a viable option, Booker joined fellow WWE alumni such as Kurt Angle, Christian, Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash in the company.

Together, he, Angle, Steiner Nash and Sting formed the Main Event Mafia, a group of established stars hellbent on ruling over the upstart company, mostly at the expense of the bright young stars such as AJ Styles and Samoa Joe.

From the very get-go, though, it became clear that Booker never really had his heart in the promotion. Sure, he headlined pay-per-views and even captured the company's heavyweight title. But he was not motivated, and it showed in his work.

After a year or so with TNA, he left to pursue other ventures, including opening up a wrestling school in his hometown of Houston.

Return to WWE, Tough Enough and the Hall of Fame

In 2011, WWE announced plans for the first new season of Tough Enough since 2004. Trainers would include Trish Stratus, Bill DeMott, host Steve Austin and the returning Booker T. Every week, the veterans of the squared circle would teach and criticize prospective talents in search of the next breakout star.

Of course, the winner of the competition never materialized into what the trainers and management had hoped he would, but the show still made for some incredibly entertaining and thought-provoking television.

It also served as the reintroduction of Booker to the WWE Universe. Soon, he took his place behind the announce position as a color commentator for the company.

He would make the occasional return to the ring, be it in a Royal Rumble or for a one-off match against Cody Rhodes, but it was apparent that his days as an active talent were over.

In 2013, Booker's career and accomplishments were recognized when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. It was a much-deserved honor for someone who had worked so hard to entertain fans, regardless of the storylines given to him or his place on the card.

The advent of the WWE Network has allowed Booker to segue into the role of analyst, something that better suits him than that of commentator. He can be seen weekly on the Raw Pre-Show and monthly as part of the pay-per-view kickoff panel.