Booker T Believes This Old School Tradition Could Have Prevented Post-AEW All Out Brawl

Earlier this week, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman spoke with WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. During the exclusive interview, Booker T addressed the backstage drama between CM Punk, The Young Bucks, and Kenny Omega.

AEW's controversy started on Sunday at AEW Out, when Punk called out several people including "Hangman" Adam Page, Colt Cabana, and the Bucks, during the post-show media scrum. After his comments, Punk and his trainer Ace Steel got into a backstage fight with The Bucks and Omega. At the top of Wednesday night's "Dynamite," AEW President Tony Khan had announced that the Trios and AEW World Champion has been vacated. As noted, Punk won the AEW World Championship from Jon Moxley at All Out, while The Young Bucks and Omega defeated Page, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds to become the new AEW World Trios Champions.

"That could have been it, but one thing about the business," said Booker T. "I was talking on my show 'Hall of Fame,' and it's something that we've always had the respect to do is the guy that was working in the main event, we would always go to that guy and we would say, 'Hey man, really appreciate you for the house, bro. Thanks for the house, man.' We would always do that out of respect, but the guy at the top, he never came to us and said, 'Hey guys, you can thank me for the house.'

"And I think that's something that the business has gotten away from. I've heard certain guys like CM Punk talk about Wrestler's Court and how it was crap, how it was bull, but those are the ways we used to make sure our locker room stayed a certain way with certain guys. We policed that locker room and we did it a certain way and I think at the end of the day, some guys did like Wrestler's Court, but for me, I was all in because it was something that we did to make sure that guys that came in that locker room, they knew the protocol."

"This could have been handled if they believed in Wrestler's Court, but a lot of these young guys today think we're old, we're outdated, we really don't understand what they're trying to do, but for me personally, I have a wrestling school," said Booker T. "I work with nothing but young kids and I do understand that I got to go down to their level in order to bring them up to my level. I understand if you do not change with the business or just change with the times, the times will pass you by so if I had the little mustache and the faded haircut, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation."

During the interview, Booker T noted how AEW needs a character like the Undertaker, who was someone that the locker room listened to one way or another. 

"CM Puck didn't seem to want to play ball with whoever that Undertaker character was going to be in this room. He seems to be wanting to be that character in the locker room. At least that's how I discerned this. There again, I think that's where a lot of the problems going to come in at where these guys don't go by the traditional code of the way the business was run for so many years and I think it was run very, very well, especially the locker room from an attention perspective, but I don't think Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, those guys, they're not off into the Wrestler's Court, and then to put CM Punk on trial, that's like putting Donald Trump on trial. We're going to have a lot of roadblocks in the way. And Punk, there again, is one of those guys who doesn't believe in Wrestler's Court as well so I didn't see something like that working, but if they did have a system like that and were able to police themselves and talk amongst themselves and put each other on trial, I think it would be a much, much better place." 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Wrestling Inc. for the interview and transcription.