When it comes to having a finger on the pulse of what's going on in the Performance Center in Orlando, few are as tuned in as Booker T, the two-time WWE Hall of Famer, host of the Hall of Fame podcast, and color commentator of NXT's weekly show.
Whether tasked with immortalizing important moments in NXT history via his unique brand of on-mic style, serving as a resource for performers looking to understand their place in the industry, or even inviting members of the developmental roster, some of whom have never wrestled a match outside of WWE, to his promotion, Reality of Wrestling, to experience what it's like to work against indie performers, Booker T has proven himself a unique addition to the developmental process and understands the future of the promotion better than most as a result.
So naturally, when Booker puts over a PC staple as someone who not only deserves more television spots but a match at WrestleMania 40 on his Hall of Fame podcast, folks have to listen, right? Well, when the performer in question is Jade Cargill, WWE's biggest signing of 2023, you'd better believe it.
“I'd love to see more of Jade Cargill myself, to be honest. Just put her in there and let her beat up some people, squash a few girls,” Booker T noted on his Hall of Fame podcast via Fightful. “I'm sure she's training. I'm sure she's down at the PC training on a regular basis, and that might be even better for her. You never know. The last time we saw Jade Cargill, she looked pretty d**n good in the ring. She did not look like she was out of place at all. I think that comes from just that little bit of training, trying to learn that intricate detail as far as why you're in the ring. So I think having that training with the WWE, working with those guys down there, will definitely give her that little bit of an edge, so when she goes to the ring, she's gonna feel a whole lot more comfortable being in there. I think it may not be a bad thing, her having a match at Mania, going out there and shocking the world, man, letting the people see what Jade Cargill is all about. I'm not opposed to that. She's got plenty of time.”
After spending basically her entire run in AEW squashing jobbers on television to set up for more expansive Pay-Per-View matches, with just four of her 52 televised singles matches lasting 10 minutes or longer, it's pretty surprising to see WWE largely keeping Cargill out of the ring in favor of… something, with just one appearance at the Royal Rumble in almost six months as a member of the roster. Could WWE throw her into the fire in a major way, taking Booker's advice and placing her in a WrestleMania match? Maybe yes, maybe no, but until it happens, fans will continue to hypothesize about what the future could hold for “That Chick.”
Booker T puts over Shawn Michaels' contributions to NXT.
Elsewhere on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T commented on another former WWE Champion-turned-NXT personality, Shawn Michaels, who currently fills the role of Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative with the promotion.
While Booker isn't as hands-on with the talents as Michaels, he still sees everything HBK brings to the table and is incredibly impressed with his ability to transition from player to coach.
“Shawn Michaels is definitely doing a h*ll of a job down there working with those guys, working with that young talent,” Booker T said on his Hall of Fame podcast via Wrestling Inc. “I always say, you have to have been in the game. If you [weren't] in the game, you [were] on the bench watching the team win the ring. But you were there, you soaked in that knowledge. Shawn Michaels, he worked at that next level. And I think what really makes it work also, and I think it proves something that a smaller crew, as far as brains in the room, the ideas may be a whole lot more crisp, a whole lot more clear. We can do a whole lot more work, as opposed to having 20 guys in the room trying to come up with ideas. As well as that NIL talent that's coming in. We've gotten a lot of good talent coming in – the Sol Rucas of the world. It's a mixture, as well as the independent guys that's coming in as well. So I'm loving every bit of what's going on in NXT.”
On paper, the idea to transition from Triple H to Shawn Michaels as the head of NXT left some fans a tad worried, as not all wrestlers make good executives, just like not all good executives make for good wrestlers. Still, in the end, the move has worked out incredibly well, with HBK providing fans with an incredibly entertaining show every Tuesday while building up future stars like Bron Breakker and Tiffany Stratton. As his developmental stars continue to become more and more prominent players on WWE's main roster shows, it's safe to say the legend of the “Heartbreak Kid” will only continue to grow.
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