After hanging up his wrestling boots in WWE all the way back in 2012, turning his attention to podcasting, his wrestling school/promotion, and his newest gig as NXT's color commentator, Booker T has officially made his return to the WWE ring as the 21st entrant at the Royal Rumble.

Wrestling his return at the Alamodome in his home state of Texas, Booker came down to the ring to a massive pop from the crowd, looked like a million bucks in his wrestling return, and even spun around on the mat before ultimately being eliminated by his brand new rival GUNTHER, the first entrant into the contest, within about a minute of his entrance.

All things considered, this was a pretty impressive showing for Booker in his in-ring return. While it would have been nice to see him secure at least one elimination in the match, maybe taking out someone like Chad Gable instead of feeding him to Brock Lesnar, in the end, Booker's return did exactly what he wanted to do, which was showcase that he can still go in a professional wrestling ring, which seemed like an impossible outcome a few days before the event, as he detailed to fans on his podcast earlier in the week.

Booker T and WWE came to an agreement before the Royal Rumble.

Before the Royal Rumble went on the air, Booker T commented on whether or not he would appear at the Rumble on his podcast, and at the time, he didn't appear too confident in his prospects.

“I’ve been working out, I’ve been training,” Booker T said via Fightful. “I’m still waiting for my invitation for the Rumble coming up. Still waiting on my invitation, but I’ve been training. You see the pictures I posted after that last match? I’ve been in the gym, I’ve been training. I’ve been underground. When you go underground training, Brad, you have no idea what that is all about. Trust me, you have no idea. This CrossFit and all that stuff don’t compare at all to going deep, deep, deep, underground, and that’s where I’ve been, man. I’ve been in the trenches [laughs], so I’ve been waiting on something to come in the mail.”

While some have wondered why King Book couldn't just declare himself for the match, the two-time Hall of Famer rejected the idea, informing his viewers that retired stars need to be invited to the match and get paid “a little something” to make it worth their time.

“It’s been like this for the last few years. I’m just waiting on that invitation,” Booker T said. “People don’t understand, and I’ve seen people say, ‘Man, why don’t you just declare yourself in the Rumble?’ Let me give you guys the rules of the rumble. You can only declare if you’re an active member on the roster. You can’t be a retired alumni and declare yourself. They have to actually send you an invitation, and with that invitation, it’s a little something else to go with it. We ain’t gotta talk about that, but yeah, I’m waiting on both of them.”

In the end, Booker got what he wanted, he returned to the ring in his home state, got a huge pop from the fans, and was eliminated in about a minute, give or take. In the grand scheme of things, not a bad way to earn a paycheck.