If you're a typical WWE-only fan, you probably thought Booker T officially placed his boots in the center of the ring all the way back in 2012, when he took part in a 12-man tag match at WrestleMania XXVIII where his team – Kofi Kingston, R-Truth, Santino Marella, The Great Khali, and Zack Ryder – lost to the equally motley crew of David Otunga, Dolph Zigler, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, and The Miz.
If, instead, you're more of a hardcore WWE acolyte who keeps up with the goings-on of house shows, then you might recall that Booker T actually did another, much less heralded run immediately following WrestleMania, where he tag teams with the likes of Brodus Clay, Percy Watson, and Drew McIntyre against the team of Christian and Henry in the United Kingston.
Either way, few think about the name Booker T, wrestler as a modern thing, as he's been absent from Vince McMahon's company for the better part of a decade save for the rare appearance in street clothes between his pre-show responsibilities and role as a media member.
And yet, on Saturday, July 9th, 2022, Booker T took the ring once more for a real-life match in Reality of Wrestling, a promotion he's run since 2005, wearing a pair of his original WCW pants from 1998 nonetheless. What? You haven't heard of Reality of Wrestling? Well read on, my friend, as you will learn a quick crash course on the promotion and about what Booker T has been up to in the ring he owns.
Got to step back in the ring last night at Reality of Wrestling and it felt GOODT! pic.twitter.com/43VmeFdOjz
— Booker T. Huffman (@BookerT5x) July 10, 2022
Booker T bouts are still must-see even outside of the WWE.
In addition to being an all-time legend in both WWE and WCW, Booker T is also a very talented wrestling teacher and the owner of a Texas-based independent wrestling promotion/school first launched as Pro Wrestling Alliance in 2005 before being re-named Reality of Wrestling in 2012.
The school side of the Booker T wrestling empire has a proven track record of success. Performers like Sammy Guevara, Kylie Rae, and Rok-C, who is now known as Roxanne Perez in NXT all learned their craft at Booker T's school and have gone on to win multiple championships across the wrestling industry, from the TNT Title, to the ROH Women's Championship, the Warrior Wrestling Women's Champion, and the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship.
And as for the wrestling promotion side of the business? Well, though incredibly prolific in terms of content production, the actual in-ring work of Reality of Wrestling is far less well-known, especially outside of the greater Houston area. Since launching in 2005, PWA/ROW has had almost 200 events, from television tapings for its Youtube channel, which currently features well over 1,000 videos, or for Pay-Per-View live shows like Christman Chaos or Summer of Champions.
Though the promotion has earned some solid press in the past any time Booker T stepped foot in a ring, including his decision to reunite Harlem Heat for a bout against The Heavenly Bodies at ROW Final Heat back in 2015, his first solo match stateside since 2012 at ROW The Last Stand in 2019, or his first match back in the ring on July 9th, 2022, where he took part in a 10 man tag team match as the leader of Team Booker T both inside and outside of the ring versus Team Sharmell, the promotion has remained a well-kept secret in the middle of Texas – a tool both to entertain fans and to give valuable in-ring shots of his students.
Will Booker T ever return to the ring in a more full-time capacity? At 57, probably not, but hey, when you own a wrestling promotion and can book yourself in protected tag matches, why not throw on the tights from time to time and see how it goes, especially if they still fit almost 25 years later.
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