Booker T's coming for you in 'WWE LFG' season 2
It's a pretty good time to be Booker T. At WrestleMania 41, Jey Uso became the first alumnus of his wrestling school, Reality of Wrestling, to win a WWE World Championship. His prized protege Roxanne Perez has graduated from NXT with the highest marks, and is now a full-fledged title contender on the main roster "WWE Raw" brand. But the newest trophy on Booker's mantle is a bit different: He's one of the inaugural winning coaches of "WWE LFG," the company's newest reality competition through A&E TV.
While he's put 20 years into training the fanatical fighters of the future, he sees value in the new rapid-fire, sink-or-swim endeavor — and he's ready to go even harder for his crew in season two.
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'I mean, I'm a pretty good coach' Booker half jokes, breaking down what took him to the podium on the show's first go-round. Abbreviated from 'Legends and Future Greats,' the first season of "LFG" paired 17 of WWE's Performance Center athletes with some of its most decorated pugilists of the past. Broken down over 15 episodes, the competitors were given an array of tasks, both physical and creative, and asked to showcase what they picked up through strategically assigned matches, with eliminations happening through their respective coaches for the first three rounds. Then, the final eight were chosen after their performances via panel vote until there was one — or in this season's case, two — winners.
In some ways, it's akin to the earliest versions of NXT, but you won't see longtime veterans like Bryan Danielson or Low-Ki in the mix.
Fellow WWE Hall of Famers The Undertaker and Bubba Ray Dudley joined Booker as coaches, as did multi-time women's world champion Mickie James, to impart knowledge from their different corners of the wrestling world. Current stars like Gunther, AJ Styles and CM Punk made cameos during training sessions and matches to offer outside looks at the talents who hope to eventually earn a spot in their locker rooms.
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'We all do it differently. We all speak different languages," Booker says. "But at the end of the day, it all works out because we are all world-class caliber talent.
"I think that's what's really cool about the dynamic of the four coaches, is we all teach the same thing, but we all do it differently. But at the end of the day, you're going to get to your goal. I always tell my students, 'Put an asterisk by everything I say because it's the way I think.''
Everyone's approach is a bit different. The Undertaker exudes that kind of even-keeled, proud poppa approach that earns you a moniker like 'The Conscience of WWE.' Bubba Ray leans heavier into 'earning it' tough love than the rest of group, infamously refusing to shake contestant BJ Ray's hand upon his introduction. James, who entered WWE at a time when personalities in the women's division were … less than fleshed out ... seems really focused on helping talent find their 'why,' emphasizing the need to develop and showcase your personality between moves and steps.
Booker, who had the toughest path to wrestling superstardom out of the four, seems to have the biggest emphasis on urgency, knowing that one thing you can't teach — but absolutely can harness — is the desire to go and get yours.
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He's shown his desire to stand out from his peers his entire career, and still shows flashes of it throughout the show, with his not-so-subtle frustrations in trying to make sure his voice is heard. '[My mentality was always] it was only one meal on the table," he says. "There's 10 people in the room. Who's going to get it?
"I asked a lot of my guys that I work with … 'You ever been in a real fight?' If they say no, they got to go get in a rolling class. They can't even train with the other guy. They got to go start over here.'
Booker's pupil and eventual winner didn't have to step away.
Jasper Troy, from the appropriately named Huffman, Texas, was a NCAA D-I offensive lineman for four years with the University of Kansas and University of Northern Iowa, so the majority of his formative years were spent battling for space with monsters at close quarters. With his fire, and Booker's direction, he was able to secure victory. 'And that's what I saw in Jasper Troy from Day 1 in season one, over everybody in that thing," Booker says. "[I think] he would have been a close runner-up if he wouldn't have been under my expert tutelage. [Fellow collegiate lineman] Anthony Luke probably would have won. I'm just saying.'
Booker T imparts some old-school wisdom to the up-and-coming talent on "WWE LFG." (Photo via WWE/A&E)
Perhaps the most interesting part of the series is the push for the competitors to come up with things on the fly. You've heard WWE stories about last-minute name changes, adjustments to finishes, or promos thrown out to better fit the story that have to be relearned right away. With all of the participants almost exclusively having started their professional careers in the WWE system, they don't have the years of independent or promotional experience to have a tried and true persona or moveset that just needs tweaking. So watching the odd couple of Eric Bischoff and Sean Waltman ask them to come up with a faction, or AJ Styles challenge them to come up with a moniker and perform like it in a match, is a testament to how long it takes to not only learn how to wrestle, but to learn how to harness the emotions of the business as well.
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While it seems like an insane amount of pressure, Booker thinks that the kind of mini-mester format "LFG" provides could even benefit some in NXT, where they're getting the same information but in a slightly different package. 'One thing about it, the NXT talent is trained a certain way, and then to be able to get outside of the box and get under somebody else's training, you're going to see it," he says. "They may be telling you the same exact thing, but they may tell it to you totally different. And then you might go, 'Oh man, I've been hearing the same thing.' They'll understand it totally different.
"I think they would benefit from it tremendously.'
While Booker's student secured an NXT contract by winning, Undertaker was voted the season's overall winner, by virtue of coaching the other winner, Tyra Mae Steele, and for having the most students advance throughout the competition. The man who went from tag-team specialist to World Television Champion, United States Champion then World Champion was never satisfied by what he'd already done. So while Booker is eating right now, he's still dedicated to getting a bigger piece of the pie in season two.
"I'm taking the gloves off, I could tell you that," he says. "Because season one, I was robbed. Everybody saw it.
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"For me, I'm taking the gloves off by any means necessary. Like Ernie Ladd said way back in '78, I'm going to have to just step on some toes and step on some toes and keep on walking, Jack. For me, season two, like I say, the gloves off for me.'
He's proven to have a winning formula when it comes to preparation and production, so with even more motivation to win, there's a Legend ready to battle it out for the next Future Great to see them succeed.
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