X-pac opens today’s show by speaking about the death of legendary Japanese wrestler, Masa Saito. From a personal standpoint X-Pac says he was saddened to hear of Saito’s death. He adds that he loves Saito and he thanks Saito for everything he did for him early on in his career.

X-pac comments on the recent news that NJPW and ROH will host a dual-branded show at MSG during WrestleMania weekend next year. He points out that while this is an unprecedented move, these two promotions need to be careful not to poke the bear (WWE). He’s fairly certain that while these two promotions might still be considered friendly competitors to WWE, if they continue to do things like this they’re going to get WWE’s attention.

X-Pac adds that there’s no doubt in his mind that this MSG event will sell out, especially since it’s being held during WrestleMania weekend when a lot of wrestling fans will be centralized in the New York area.

X-Pac welcomes WWE Hall of Famer, Booker T to the show.

Booker T mentions that he got his start in the wrestling business in Dallas, Texas. His brother, Stevie Ray had a tryout and he followed him to the tryout that day. He points out and he and his brother just wanted an opportunity, and he thought promoters would be able to do something with the fact that they were two big, good looking guys who were legitimate brothers in real life.

He only worked in Dallas for a year, but he points out that he learned so much during that time that helped him later in his career. He points out that so many of today’s younger performers are focused on just rushing to get to WWE when they need to be focused on learning the business inside and out.

Booker T informs that he still loves the business because it gave him the life he has now. He’s been able to start his wrestling school and his own wrestling show, as well as run for Mayor and host his own radio show. He points out that there is no glass ceiling for him and he’s very proud of that.

He adds that he loves going to wrestling conventions and talking with people. He says his days go by so fast when he does those shows because he has so much fun telling stories and laughing with his fans. He points out that life is too short to be angry, and he wants to be happy and smiling every day he wakes up.

He started his own wrestling school/promotion called “Reality of Wrestling” several years ago and he points out that it’s very much like a family dynamic there. He likes to recruit his students at a young age in order to train them the right way and to watch them develop into professional wrestlers right in front of his eyes. A couple of his top performers now came in when they were 16/17 years old and now they’re in their mid-20s.

Booker T addresses why he decided to go to work for WWE after WCW’s demise, instead of sitting home and cashing guaranteed money from his WCW contract. He points out that time off is one of your worst enemies in the wrestling business. He had momentum at that time and didn’t want to squander that, even though he left a lot of money on the table by walking away from his guaranteed contract in WCW. He wanted to keep moving forward and test himself against the “top wrestlers in the world” in WWE.

He adds that he had to leave all of his WCW accolades behind when he arrived in WWE. He wanted to prove to the WWE locker room that he was there to be a part of that family and to work just as hard as the rest of them. He notes that it doesn’t matter how good you are in the ring; if you can’t survive in the locker room you won’t make it in the business.

Speaking about a potential return to the ring, Booker T informs that he wouldn’t say no if he was asked to work one more match, but he’s more focused on Reality of Wrestling and his young students/roster at this point. He admits that he needs to be able to prove that he can still go in the ring if need be, in order to ensure his students know he can still practice what he preaches.

Booker T speaks about the day he let the “N word” slip during a WWE broadcast. He calls that the worst day of his life as far as his wrestling career goes. He says that’s the one mistake he made during his career that he wishes he could take back. He still isn’t sure why he said that word that night, noting that he never used that word in the locker room or when he spoke to his friends.

Speaking about Hulk Hogan’s reinstatement into the WWE Hall of Fame, Booker T says that Hogan had to be reprimanded for the things he said on that tape, but he doesn’t think it’s reasonable to ban Hogan for life for that one isolated incident. He points out that a lot of people have probably said some nasty things behind closed doors and he thinks we all need to move past it and move forward.

Booker T mentions that a potential Brock Lesnar/Bobby Lashley match in WWE would be great, but it needs to happen before January when Lesnar appears to be heading to UFC. As far as picking a winner of the rumoured Lesnar/Daniel Cormier bout, Booker T says Lesnar can definitely beat Cormier if he finds a way to get on top of him. Booker T thinks this fight is a “Pick ’em”.

That sums up this week’s episode of X-Pac 1, 2, 360. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!