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WWE: What Is Booker T’s Job, Exactly, Because He Isn’t Doing It

By Kevin Parvizi

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Although Booker T is a decorated wrestler and can be the voice of the WWE Universe at times, the former five-time world champion isn’t even attempting to perform the job the company is paying him to do. And you know what? He basically admitted that himself.

When Byron Saxton replaced David Otunga on SmackDown Live and was replaced on Raw by Booker T, many rejoiced. While Saxton is a bright, young announcer who projects genuine enthusiasm and makes it easy to root for babyfaces, Otunga spent most of his time burying heels, such as The Miz, or providing vapid insight on commentary. Otunga has since been a valuable member of the pre-show panels, but these commentary moves were generally seen as positives for both Raw and SmackDown.

Instead, Booker T has taken the commentary team backwards, because he actively takes the audience out of the match. Whether it’s his weird moans before a big move, his “He’s big” comments, or his obvious lack of knowledge of the current product beyond Raw, Booker T has been a detriment to a fan’s ability to enjoy the product.

Through his antics, Booker takes the attention away from superstars and onto himself, because by far the most egregious example of his poor commentary is his incessant hatred of Jason Jordan. The former American Alpha member is Kurt Angle’s kayfabe son, which means he should be in the midst of a huge push.

But Jordan is having issues getting over with the audience, and the fact that Raw‘s babyface announcer is busy hating on Jordan isn’t helping. Recently, Triple H was cheered for inserting himself into a Survivor Series match and Pedigree’ing Jordan, and while the pop was likely due to Triple H’s popularity, it’s troubling when a “Pedigree” to a babyface gets cheered.

In an appearance with Hughezy Entertainment, Booker explained why he’s been so critical of Jordan when calling matches, doubling down on his actions.

"“I’m not heeling on him (but) if I like you, I like you (and) if I don’t like you, I don’t like you—it’s that simple. To me, he has not proved himself to be a top guy on Monday Night RAW.”“I don’t see one sign in the audience that says Jason Jordan is ‘my guy.’ If you ain’t got no signs out there, it tells me one thing – you ain’t that hot or people just don’t care about you. Right now, Jason Jordan is lukewarm.”"

This is legitimately one of the most frustratingly stupid things I’ve heard someone in WWE openly admit this year, and let me parse out for you just how idiotic this statement is. Booker T is paid by the WWE to be the babyface commentary. That means his job (his only job!) is to put over the babyfaces. Michael Cole calls the action, Corey Graves supports the heels, and Booker cheers on the good guys. So by openly defacing Jordan on commentary, he’s failing to fulfill his main obligation, thus leaving Jordan hung out to dry.

Yes, Jordan is having trouble getting over, and his unconvincing promos aren’t helping matters. But nobody expected him to immediately get over, since he doesn’t have much experience cutting promos or fleshing out a character. He was in a tag team that was based around great technical wrestling, and Chad Gable’s goofiness would carry most of the personality traits.

A commentator plays a huge role in getting somebody over in the WWE. Graves, for example, has helped Alexa Bliss a ton by calling her “The Goddess”, and he’s also helped The Miz plenty by defending his heinous actions (or claiming that the “YES” kicks he stole from Daniel Bryan are his own “IT” kicks).

Maybe if Booker T didn’t spend so much time railing on Jordan for being “handed opportunities” or “using illegal tactics” (when it was Elias using illegal tactics in that match), the former All-American would have an easier time getting over. Maybe if Booker T actually did his job instead of forcing Cole and Graves to cover for Jordan, the latter would have more people in the audience taking him seriously.

There are plenty of other superstars who aren’t over with the crowd on Raw, yet I don’t hear Booker T burying those babyfaces. Where is his hatred for Dana Brooke or Apollo Crews? Why does he only hate Jordan? Because he doesn’t believe in Jordan as a top guy? That’s the most bogus reasoning I’ve heard, because, again, his job is to help Jordan become a top guy by accentuating his strengths on commentary to get the fans to buy into him more.

Jordan started to show signs of getting over with the crowd after two excellent matches with John Cena and Roman Reigns, but he’s back to square one despite winning a feud with Elias. And why is that? Because Jordan doesn’t have a character. But the fact that Booker spends more time trashing Jordan is a big part of that.

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In the back of my mind, I worry that Booker has something personal against Jordan, because I just can’t seem to come up with any explanation for why he would bury the guy.

It literally goes against his job description, and Jordan is a supremely gifted athlete looking to make good on the push he’s been given. Booker said in that interview, “if I don’t like you, I don’t like you.”

While he’s most likely referring to his distaste towards Jordan’s bland character, I can’t help but wonder if the dislike is in a literal, personal sense.

If Booker T dislikes Jordan’s character, wouldn’t he be better served giving him some constructive criticism or putting him over on commentary in ways that would enhance his character?

At this point, I have a hard time understanding what Booker T’s job with the WWE is, because he doesn’t seem to be interested in performing it. Furthermore, his commentary has detracted from all of the matches and has provided little insight.

Whereas Graves, Saxton, Cole, Tom Phillips, Mauro Ranallo, and Nigel McGuinness have all been excellent, Booker has legitimately added nothing. His wisecracks were once entertaining, but even the crazy uncle wears out his welcome on Thanksgiving Day. After months of his incoherent rambling, it’s time for him to take his talents to pre-show appearances on pay per views where his brand of commentary is more appropriate and less likely to grow tiresome.

Next: What Were The 10 Greatest Moments In Survivor Series History?

Oh well, at least we can look forward to hearing from Booker on the panel of NXT TakeOver: WarGames, because he totally watches NXT on the regular, right? Booker T may be upset with Jason Jordan’s push (or whatever his deal is), but I’m starting to get fed up with Booker’s “push” as a commentator.

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