Booker T Explains Why He Thinks WWE Needs To Rebuild Its Women’s Division

In a recent edition of the Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T discussed why he thinks WWE needs to rebuild its women’s division, Charlotte being one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world, and much more. Here are some of the highlights (via Wrestling Inc.):

Booker T on fans criticizing Lita taking a spot in the Royal Rumble: “The thing is if there is a spot open and there was two people available, and one of them was one of the young talents on the roster and the other talent was Lita, I’m taking Lita. Because that young gal has got plenty more years to actually build herself up to actually make it to that point to actually make an impact by stepping into that Rumble, opposed to just being in the Rumble. We know what Lita brings to the table and that’s eyes. Even though a lot of those eyes will be are going to be eyes from the past. But a lot of those eyes from the past make up a lot of eyes on the show. So, me personally, someone saying something like, ‘Lita should not be in the Royal Rumble because she’s taking a spot from one of the other 30 women. That’s the second part, taking a spot from one of the other 30 relative women that’s going to be in the Rumble. That’s the point right there, relative, that’s the question to me. I want somebody that’s going to be in it that’s relevant to being in there. Opposed to someone just being in there.”

On Charlotte Flair competing in the Rumble despite being a champion and why he thinks WWE needs to rebuild its women’s division: “Just think about it for a second, if you was booking that Rumble, who would you put Charlotte against, that’s the question. Sasha, she’s out for 4-6 weeks, Becky is in a program. You could throw Naomi in there, but what do you throw Noami in there for, just to have a match? You find Bianca Belair and say, ‘maybe we throw her in there? But does she win, or does she lose?’ I think we are in a situation right now like we talked about a couple of weeks ago on the show. a lot of the ladies, man, they’ve fallen off. Due to pregnancy, injury, whatever it may be. The WWE women’s locker room was not even a question a year and a half, two years ago. As far as would we have had an opponent for Charlotte Flair at this time. I don’t think it would have been a problem back then. But now, I think you have to wonder if you put her on the card, who do you put her against, and then why did you put her against that person? And then what do we do in that match to try to keep that person over? Then we know what we have to do with Charlotte. I think we’ve got to figure out how we build that female roster up again, and make it as relevant as it was a couple of years ago.”

On Charlotte being one of the best women’s wrestlers in the world: “All the ladies around the world in the business, Charlotte Flair, she ranks up there with the best of them. She really does. So to put someone in the ring with her, you have to have someone in the ring that’s believable. Perhaps that’s where the forbidden door opens, if Charlotte Flair was to step into the ring. If that forbidden door was open to where one of these Japanese stars was to show up at the Rumble just to challenge Charlotte Flair. To me, that’s money. I think that’s where we are going to have to try to go in the future in order to get our talent in the company to a place where we want them to be.”