Pulse Wrestling has confirmed that, after much speculation in the wrestling media, Booker T has quit WWE. This corroborates a report from Dave Meltzer from Monday’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter (click here for subscription information) that Booker quit the company when he was told he was suspended for 60 days, the suspension most likely coming due to failing a test in addition to appearing on the Signature list.
According to Meltzer, Booker, real name Robert Huffman, had been having a number of minor grievances with WWE recently and the suspension made up his mind for him that he should just quit. Now 42, Huffman has told people for a long time that he didn’t want to wrestle past 40. He has saved his money well, runs a successful hip-hop clothing store in a Houston mall, runs the Pro Wrestling Alliance academy in Houston and has ties to another academy in South Africa. All of this had already put doubt in his mind about signing the new contract WWE had been offering him.
Meltzer also wrote that Booker was upset that John Laurinaitis chose to start a brand new developmental territory from scratch in Florida rather than using the PWA. WWE went so far as to prevent Huffman from using WWE talent on his PWA shows, which led to him using some TNA talent instead, which raised a few eyebrows.
Expanding on the PWA issue, PWInsider.com wrote in a recent Q&A that this was “a big bone of contention with Booker when he was negotiating a new contract with WWE,” since he wanted it as part of the deal but WWE “balked.”
As additional details are clear, or of things change, we will provide an update on the six-time World Champion.
