Booker T has given his thoughts on the new WWE ID program.
Back in October, WWE announced its independent development program that is designed to give independent wrestlers a path to WWE with support, guidance and a spotlight on social media.
The announcement was met with a mixed response based on how the program could play out in the long-term as while many were happy that aspiring stars were given this opportunity, others expressed concern that the independent scene could suffer in the United States the same way that the UK did with the launch of NXT UK.
Multiple schools were given ID accreditation in the press release, including Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling in Texas. Speaking about the new program on his Hall of Fame podcast, the former World Champion praised the system and how it is for those who genuinely want to pursue this path:
“A lot of these independent guys right now, they got a booking on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in three different places, and they’re just going all over the place. Nobody is seeing them, there’s no cameras rolling, there’s not a guy in the back, a veteran, an OG, that can tell them, ‘Hey man, you might need to work on this.’ Because a lot of those promoters just don’t know because they have never been there. No disrespect or anything like that.
But I think having a program like this, being able to be mentored, guided on a full-time basis…I would think it would be only beneficial to somebody that’s seriously thinking about working at that next level. Now, if they just want to do independent wrestling, they just want to do backyard wrestling, they just want to play wrestler, there’s a lot of places to do that. But a program like this ID program, it’s gonna be for the elite guys and girls out there that want to partake on this journey,”
In another interview, a fellow Hall of Famer also praised the WWE ID system.
Booker T Assesses The Stars Of Today
Seeing the stars of the present and the future in action each week, the NXT announcer recently compared their skills to that of the previous generation. In a recent interview, Booker T claimed that the stars of today are missing one key skill.
Recently Booker T gave a WWE ID to a new signee on one of his shows.
H/t to Fightful.