WWE Legend The Boogeyman recently spoke about his match with Booker T at Wrestlemania 22, revealing how injuries changed what that match could have been and explaining just how good Booker T was to be in the ring with.
The Boogeyman is one of the scariest wrestlers in Wrestlemania history and still strikes fear into fans of WWE decades after he last wrestled full time in the promotion. In his short run in the company he had many memorable moments, freaking out various superstars with his worm eating and the most disgusting moment in history, when he ate a growth off of Jillian Hall’s face (video below, be warned).
His most memorable feud was with Booker T, the 6 time world champion who was one of the few men to become a star in WWE after joining from WCW in 2001. He was well respected as a consummate professional and was tasked with working with the inexperienced Boogeyman during the early years of his career.
Marty Wright (his real name) joined the WWE as part of the Tough Enough reality show in 2004, although was kicked out of the competition for lying about his age. He was kicked out of the competition but was later signed by WWE despite his lack of experience as a professional wrestler.
Due to his advancing age and little experience in the ring, he was paired with the more experience Booker T for his first Wrestlemania match. It was at Wrestlemania 22 where Booker T vs The Boogeyman were set to face off in singles action before disaster struck – Boogeyman tore his bicep which put the entire match in jeopardy.
However, The Boogeyman revealed in a recent interview that he credits Booker T with keeping the match going and working around his useless left arm, which he had “no use of”. Despite a harrowing injury, Booker T managed to carry The Boogeyman to a decent match and even let him win the bout. He later said that the match was “fun” and that it was “great working with those guys.“
Speaking during a virtual signing with K & S WrestleFest, The Boogeyman said;
Everybody I worked with was so much fun to work with but one of my favorites though was with Booker T and Queen Sharmell. Now that feud went on for a minute but prior to WrestleMania [22], I had torn my bicep and they weren’t gonna allow me to go into WrestleMania but I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s a chance of a lifetime.’
Every wrestler right now on this earth, that’s their dream to be on WrestleMania and it was two days prior that we were on a house show and I tore my bicep and I was with Booker T and him being such a professional, beginning of the match, my bicep was torn so we still had another ten, 15 minutes to go or whatever but in any case, Booker T just worked my arm, he said, ‘Don’t worry about it.’
He took me out, boom and then WrestleMania, I had no use of my left arm. It was completely done and my finish was a choke and Booker T being the professional that he is, I don’t know how the hell he worked it but he positioned my hand on his f*cking shoulder to where it looked like it but I literally had no use of my other hand and picked me up and did the chokeslam.
In fact, he even helped kick me out because I couldn’t move. But yeah, I owe so much to him and Queen Sharmell. It was great working with those guys. It was fun.
Injuries would be too much for Boogeyman and he would retire from WWE a few years later. However, he still pops up occasionally in WWE, especially during Halloween, and made a surprise appearance in the 2015 Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Bray Wyatt in less than a minute.
What did you think bout Booker T vs The Boogeyman at Wrestlemania 22? Let us know in the comments or click below to read about Chris Jericho’s Barbed Wire Matches