In a lengthy tweet, ex-pro wrestler and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T (Booker T. Huffman) formally announced that he is running for mayor of Houston, Texas, in 2020.
Booker T initially announced that he was preparing to enter the political ring on his local radio show, Heated Conversations , which airs on SportsRadio 620.
With multiple titles on his extensive resume, Booker T is a five-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion and one-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion as well as the winner of WWE’s King of the Ring tournament in 2006. He also won 11 WCW Tag Team championships as part of the Harlem Heat duo, and overall, he won 15 tag team belts.
After retiring from the wrestling ring, Booker T moved into color commentary and currently serves as a pre-show host on Monday Night RAW and WWE pay-per-views, the Inquisitr previously noted . He also owns a local promotion called Reality of Wrestling (ROW), formerly known as the Pro Wrestling Alliance (PWA). He also participated in the WWE Tough Enough reality show as a trainer.
Former WWE star ‘Booker T’ announces bid for mayor of Houston in 2019 https://t.co/uVarInqDKy pic.twitter.com/rK2mSIpnFs
— KPRC 2 Houston (@KPRC2) December 14, 2016
According to his WWE bio , Booker T popularized the word “sucka” in sports entertainment.
In his tweet that contained a statement about running for mayor of his home town, Booker T, 51, provided the following explanation about his political aspirations.
“I am happy to report that after great deliberation and with counsel of my family and friends, I have indeed decided to run for the office of Mayor in the 2019 race. My love for our city and my desire to be a positive change agent for Houston is not new, in fact it has been a significant motivator in y life for decades…In my book,, From Prison to Promises , I detailed the difficult moments of my youth, including struggling in poverty, and the choice I made to confront myself and subsequently rise above a life of crime and hopelessness…”
I am pleased to announce that I am running for Mayor of Houston. pic.twitter.com/cWI8LiHzOH
— Booker T. Huffman (@BookerT5x) December 13, 2016
Booker T continued in his announcement that has a privileged WWE global personality, he has acted as an “ambassador” to represent Houston in other parts of the country and around the world, and that all Houston residents “regardless of their economic circumstances deserved the same opportunities to build a better life for themselves” as he’s had. He also promised further announcements in the weeks and months ahead about his campaign team in the contest that will begin sometime in 2019.
Wrestlers going into politics is not unprecedented. Ex-wresting star and conspiracy theorist Jesse “the Body” Ventura famously served one term as Minnesota’s governor (1999 to 2003). In November, Rhyno (Terrance Guido Gerin) , who is still active in the WWE, unsuccessfully ran as a Republican in the heavily Democrat 15th House District in Michigan.
On Booker T’s radio show, Rhyno described his wrestling colleague as “overqualified” to serve as the mayor, CBS Houston reported .
“Wrestling not only prepares you for life but it prepares you for positions like that because you feel the emotion from the people you know what they want, you’ve built yourself from where you were to where you’re at now.”
WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. To Run For Mayor Of Houston https://t.co/hD2Ab8oxZi pic.twitter.com/YYrxXGec7x
— ComicBook NOW! (@ComicBookNOW) December 13, 2016
President-elect Donald Trump is also a member of the WWE Hall of Fame , class of 2013, in the same group for which Booker T was inducted. Trump hosted WrestleMania IV and V at the now-shuttered Trump Plaza in Atlantic City in the late 1980s and also engaged in make-believe feud (unlike his real ones during the presidential campaign) that “became a featured storyline at WrestleMania ” in 2007, Rolling Stone noted about the “battle of the billionaires” that culminated in a hair vs. hair match.
Trump recently nominated former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, who twice ran for U.S. Senate from Connecticut but fell short, as the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
It’s unclear if Booker T is a Republican or Democrat, but Houston elections are nonpartisan, so at least technically it doesn’t matter.
[Featured Image by Erik S. Lesser/AP Images]
