BY SACNILK

Booker T had already begun making a name for himself in WCW by 1996, especially alongside his brother Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat. But one match from that period still leaves him with mixed feelings — his Uncensored bout against The Road Warriors. Booker joined WCW in the early 1990s and eventually became one of the company's most successful stars. His partnership with Stevie Ray turned Harlem Heat into one of WCW's most decorated tag teams, while Booker later established himself as a singles wrestler and went on to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. By 1996, however, Booker was still building that singles identity while continuing to work closely with his brother. At WCW Uncensored 1996, Booker T teamed with Sting to face The Road Warriors — Hawk and Animal — in a Chicago Street Fight. The match featured the kind of chaotic action expected from a Chicago Street Fight, with the teams taking their fight outside the traditional rules of a wrestling match. Booker even recalled performing a Spinaroonie after hitting a missile elbow drop before leaving the match and eventually returning. Booker discussed the match while looking back at his WCW career on The Hall of Fame podcast. Booker admitted that, despite the match being a memorable night, he has never viewed it as something he was particularly happy about. “It was kind of bittersweet. It was kind of bittersweet pay-per-view for me, honestly, because I was working against the Road Warriors. It was me and Sting.” Booker explained that he believed he should have been in that spot with Stevie Ray. “It should have been me and my brother. It never should have been me and Sting doing that, you know. So, it was one of those moments to where, you know, I went out and did the work, got the work done because, you know, that's what I do. But, you know, it wasn't one of those things to where I was like, ‘Ah, man. This is like really, really so awesome.’” He said he and Stevie Ray had worked against Hawk and Animal before, but never received the kind of tag-team match they wanted. “I just always regretted, you know, that match because it was against the Road Warriors and I know me and my brother, we always wanted to beat all the old tag teams that came before us.” Booker continued: “The Road Warriors, we had tag matches with those guys, but nothing significant. And then I find myself on a pay-per-view against the Road Warriors, which just didn't make a lot of sense.” Looking back, Booker isn't saying the match itself was a disaster. His frustration comes from the missed opportunity. He wanted Harlem Heat to have that moment. Instead, WCW put him alongside Sting, leaving Booker to wonder what could have happened if he and Stevie Ray had been given the chance to settle things with The Road Warriors together.