Booker T Says Graves Is Reason He’s Not on Raw, Threatens to Beat Him Up

On Booker T’s “Heated Conversations” podcast today, he said that the reason why he’s no longer on the Raw announce team (he was replaced last week by Jonathan Coachman) is because WWE thought that he was going to attack Corey Graves because Booker T would get angry when Graves would make fun of him on the air. He said that WWE told him that they were “going to take a step back” and put him back on the kickoff show panels to “cool [him] down.”

He then said that he was about to “beat him so bad” and if he catches Graves on the street, he would “tattoo him.”

When listening to the audio, it sort of seems like he’s playing it up a bit, so it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s “cutting a wrestling promo.” Him being annoyed at Graves is possibly real, because Booker T mentions that Graves “messed with his green,” but Booker later challenges him to a fight at WrestleMania during the rant and his co-host treats the whole thing as a joke / lighthearted pre-planned promo.

The transcript and the audio is below so you can judge for yourself what’s a shoot and what’s a work.

Transcript via James Oliver and PWInsider.

People ask me about Corey Graves. Corey Graves is good at what he does, you know? Corey Graves, he’s thrown jabs at me, I’ve thrown jabs back, you know? And you know, the thing is Corey Graves, of course, yeah, he’s a college educated young man. His vernacular is a little different than mine. You see that word I just used? Threw that out there – just want you people to know, I ain’t studied this, it’s just something that we just threw out.

But I tell you, if I got Corey Graves into a fisticuffs, I would beat him down like he stole something. I would be whooping his ass all day long. Because that’s the thing – my thing is this. I’m a nice guy, until you get on my bad side. Corey Graves, right now, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s on my bad side, but he’s the reason that I’m not on Monday Night Raw right now. Because, you know what, a lot of people in the company thought I was gonna jump on him, I was gonna do something bad to him, I was gonna drag him, I was gonna take him out to the woodshed, I was gonna beat that man so bad, I was gonna beat him until this man say, ‘Please, please, please, just don’t beat me any more.’

That’s how hot I was getting. That’s how close I was getting. So, they said, ‘Hey, Book. We’re gonna take – step back a second, alright? We’re gonna regroup, alright, we’re gonna press the rewind button. We’re gonna send you back to the Kickoff show of SmackDown, Monday Night Raw pay-per-views and cool you down for a second. Cause we don’t want you to do anything to Corey Graves, because we know what you could do to him. We know Corey Graves could do… he’s sitting there for a reason, man. He’s sitting there for a reason, and Corey Graves knows it.

You know what? I’ll tell you this here. I want all you people out there to know, you heard it right here Heated Conversations, Sports Radio 610, it’s probably gonna make all the dirt sheets like Meltzer and all those guys. But if I catch Corey Graves on the street, I’m gonna do something to him. Alright? I ain’t gonna do it at the office or anything like that. But if I catch him… not gonna do it in the airport, nah, I’m not gonna do that. But if I catch Corey Graves on the street? You see that little bouffant hairdo he got? I’m gonna rearrange it for him. Alright? I’m just saying. I’m just saying… Let me catch him at Starbucks. I’m a tattoo him…

He’s one of those guys gonna have to walk it like he talk it… Me personally, everybody knows my reputation… I get mean, when you mess with my green. And right now, my green is being messed with, you know what I mean? So, me and Corey Graves… WrestleMania coming up, right? There’s room for one more match. Right now, on my show, Heated Conversations, Sports Radio 610, I’m calling Corey Graves out to a fight. Not a match. Not a pre-show posedown or anything like that. I’m calling Corey Graves out to a fight.

Corey Graves part starts at around the 1:18:00 mark.