Booker T has definitively closed the door on a potential WWE retirement tour, stating on his Hall of Fame podcast that he has no desire to return to the ring for the company. The Hall of Famer made it clear that fans looking for one last run have already seen it.
He explained that the “itch to scratch” for an in-ring performance is gone, and he is realistic about his current abilities compared to his prime. For Booker T, preserving the memory of his high-level career is the priority.
“You had it. You seen it. It’s done. I have no desire to go back out there in the middle of the ring and do that. I have no itch to scratch. I really don’t. I had a great time, you know, throughout my career. And entertaining the fans was something that I loved to do. I really did. I loved going out there and entertaining those fans. But I’m a realist. I’m a realist. I know I’m not the same person that I was when I was, you know, 25, 35, or 40. And I just want to be able to remember Booker T the way he did it, you know, which was at a very, very high level, man. The boy was bad. Boy was bad.”
While contemporaries like Goldberg and John Cena have had farewell tours in 2025, Booker T has established a different path for his career’s final chapter. His appearance in the 2023 Royal Rumble now stands as his final performance in a WWE ring, an appearance he considers a perfect swan song for that part of his career.
However, this does not mark a complete retirement from wrestling. Booker T plans to continue his in-ring career, but exclusively for his Houston-based promotion, Reality of Wrestling (ROW). He finds purpose in training his students and occasionally stepping into the ring with them, viewing it as a way to directly pass on his knowledge.
This approach is part of a long-term exit strategy designed to allow him to leave the demanding main roster schedule behind while remaining active on his own terms. His last singles match took place in January at an ROW event against Zilla Fatu. With his focus now split between his duties as an NXT commentator and guiding the next generation at his own school, Booker T has solidified his future in wrestling outside of a WWE ring.