Brady Booker ‘couldn’t dream of something better’ than signing with WWE

Some things, once you see them together, just make sense.

Brady Booker and World Wrestling Entertainment – better known as the WWE – make sense together.

The La Salle native and 2017 St. Bede graduate, and until recently University of South Dakota linebacker, was announced late last month as one of six new recruits reporting to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., by the worldwide leader in sports entertainment, also known as professional wrestling.

“I’ve always been a high-energy, enthusiastic, passionate person,” Booker said. “People who know me really believe this makes sense, maybe more than football.

“My look, the way I act. I like to have a good time. I’m over the top. I’m all for it, you know? I’ve never really been afraid to speak or act the way I’ve wanted to. This is a lot of fun. It’s really just a lot of fun. When it went public, I received so much love and support from my family and friends and people around the [Illinois Valley] area. It’s been so humbling, and I just want to say thank you.”

The now 22-year-old starred on the football field for St. Bede and then Quincy University before transferring to D-I South Dakota. But fighting back from a foot injury with one year of eligibility remaining and another coaching change looming, the 6-3, 240-pound Booker looked outside the football playbook for his next move.

“It was almost a joking thought. ‘What’s after football? WWE.’ And here I am,” he said.

“I’ve been a fan my entire life. My dad was a big fan of Hulk Hogan, and I remember we’d play [Hogan’s WWE, then named WWF, theme song] ‘I Am a Real American’ and be in the basement watching Monday Night Raw.

“[The move to the WWE] was smarter for my body. I like to think of football as chaos, but this is controlled chaos.”

While the WWE is famous for recruiting top-level amateur athletes – such as Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and current WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns – Booker’s path to the WWE was an unusual one.

He wasn’t recruited. He applied online.

“I had absolutely zero wrestling experience coming into this,” Booker said. “I Googled WWE application after a night of playing poker with my buddies when the fall [football] season got canceled due to COVID. I just filled out a questionnaire, and I got a call a week later.

“When I went to the tryout [in late 2020], they asked how I’d gotten there. I said I Googled it.”

After his signing, Booker reported to the Performance Center where he began training for his new career. He wakes up every morning at 6:30 a.m. to report at 7:30 a.m., working with weights with “a top-notch team and coaches,” his in-ring coaching staff helping him “work hard to perfect my craft” and promo classes to develop his persona and mannerisms as a WWE character.

“So far that’s all we’ve been up to,” he said. “We’re getting our feet wet.”

Booker said he’s been impressed by the resources the WWE makes available to its wrestlers, as well as the work ethic required to succeed. He’s taking an approach to the wrestling ring not unlike the one he took on the football field.

“If I can get better every day at one thing, I’m going to be just fine,” Booker said. “Taking that mentality that I’ve always used in sports – hard work, give it everything you’ve got – I’m going to do the same thing here, and I’m going to be just fine.

“I’m more comfortable here than I’ve been anywhere else. The people here have been amazing. Although I’ve always felt pretty big my whole life, I’ve never shown up anywhere and felt so average-sized.”

As far as his support, the son of Manuela and longtime area high school baseball coach Bill Booker said, “I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if it wasn’t for the way I was raised and coached and pushed by my dad and the love and support of my mom.”

Talent at the Performance Center fills the roster of the developmental third brand known as WWE NXT. It would likely be there that Booker would make his debut. He’s already appeared in one TV segment as an extra – with hopes of someday getting on the roster of WWE Superstars proper.

“Sometimes I wake up in my bed, I go to work and I come home, and I question if I really deserve this,” he said. “You couldn’t dream of something better. You know what I mean?”