Let’s dive into some “Moves of Doom Mondays” with the five-time, five-time, five-time World Champion and WWE Hall of Famer: Booker T! You’ll notice that in this edition of “MDM,” the retired singles threat and tag team veteran utilized a lot of effective kicks in his exciting style.
Many of those kicks were enough to get him where he needed to be—his hand raised in victory—but some were just more devastating than others.
Scissors Kick
Growing up on late 90s WCW, the Scissors Kick was a Booker T staple. He’d continue to use it WWE and it was generally followed up with the Spinarooni—basically his trademark kip-up or recovery.
When you have a faster-paced, athletic style having a way to recover once you’re off your feet is important, after all.
What I loved about it was that it was perfect for Booker T. You had this wrestler with a build that made him perfect for kicks or big boots. However, he wasn’t using kicks you’d see from most heavyweights.
The Samoan family of wrestlers made use of the Savate Kick or Super Kick. Meanwhile, you had some guys who hovered between junior heavyweight and heavyweight who stuck with the dropkick approach to leaving their feet.
Booker had some razzle-dazzle to his kicks and the Scissors Kick was up there with his hook kicks and the Harlem Sidekick as the most effective in his bag of tricks.
As far as its place on the DOOM Scale, it’s not that high but it did its job like most of his kicks. He just needed to slow down an opponent’s momentum and soften them up for his heavier artillery.
DOOM Scale: 2 out of 5
Houston Hangover (or Harlem Hangover)
The Houston Hangover was Booker’s main razzle-dazzle move, folks. It was a move that you’d see as a finisher for the Harlem Heat during their early WCW run and later on, you’d see it during his early WWE career. If you’re familiar with 2 Cold Scorpio’s Tumbleweed Leg Drop, you’ll know this move instantly.
By the time he hit WWE, I had watched enough All Japan Pro-Wrestling to get the concept of a Murder Death Kill move or a super finisher—something that should not be kicked out of and is only brought out for major matches.
A good example of this in the U.S would’ve been had Brock Lesnar been successful with the Shooting Star Press on Kurt Angle. In Japan, something like Kenta Kobashi’s Burning Hammer or his Diamond Head finisher fits the bill perfectly.
I could this being similar for Booker T or even something similar to the Undertaker’s WrestleMania dive or Shawn Michaels’ moonsault to the outside. I’d rate this better than the Scissors Kick because this was a finisher at one time and an effective one at that.
DOOM Scale: 3.5 out 5
Houston Sidekick (or Harlem Sidekick)
While the Houston Sidekick was an athletic move for a heavyweight, it’s still a leaping sidekick with Booker catching his opponent—ehhh, around the chest or head. At least that’s the target anyway. He would get some spring on the leap and could down an opponent with this move.
However, the real sauce for the Houston Sidekick came if someone was running at the former World champion or coming off the ropes only to get caught with this. It just had more stank on it when momentum was involved and sometimes it looked nasty.
There have been times when I’ve seen someone coming off the ropes, saw Booker spring up, and think “Oh, damn…this dude is coming in hot!” Sure enough, they ended up eating straight-up ankle and leg with much alacrity.
Also, keep in mind: next to piledrivers, kicks to the head get the double thumbs up from me!
DOOM Scale: 4 out of 5
Book End
The Rock and Booker T came up with pun-y names for the same move. I love that with finishers. It’s like the Master Lock: basic as hell submission hold but Chris Masters—now Chris Adonis—used it, renamed it, and I tuned in every week for the Master Lock Challenge.
I mean, not only the Master Lock Challenge but it was a highlight of the evening for me.
So, how devastating was this move? Well, he’s finished a lot of matches with it in a convincing fashion and was even able to retain championships by popping this finishing move.
After you’ve seen the Rock Bottom a couple of times, the Book End isn’t going to wow you but its effectiveness and how quickly it can be used gives it a pretty good DOOM rating.
DOOM Scale: 3.5 out of 5
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