King Booker

Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 250 lbs.
From: Houston, TX
Career Highlights: Former World Heavyweight Champion, United States Champion, World Tag Team Champion, Intercontinental Champion, WCW Champion, WCW Television Champion, WCW Tag Team Champion, 2006 King of the Ring

King Booker is living proof that hard work, determination and sheer will can make your dreams come true. The youngest of eight children, Booker grew up a "street kid" in Houston, Texas. By the time he was a teenager, he had lost both his parents. Although he had natural athletic ability, he didn't play organized sports. Instead, he was a drum major for his high school band. In his early adulthood, he was faced with the responsibility of being a single father. He took a "regular job" at a mini-storage company to earn money to raise his young son. But he was intent on making something of himself. His brother Stevie Ray announced he was going to wrestling school and invited Booker to come along. Booker didn't have the $3,000 fee to attend the school, but his boss at the mini-storage company "wanted to see [him] succeed," so he put up the money.

It turned out to be a wise investment.  Booker would become one of WCW's biggest stars over the course of his career there.  Booker ultimately joined WWE in 2001 after their purchase of WCW and worked to prove that he could achieve the same level of success in another company.  After a couple years of being in high-profile feuds with Superstars from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin to Triple H to Edge, Booker would end up becoming royalty when he won the 2006 King of the Ring.  After dubbing himself King Booker, he would become WWE's World Heavyweight Champion for the first time.  Booker would go on to reign over the "SmackDown Kingdom" with his wife, Queen Sharmell, by his side for several months.

Booker runs his own wrestling school and promotion in the Houston area that helps prepare younger athletes for the strenuous world of sports-entertainment.  Booker also enjoys acting in his time away from the ring and has appeared in the TV series "Charmed," the movie "Ready to Rumble" and commercials for Hungry Man dinners and Chef Boyardee.