I wouldnt say after years of crap booking. Two things that have to be said of Booker is that firstly he did himself no favours, with constant talks of retiring (why would WWE push someone who could be out of the business within months?).
Secondly, after he stopped bitching about retiring, he got one of the biggest pushes of his career with the King Booker gimmick, that was probably more over with the fans than even his heyday in WCW.
Granted, between joining WWE and his King Booker gimmick, there were plenty of ups and downs, but I think it was defo a 50/50 split between it being WWEs poor booking and Booker constant saying he was gonna retire.
There are many wrestlers that I would say have been wasted by WWE, Booker isnt one of them, at least not completely.
I'd give it about half and half. I remember when he first came in with the Invasion and all and they were just booking him really badly for a while. (the feud with Edge for a shampoo endorsement. his feuds with Rock/Austin/Triple H all made him either look like crap or just silly, too.) then they put him with Goldust and the two of them made that work. but as soon as it was getting over, it seemed like they just split them up. "hey, this is working, let's give Goldust epilepsy and have Booker shipped off to Smackdown and have him bitch about it all the time."
I did try to watch again a little bit when they revived the best of seven angle with him and Benoit and that was some great stuff, at least until they had to stick Orton into the middle of it.
there was I remember a lot of his talk about retiring, and I don't know if he was serious about that or just attempting to use it as a threat to get a better deal or what. but for several years it did seem like he was getting wasted. I was really surprised when they gave him the KOTR win and added that to his gimmick. it seems like that did respark his career somewhat.
