“The Prodigy” isn’t simply a nickname for Ring of Honor Women’s Champion Rok-C. In fact, it’s about as accurate a descriptor as you could possibly find. At just nineteen years old, the recent ROH signee has a list of accomplishments that even the most highly-decorated wrestlers in the world have taken interest.
Of course, one of those wrestlers is none other than two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who of course Rok-C trained under at Reality of Wrestling. Something I found fascinating was that not only was Rok-C training with the legend at the age of 16, but that she knew that she specifically wanted to attend R.O.W at the age of ten.
As part of our recent chat for Love Wrestling, I asked the champ about not only her desire to train, but what specifically drew her to Reality of Wrestling.”
“Well, I remember searching up wrestling schools in Texas on my family computer, and I remember seeing how Reality of Wrestling also had these fantasy camps,” she began. “It was basically [that] if you were like a teenager or a little kid, you could go and kind of – it was like, I don’t know if it was a day, or a few days of just kind of training to become a professional wrestler, but it was kind of to see if you liked it or not. I thought that was so cool.”
“Honestly, mainly, it was Booker T! I was like, ‘wait, Booker T has a wrestling school in Texas?!’ I called my parents over, and I was like ‘when I turn 18 and I graduate from high school, I’m gonna move to Houston, and I’m gonna start training there to become a professional wrestler.’ Things just changed, and I started training up 13! I made history at Booker T’s by becoming his youngest champion at 18. That was mind-blowing, because I was just like, ‘wait, I kind of like manifested this, but not really, because I said that I would like start training there at 18, and then everything just kind of shifted. It’s so weird how like life works.”
Kind Words from Booker T
Of course, not only has Booker been instrumental in Rok-C’s training, but he continues to be one of her biggest advocates in the wider world of wrestling. Just over three weeks ago, Booker T said the following on his podcast:
“I’m telling you, the first time I saw Rok-C in the ring, I said she’s going to be a star. I look at her now, she gets up, she’s talented, I can see her doing great things.”
Booker T
“It literally makes my heart so happy,” said the ROH Women’s Champion when I asked her about that specific quote. “It’s just so cool because like I said, I had wanted to train at Reality of Wrestling since I was 10 years old! I remember the first time I met Booker T and I asked for critiques after my match, he was talking to me and I remember my mind kind of drifted off for a second and I was like, ‘Wait, am I actually talking to Booker T right now?’ I was like, ‘okay, what were you saying?'”
“It’s just so crazy and it’s really cool because Booker T is so awesome, and him and Sharmell, they’ve kind of watched me grow up, essentially. I started there when I was 16, and I’m about to be 20 now. It’s just so crazy, and it means the world to me to hear those words from Booker. I remember he told me he’s like, ‘I remember the first time I saw you, like, you looked like a deer in the headlights. Now, you’re doing amazing!’ I’m like, ‘well, thank you, that means so much!'”
Favourite Booker T Stories
I grinned before asking my next question.
“Without getting me in too much trouble here,” I laughed, “give me your best or your funniest Booker T story.”
“Oh, there’s a lot honestly. The thing is with Booker is he’ll kind of go off on a tangent when he’s talking to us like he’s trying to like explain something to us. He’ll kind of try to make a comparison with a story that’s happened to him, and it’s this crazy, extreme ‘story and all of us are just like, ‘Is he really saying this right now?’ He’s just so funny.”
The champ laughed. “Actually, I do have a funny story, which kind of may not be that funny to some people, but probably wasn’t funny to Booker at the time!”
“A few weeks ago, I was wrestling on the show,” she began. “A few weeks ago I wrestled for Booker T, and we were at a different location. We’re in these locker rooms where the door was completely shut, so you couldn’t really hear what was going on outside. You couldn’t tell what matches were happening before you – which I probably should have checked!”
“But, I’m literally barely putting on my boots and I’m like, ‘Hey, can you ask like what match is on right now?’ They come back and they’re like, ‘Oh your music’s on!’ I was like ‘You’re lying! No!’ They’re like ‘No your music’s on right now!’ I hadn’t tied any of my boots, and I was freaking out! I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I just heard Booker from the hallway. He’s like, ‘what?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ and he comes in he’s like, ‘what the hell is going on?’ I was like, ‘umm, you see…'”
“‘I was just tying my boots, and I was told…'” I interjected
“I was freaking out!” laughed Rok-C. “I was like ‘Why! Why does this happen to me!’ He walks out, he’s yelling I don’t know what, and then Sharmell comes in. She’s like, ‘It’s fine! Don’t worry! You go have a really good match, okay?’ It’s like mom and dad. So, I run out there. He’s pissed. We end up having a really good match, and after the match, he’s like, ‘okay, you redeemed yourself. You’re fine. It’s okay. Don’t worry! Water under the bridge. It was just so funny.”
Please credit Spencer Love/Love Wrestling with any of the above quotations. Thank you!
