WWE: King Booker, part 5

By 2003, Booker T's popularity had soared and he amicably separated from Goldust (at Goldust's request) in order to pursue the World Heavyweight Championship. In February 2003 he eliminated The Rock to win a battle royal for the number one contendership, granting him a title shot at WrestleMania XIX.

Booker T targeted Evolution after Batista and Randy Orton attacked Booker's former partner, Goldust. Booker would take aim at Evolution's leader, Triple H. Several weeks before WrestleMania, the incumbent champion, Triple H, cut a controversial promo on Booker T in order to gain heat. Triple H downplayed Booker T's WCW success, pointing out that the WCW Championship had been held by non-wrestlers like Vince Russo and actor David Arquette. He implied that Booker T, as a black wrestler, would never win a world championship in WWE. A week later Booker would get revenge by attacking Triple H in the bathroom laying him out. Booker T ended up losing to Triple H at WrestleMania XIX.

After several weeks of matches teaming with Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash in a feud against Triple H, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho. A match at Backlash took place which saw Booker's team lose after Triple H pinned Kevin Nash after a sledgehammer shot. Afterward, Booker decided to set his sights on the WWE Intercontinental Championship. After losing a battle royal for the title at Judgment Day, Booker would feud with the champion Christian and after a few matches (getting screwed out of the title on several occasions), managed to defeat him to become the new champion. About a month later, Booker was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his back and lost the Intercontinental title to Christian at a house show. Booker, meanwhile, was out of action until September, when he battled Mark Henry and Test for the rest of the year.

On the February 16 edition of Raw, Booker T and Rob Van Dam defeated Ric Flair and Batista for the World Tag Team Championship. Booker and RVD held the titles for a month even defending the belts at WrestleMania XX in an 8-Man tag team match. They lost the belts the next day on RAW back to Ric Flair and Batista.

On March 22, 2004 he was traded to the SmackDown! brand along with the Dudley Boyz in exchange for Triple H. On SmackDown!, Booker T quickly established himself as a heel again by disparagingly referring to SmackDown! as the "minor leagues". Booker walked out on RVD during a tag team match. RVD beat Booker T by DQ when RVD got caught in the ropes and Booker punched away at him. Next week Booker T defeated Rob Van Dam when RVD was distracted by pyro going off on the stage. Later on, Booker T bragged about how he was the biggest star on Smackdown!, until The Undertaker gong played and Booker ran! Booker would try to utilize voodoo magic in order to try and overcome his "supernatural" foe, however it did nothing to prevent him from losing to the Undertaker at Judgment Day.

In the middle of 2004, Booker T set his sights on the WWE United States Championship along with its champion, John Cena. After general manager Kurt Angle stripped Cena of his title, Booker took advantage of this and won an eight-man elimination match to become United States Champion. Booker and Cena participated in a best-of-five series of matches for the United States Championship. After an initial 2-1 lead against Cena, Booker T would lose to Cena in the following matches and was defeated in the final match at No Mercy 2004.

On October 21, SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long placed Booker T in a six man tag team match with Rob Van Dam and Rey Mysterio against John "Bradshaw" Layfield, René Duprée and Kenzo Suzuki. JBL expected Booker T to betray his partners, but instead Booker T pinned JBL, thus turning face once again. Booker T faced JBL for the WWE Championship at the 2004 Survivor Series on November 14, but lost after he was hit in the head with the championship belt. The next night Booker T demanded a rematch, citing Orlando Jordan's interference. He was then joined by Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker who also wanted a shot at JBL's title, prompting Theodore Long to make a Fatal Fourway match for the WWE Championship at Armageddon. Once again Booker T would fail to take the title as JBL retained.

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