The Bookerman

“Let’s put our fantasy booking caps on.”

“Let’s try to book next year’s WrestleMania.”

“Here’s how to do the Invasion angle the right way.”

For years, fans, journalists, bloggers, writers, podcasters and video personalities have tried to book and rebook wrestling. Whether it’s wanting to write the best future story or going back in time to right wrongs, people love to be the creative who crafts the perfect wrestling angle, the richest character arc and the most incredible event.

For 25 years, the Bookerman has been one of these people. He is a godfather of fantasy booking.

The Bookerman was born smack in the middle of the World Wrestling Federation territory and grew up during the golden era of pro wrestling, as Hulkamania ran wild and filled arenas across the country. He would curiously watch Saturday morning programming and monthly house shows from a distance, as his love of wrestling wouldn’t crystallize until the late 1990s.

Yup, the Monday Night Wars. The Bookerman was stirred to pro wrestling through the storytelling of late 1998 and early ’99. The Survivor Series “Deadly Game” tournament, Mankind vs The Rock, and the second act of Austin vs McMahon fed his creativity. Because he was an East Coast kid, it was all about the WWF, though The Bookerman would curiously switch channels to see stars like Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ric Flair and Goldberg on World Championship Wrestling’s programs. Oh, and sometimes he would tune in late at night to watch the chaotic hardcore style of Extreme Championship Wrestling. Heck, he even saw a show at ECW Arena back in the late ’90s.

The WWF hit a creative peak in 2000, just as The Bookerman discovered a love of scripted television writing. He would write fake television shows starring his high school friends, delivering scripts to everyone each week. At night, he’d watch wrestling and wonder if he could write the way they did on TV.

So The Bookerman hit the internet, and he found BOOK, a subsection of the groundbreaking website otherarena. There he would start a fantasy promotion and book several shows. Sometimes he’d write a wacky wrestling project or two. In the other corners of the internet Bookerman got into eFedding and became one of the biggest stars on the Rajah eFed boards.

After around 2003, The Bookerman got away from pro wrestling, dipping in every once in a while to see what was going on. He wrote multiple stories about pro wrestling in the late 2000s, and all the while at home he’d craft random rebooking scenarios.

Then The Bookerman discovered Extreme Warfare Revenge (EWR), which thrust him right back into the thick of the fantasy booking world. For the last several years, he has played EWR, Total Extreme Warfare (TEW) and Journey of Wrestling (JOW), starting several rebooks on the BeTheBooker message boards.

In other words, The Bookerman is fantasy booking personified.