WWE WrestlePalooza has come and gone, but debate continues over how the event was received. Some fans were surprised when ESPN writer Andreas Hale gave the show a C grade. That reaction has now drawn criticism from WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, who defended the event and pushed back against the rating.

Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T made it clear that he felt the grade was far too low. He highlighted that there were only five matches on the card and none were bad, while two stood out as exceptional. He singled out the women’s world title bout as the true highlight, praised Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre as a hard-hitting battle, and described the mixed tag team contest as possibly the best he has ever seen.

“There were five matches on the show , only five , and not one was bad. Two of them were absolutely stellar. The women’s world title match was the crown jewel, Cody and Drew had a hell of a time, and the mixed tag might have been the best of its kind I’ve ever seen. So how do you give a show like that a C? That’s crazy , that’s a crazy take.”

Booker compared the criticism to reactions around the recent Crawford–Canelo boxing fight, noting that while it was not a wild brawl, it was a technical contest that still told a story. He said wrestling should be judged in a similar way, emphasizing long-term narratives over instant gratification.

“When I look at professional wrestling, I look at the whole story. It’s not easy to knock it out of the park every time. We have to layer and build stories to reach the bigger picture. We don’t even know where the John Cena–Brock Lesnar story might go. So when people rush to judgment , as Johnny Cochran would say , I always say sit back, watch, and wait, because the best is yet to come.”

While Booker admitted that Cena vs. Lesnar may have been the weakest of the five matches, he still considered it effective storytelling. He recalled how kids in the crowd were in tears during the match, proof to him that it struck the right emotional chord.

“What more did people want from Brock and Cena? I’m not saying it was the best match of the night , if I ranked them, it would probably be last out of the five , but it had strong dramatic moments. For the naysayers, go back and watch the footage. When they pan the crowd, you’ll see kids crying real tears. As a babyface, if I can get a real tear from someone in the audience, I’ve done my job. Don’t just watch the match; watch the crowd. You’ll see emotion, drama, and real theater.”

Booker questioned the trend of assigning letter grades to wrestling events, saying the show told great stories and built toward the future. He said while improvements can always be made, WrestlePalooza featured classic elements and strong performances that made it far better than a C.

“I don’t know when wrestling became about letter grades. We went from star ratings to A, A+, maybe A++. For me, it was simply a damn good match leading to whatever comes next. Could it have been better? Sure. Could it have been worse? Absolutely. Was it a classic Brock Lesnar–John Cena fight? I think so.”