WCW fans and WWE legend Booker T can remember that even as a singles fighter, he didn’t always fly alone. In 2000, fans may remember that he had a real-life wife, Sharmell, or Queen Sharmell, who accompanied him to the ring and was involved in the stories.
A legend and WWE Hall of Famer in her own right (she was inducted in 2022), Sharmell is one of those performers that fans might not know much about, as much of her professional wrestling career televised major had her working as a valet for several wrestlers. Let’s take a look back at her career and see what fans should know about Sharmell.
10 dance and parade background
Born Sharmell Sullivan in Gary, Indiana in 1970, Sharmell’s first big break to fame was not in the ring, but on the pageant scene. In 1991, Sharmell won Miss Black America, representing her home state of Indiana. From there, she pursued a career as a dancer, finding work as a backup dancer for various artists, including Keith Sweat, James Brown, and P. Diddy. It was his background in dancing that ended up being his entry point into the world of professional wrestling.
9 Joined WCW as Nitro Girl
In late 1998, Sharmell became a part of WCW television when she joined the Nitro Girls, WCW’s resident dance troupe who entertained live crowds during commercial breaks. Working under the name Storm, Sharmell ended up linking up with several other nitro girls, namely Tygress, Spice, Chae, and Fyre, and they ended up forming a side project outside of WCW, a pop group called Diversity 5. The group only managed to put out two tracks and Sharmell/Storm left the group upon signing with WWE.
8 Valet to Prince Iaukea
By the year 2000, WCW began to incorporate the Nitro Girls into on-screen storylines rather than simply making them dance during commercials. Storm found herself paired with Prince Iaukea, who had been repackaged as the parody Prince The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea (later simply “The Artist”). As part of the gimmick, Sharmell found herself with a new name: Paisley.
During this period, Paisley ended up venturing into in-ring competition, first teaming with The Artist in mixed tag team matches and later making her singles debut in a winning effort against Tammy Lynn Sytch (better known as Sunny).
7 Retired while in WWE development
While some might assume that Sharmell was one of the many performers WWE retained after WCW’s purchase, she was actually released by WCW just prior to the purchase. However, she ended up signing with WWE that year anyway, and trained at WWE’s developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling to continue wrestling. However, an injury forced her to withdraw from in-ring competition, after which she became a backstage interviewer at Slap until she was released from the company in 2002.
6 Feud with Kurt Angle
Sharmell would make her return to WWE in 2005, now working as a valet for Booker T, whom she married the same year. During this period, they entered into a feud with Kurt Angle centered on Angle’s sexual harassment and harassment of Sharmell. The storyline, which Angle considers the worst of his career and attributed to Vince McMahon wanting to torment/embarrass Angle for a laugh, saw Angle pin Sharmell in a suggestive manner during a match and Booker T ultimately defeated Angle in a long combat in Slap.
5 Turned heel before Booker T
After the feud with Kurt Angle, Sharmell soon began to act more rough around the edges while working as Booker T’s valet, despite being a babyface act. During matches, Sharmell would interfere and cheat on Booker’s behalf, often when he wasn’t looking, a practice that ended up helping Booker T win the US Championship from Chris Benoit. When this was revealed to Booker, he ended up feigning an apology before attacking Benoit himself, revealing that he was fully aware of Sharmell’s interference and turned evil.
4 Become Queen Sharmell
In 2006, Booker T would defeat Bobby Lashley in the final round of the King of the Ring tournament and embark on the mandatory repackage of the “king trick” that many KOTR winners do. As a result, Booker T became King Booker while Sharmell became Queen Sharmell, and the duo began speaking in hilariously poor English accents as part of their new royal selves.
The following year, the two would go into a breakup storyline, where a loss to Matt Hardy caused Sharmell to drop Booker T, as he was unable to defend his honor.
3 Joined Booker T in Impact Wrestling
In 2007, both Booker T and Sharmell left WWE and headed to the competition, TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling). One of his first fights was with Robert Roode and his manager, Ms. Brooks, which led to a winning effort in a mixed tag team match at final resolution in early 2008. Before long, Booker T would turn around and join the Main Event Mafia faction alongside Sting, Kurt Angle and others, with Sharmell joining alongside her husband.
two Infamous match with Jenna Morasca
In Main Event Mafia, there were several valet assistants, including Jenna Morasca, who was famous for competing on the reality show. Survivor. Sharmell and Morasca often got into fights with each other during MEM segments, so after a backstage physical altercation, a fight between the two was inevitable. His singles match was held in victory road 2009, and not only was it Sharmell’s only singles match on Impact, but it also immediately went into infamy as one of the worst matches of all time, thanks in part to Morasca’s overall poor performance in the ring.
1 Co-founded wrestling reality
In 2005, before leaving WWE, Sharmell and Booker T decided to start their own wrestling promotion to help keep the Houston, Texas wrestling scene alive, as well as generate new talent. Initially called the Pro Wrestling Alliance, in 2012 the company changed its name to Reality of Wrestling, and boasts alumni such as WWE’s ma.çé, NXT’s Roxanne Perez and AEW’s Athena. In addition to training and hosting live events, Reality of Wrestling also hosts a weekly television show that airs on YouTube.