Jump to content

Jerry Lawler

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jossi (talk | contribs) at 05:11, 15 July 2007 (Reverted edits by 4.254.73.161 (talk) to last version by Jossi). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jerry Lawler United States
Born (1949-11-29) November 29, 1949 (age 74)
Memphis, Tennessee
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Jerry "The King" Lawler
Billed height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight[undue weight? – discuss][1]
Billed fromMemphis, Tennessee, Tennessee[1]
Trained byJackie Fargo
Debut1970
Retired2006

Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949) is an American professional wrestler and wrestling commentator, known throughout the wrestling world as "The King". He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment working and wrestling on its RAW brand as the color commentator. He also wrestles and occasionally commentates for the Memphis Wrestling promotion.

Career

As a wrestler

Jerry Lawler has made history as being the wrestler with the most championship reigns of all time. He has won a total of 123 titles in his career; 30 of which were the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. Lawler held the championship another 13 times when the National Wrestling Alliance controlled the title.

Earlier in his career, like many wrestlers, Lawler took his turns as both face and heel. Perhaps the best-known gimmick of this period was his on-and-off feud with an erstwhile tag-team partner, Australian wrestler Bill Dundee, whom Lawler began teaming with in 1987; Lawler also feuded with Dundee between in 1985 and 1986. A celebrated "grudge match" between the two at Memphis' Mid-South Coliseum represented a rare example of theatrical make-up blood actually being found in use at a pro wrestling event, since the match was being taped for an NBC television program documenting the rise in popularity of wrestling. Lawler also had a long-term feud with "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant during the late 1970's and early 1980's. Lawler earned himself the nickname as "The King (of Memphis Wrestling)" after he defeated his idol Jackie Fargo and "knocked Fargo off his throne."

Lawler's matches in Memphis usually had two common elements: first, there was very little emphasis on the part of Lawler on technical wrestling skill, often appearing proud of himself for pulling off what might be considered common moves at that time such as a dropkick. Most of the time, particularly later in matches, he relied mostly on punches. This lack of technical skills was emphasized against him in the plotline of his first ascent to the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in a several-month war with Nick Bockwinkel. Second, particularly during the times he went face, he would almost always appear to fall far behind in a match, only to seem to gain his second wind in a comeback attempt, which would be initiated by pulling down the single shoulder strap on his uniform, much to the delight of the fans. This would be followed by a flurry of fists to be finished off by a flying fist drop off the top turnbuckle or a piledriver, when allowed by the association he was wrestling in at the time. Lawler would sometimes perform the piledriver on his opponents, which was illegal in the Memphis promotion the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), which Lawler worked for between 1974 and 1987. In 1987, Lawler and Bill Dundee went to work for Verne Gagne in the Twin Cities section of the AWA in late 1987.

Lawler unified the American Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title (defeating Curt Hennig on May 9, 1988) with the World Class Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Title (defeating Kerry Von Erich on December 13, 1988), creating the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship. After a dispute with AWA owner Verne Gagne, Lawler left the promotion and was stripped of the AWA World Title (although he remained the WCCW Champion). Shortly thereafter Lawler started the United States Wrestling Association along with co-owner, Jerry Jarrett. The WCCW Title became the USWA Title. From its start in 1989 to its end in 1997, Jerry Lawler held the USWA Heavyweight Title a total of 28 times. He began working for the WWF in 1993. Entering the federation as a heel, Lawler soon began a lengthy feud with Bret "The Hitman" Hart over the latter's winning of the inaugural King of the Ring tournament. The feud ended when Hart defeated Lawler in a "Kiss My Foot" match at King Of The Ring 1995. After the match, Lawler kissed his own foot with the help of the victorious Hart. Despite some brief feuds with other faces, such as The Ultimate Warrior and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, in 1996, Lawler gradually began to settle into a role as the primary color commentator for WWF TV telecasts. In November 2006 Lawler began a small feud with RAW wrestler Chris Masters, leading to Lawler taking on the Masterlock Challenge.

Lawler was initially set to wrestle Hulk Hogan at the PMG Clash of Legends, a Memphis Wrestling event, on April 27, 2007. WWE took exception to the match with the reasoning that WWE stars are NBC Universal talent and since footage of the events surrounding the match was being filmed for Hogan Knows Best, which airs on VH1, there was a conflict. WWE tried to force cancellation of the event. The event took place on April 27 2007, with Paul Wight replacing Lawler. In response, WWE has pulled all its talent from Memphis Wrestling shows.[2]

"Feud" with Andy Kaufman

Lawler may be best known for a publicized feud with Andy Kaufman, that was later revealed to be completely contrived (kayfabe or a "total work" in wrestling parlance). The truth about it being a work was kept secret for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death, until the Emmy Award-nominated documentary A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman aired on NBC in 1995. It all started with Lawler challenging Kaufman to fight "a real wrestler" instead of women from the audience since Kaufman had been defending his Intergender Championship against random women from audiences, whenever he guest starred on talk shows, and challenged them for $1,000 since 1979, to which Kaufman responded by making the controversial short film "I'm From Hollywood" and mocked the people of Memphis (Jerry Lawler's hometown) as stinky and uncivilized hicks. Lawler and Kaufman then fought on April 5, 1982, where Lawler gave Kaufman the piledriver and broke Kaufman's neck. Afterwards, Kaufman would then continue to show up at the Mid-South Coliseum and vow that he would get his revenge on Jerry Lawler.

On the television show Late Night with David Letterman in the early 1980s, Lawler was in an interview with Kaufman. The two engaged in a shouting match and Jerry got up and slapped him, to which Kaufman responded by getting up and swearing profusely at Lawler before throwing Letterman's coffee on Lawler and walking off the set. No lawsuit was filed. It was later stated by The King in his 2002 book "It's Good To Be The King… Sometimes" that the entire incident was staged, at the request of Andy, in order to further the wrestling angle between the two.

The feud, including the Letterman incident, was dramatized in the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon in which Lawler played himself. After the incident on Letterman occurred, Kaufman would team up with Jimmy Hart and offered a bounty of $10,000 to anyone who could piledrive Lawler and put him in the hospital; nobody could ever manage to do so to Lawler, when the bounty was in effect in 1982, and thus the bounty was never enforced. After fighting Kaufman and Hart in a handicap match, Lawler would team with the Assassin. In early 1983, after months of feuding with Lawler, Hart and Kaufman got into a fight, and Kaufman made a promise with Lawler that if he helped him take on the Assassin, he (Kaufman) would officially retire from wrestling. Kaufman now defended the Intergender Title at the Memphis Coliseum since he returned to wrestling in August of 1982, and added two additional prizes to the $1,000: that any woman who could finally manage to pin him (Kaufman) would have the privilage of marrying him, and that Kaufman would also shave his head completely bald if he ever lost to a woman as well. Three minutes into the match, Kaufman threw powder in Lawler's face and let the Assassin piledrive Lawler as well. Lawler would then officially end the feud by throwing a fireball in Kaufman's face as Jimmy Hart was crowning Kaufman the "New King of Memphis Wrestling."

As a singer

Lawler has recorded some material. Among these are two late-70s recordings: "Cadillac Man/Memphis", and "Bad News". During his feud with manager Jimmy Hart (Jerry Lawler is a factor for "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart entering professional wrestling. Lawler wanted to record a wrestling album with him singing and, since they had gone to school together, he called Hart and asked him to be a part of it) in the mid-80s, Hart became known as "The Wimp", a nickname given to him by Lawler and chanted by fans, and was the subject of the song "Wimpbusters", which was sung by Lawler to the tune of the popular hit Ghostbusters by Ray Parker Jr.. A music video was also made featuring Lawler, legendary announcer Lance Russell, and wrestlers such as Randy Savage, Jimmy Valiant, Dutch Mantel, Tommy Rich, and Rufus R. Jones, along with footage of "The King" beating Hart and his "First Family" (a very young Brian Christopher also made an appearance as a young child being bullied, and another child is seen wearing a replica of Tully Blanchard's West Texas State jersey). He also recorded a CD called, "Memphis' Other King".[3]

As a commentator

Lawler often shows a code of morality in his commentary; for example, even when he was decidedly pro-heel at the announcer's table, he would show respect for a face wrestler who was legitimately injured. His tune has always changed whenever one of WWE's valets are involved, in which case he often uses innuendo to hype the valet ("Puppies!") and has been nicknamed "Puppy Patrol". Lawler's commentary began in 1988, while with the CWA, and since that time Lawler's core routine has not changed.

Throughout most of his stay in WWE, Lawler has served as a color commentator, first with the promotion's syndicated programs and later on RAW. Originally, in WWE, Lawler would often root for the heel wrestlers. During this time, whenever he would walk down the aisle, whether to wrestle or go to the commentator booth, the fans would chant "Burger King" at him (in regards to this, in 2005, Lawler dressed as The Burger King for the Halloween edition of RAW).

As the years went by he has become more of a face, therefore having two face announcers instead of one and one split. This can be attributed to Lawler's comedic comments which, over time, grew on fans. Since the fans were already getting behind Lawler, the WWE turned him into a face wrestler, having him feud with various heels (most notably Daivari, an Arab-American heel who insulted Americans) often defending fellow RAW commentator Jim Ross. In a likely attempt to re-instate a heel commentator, Jonathan Coachman (previously a mild-mannered interviewer) was turned into a heel and began to work color commentary on RAW". Lawler's broadcast persona over the decade has changed, from being acidic and mean-spirited to slightly more level headed and fun-loving.

On May 1 2006, Lawler briefly returned to his classic heel-style color commentary (in Coachman's absence), culminating in a segment where he played along with the Spirit Squad's insistence that play-by-play announcer Joey Styles proclaim Kenny as the new WWE Champion with the proper "spirit" should Kenny win his title bout (Styles would have to wear a cheerleader outfit on the next RAW episode if he was found to not be showing the proper enthusiasm). Styles refused, began insulting Lawler and slapped him. Lawler knocked down Styles, who angrily retreated to the back of the arena. Lawler quickly apologized to the crowd, insisting his kidding around was all in good fun, but Styles refused to accept Lawler's apology or to rejoin him on commentary. Instead, Styles delivered a hard-hitting shoot-style promo where he bashed WWE, Vince McMahon, sports entertainment and the fans before saying he was quitting. Joined by Todd Grisham, Lawler returned to his current face-praising routine for the rest of the broadcast. It was announced on May 3, 2006 that Lawler would be rejoined at the RAW announce table by former partner Jim Ross. On May 22, 2006, Lawler reverted to his status as a tweener personality. However in more recent times he has become a total face commentator. A good example was his recent feud with Chris Masters when he turned to J.R. and said "Do you remember when I used to tell you to be quiet at his (Masters) entrance and enjoy it? Well, I'm over it now."

He has reverted back to a tweener personality on occasion, with the feud between RAW/SmackDown! and the ECW brand as an example. Despite the current rivalry between the (now) McMahon-led "New Breed of Extreme" and the "ECW Originals", he refers to the brand (regardless of whomever is competing for ECW) as "Extremely Crappy Wrestling", which he had done in the past when referring to Extreme Championship Wrestling. He also reverts to his tweener status whenever RAW and SmackDown! themselves feud, staying loyal to RAW regardless of who competes.

Feuds as a commentator

In 1997, as part of a WWF cross-promotional deal with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), Lawler insulted the credibility of ECW as a commentator on RAW. Later in the evening, ECW owner Paul Heyman personally called him over the air and gave a rebuttal. This led to several ECW wrestlers making appearances (and even wrestling matches) on WWF television, with Lawler all the while insulting ECW and its wrestlers. He was booked to wrestle Tommy Dreamer at the ECW Hardcore Heaven pay-per-view in August 1997, and despite interference by Rick Rude, Sunny, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts, he still lost.

In 2000, Lawler was involved in a feud with Tazz when Tazz had tried to intimidate Jim Ross. Tazz told JR to slap him and he did but when Tazz said to do it again, Lawler intervened and punched Tazz. There would be many more incidents including Tazz busting Lawler open with a metal pitcher while doing commentary, resulting in a brawl in the ring. Tazz also came through the crowd and applied the Tazzmission from behind and also smashing a car window in JR's eye. This all culminated in a match at SummerSlam 2000 which Lawler would win when JR smashed a candy jar over Tazz's head whilst he had the Tazzmission on Lawler. This rivalry would continue after SummerSlam. On the SmackDown! before Unforgiven 2000 Lawler and Chris Jericho took on X-Pac and Tazz and would win by disqualification when Tazz attacked Lawler with a leather strap. This lead to their match at Unforgiven being a strap match which Lawler dominated but would lose by knockout. As Lawler was about to touch the fourth turnbuckle, Raven came through the crowd and delivered his Evenflow DDT on Lawler, with Tazz taking advantage and applying the Tazzmission. This would end their rivalry but Lawler would begin a short feud with Raven. The two competed on the following RAW with Lawler winning by disqualification and a rematch on the following SmackDown! which Lawler would also win, this time by countout when Raven walked away.

On the August 25 2003 episode of RAW, The Coach and Eric Bischoff complained about co-general manager Stone Cold Steve Austin with Christian joining in. Austin came to the ring when Coach took a verbal shot at Lawler, who responded by challenging him to a match. However, after Christian said he's tired of being ignored, Austin changed the match to Jerry Lawler versus Christian for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. After a distraction from Coach who pulled Lawler out of the ring, Christian rolled up Jerry Lawler for the 3 count.

On the September 1 2003 RAW, Lawler would challenge Coach to a match after he was awarded "Employee of the month" by Bischoff and would lose after Al Snow pushed him into the ringpost. This would spark a feud between Lawler and JR against Al Snow and Coach. On the September 15 RAW, Lawler would defeat Snow in a quick match with a rollup after Coach and Al Snow came to the ring dressed as King and JR. At Unforgiven 2003, Lawler and JR would lose to Snow and Coach for their jobs after Chris Jericho interfered by dropkicking JR in the back of the head. They would regain their jobs one week later when JR defeated Coach in a "country whippin'" match following a stunner.

At Survivor Series 2004, Randy Orton was the winner of a "Survivor Rules" match, giving him and his team control of RAW for four weeks. This would lead to a "Legend versus Legend" match on November 29 2004 between Lawler and Ric Flair. Lawler would lose the match by submission when Flair grabbed the ropes while applying the Figure four leglock, leaving Lawler no choice but to tap.

Lawler was involved in a feud with Gregory Helms, who he defeated at New Year's Revolution 2006 with a diving fist drop. He also faced The Coach in a Royal Rumble 2006 qualifier, which he lost due to a distraction from the debuting Spirit Squad and a quick roll up.

Lawler was defeated by Tazz at ECW One Night Stand 2006 by knockout in 35 seconds from the Tazzmission, following a distraction from Joey Styles.

Lawler also played a minor role in the feud between Randy Orton and Hulk Hogan, in favor of Hogan. His involvement in the feud was started by accident when Orton rudely shoved Lawler, without apologizing. Lawler later returned the favor and threw Orton into the ring towards an angry Hogan. On the July 31, 2006 RAW, Orton slapped Lawler in the face while he was doing commentary. Minutes later, Lawler challenged Orton to a match the next week in Lawler's hometown, Memphis, Tennessee. Lawler lost the match when Orton kicked him in the groin when the referee wasn't watching and giving him an RKO.

On the November 6, 2006 edition of RAW, in defense of Jim Ross and his job, Lawler agreed to wrestle a match against Chris Masters with one hand handcuffed to the top rope. He eventually lost by knockout to Masters' Master Lock. The storyline continued over to the November 12, 2006 edition of RAW, when Lawler took on Chris Masters in the Masterlock Challenge. Lawler put up a better struggle than anyone up to that point but would eventually pass out to the hold. A week later he would beat Masters in a 1-on-1 match. When Masters had the Masterlock applied, Carlito walked towards the ring. Masters released the hold and began shouting at Carlito, making the mistake of turning his back on Lawler, who would roll him up for the win. On December 18, 2006, Lawler participated in a 30-Man Battle Royal in which he was eliminated by Masters as he ran at him to eliminate him.

As a politician

In 1999, perhaps inspired by fellow wrestler Jesse Ventura's successful run for the governorship of Minnesota, Lawler ran for mayor of Memphis, finishing third in a field of twelve candidates without actually campaigning.

Other statistics and notes

Lawler is a combined 93 time Heavyweight Champion.

Lawler was hired as a commentator for the XFL alongside his RAW co-host, Jim Ross, in 2001.

Lawler holds the record for most times appearing on the WrestleMania commentary team. He has done color commentary at every WrestleMania since 1994's WrestleMania X, with the lone exception being WrestleMania X-Seven which took place during his time away from the company. In a Byte This! interview before WrestleMania XIX he stated that he's "yet to do it all 'till he wrestles a match" at WrestleMania.

So close are Lawler and Jimmy Hart, that on April 2, 2005, when Hart was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Lawler performed Hart's induction.

Lawler hosted the WWE Hall of Fame ceremony on April 1, 2006, in lieu of regular ceremony host "Mean" Gene Okerlund, who was being inducted that night.

On March 31, 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2007. William Shatner handled Lawler's induction.

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Dirty attacks
Lawler was known for his myriad of illegal attacks during his career. The most notable were:
  • Throwing fire
  • Foreign objects (including "phantom foreign objects" removed from either his tights or a hidden area in the ring which an opponent would sell as if they had been attacked by brass knuckles, or cause a referee to "reprimand" Lawler allowing him to set up yet another dirty move)
  • Catchphrases

Championships and accomplishments

  • Maryland Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Mid-America
  • NWA Polynesian Wrestling
  • NWA Polynesian Pacific Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • NWA Virginia
  • NWA All-Star Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • Power Pro Wrestling
  • PPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Bill Dundee

Personal life

Lawler has been married three times. He has two children from his first marriage. His son Brian, who has previously wrestled in WWE (as "Brian Christopher" and "Grandmaster Sexay"), is now performing in independent promotions. His other son, Kevin, has dabbled in professional wrestling as both a referee and wrestler. In his book "It's Good To Be The King… Sometimes", Lawler says he believes Kevin's short physical stature has prevented him from reaching success similar to Brian.

His second ex-wife Paula was dragged into a feud with him for the Memphis Wrestling promotion.

He met his third wife, Stacy "The Kat" Carter, at a charity softball game in Memphis, Tennessee on July 23 1989.[4] In mid-February 2001, Carter (who was a valet and has also made in-ring appearances) was released by the World Wrestling Federation.[5] He left the company in protest.[5] Carter decided to leave Lawler in July 2001, and they separated not long after.[6] He rejoined the WWE in November 2001.[7]

Lawler claims to have "never" touched alcohol, preferring Coca-Cola instead. This has led to his extensive Coca-Cola merchandise collection.

Lawler is a Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns fan and has often said on WWE TV that outside of his hometown of Memphis, Cleveland is his favorite city to visit. Lawler spent part of his childhood in Ohio.

Lawler is an accomplished artist, and has done various paintings, portraits, and caricatures of sports stars, film stars, and other professional wrestlers. He also drew the illustrations for a children's book written by fellow wrestler Mick Foley, entitled "Mick Foley's Christmas Chaos". It has recently been announced Lawler will work with DC Comics on a Superman project. Lawler is a lifelong fan of Superman, and said on WWE.com that the call was the "fulfillment of a lifelong fantasy".

Lawler is a cousin to Wayne Farris, better known as The Honky Tonk Man.

Lawler has a tattoo of a crown on his upper forearm.

Notes

  1. ^ a b "WWE Profile". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  2. ^ WWE Pulls Jerry Lawler From Hogan Match, Big Show Replaces The King, Details Inside
  3. ^ "Lawler's Album". KingLawler.com. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
  4. ^ Jerry Lawler. It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes (p.333)
  5. ^ a b Jerry Lawler. It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes (p.403)
  6. ^ Jerry Lawler. It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes (p.415)
  7. ^ Jerry Lawler. It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes (p.372-373)

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Jerry Lawler.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jerry_Lawler&oldid=144739379"