ECW Region, Calgary Subregion,Round 1: (11) Jerry Lawler vs. (22) Brian Pillman

[klunderbunker]

This is a first round match in the ECW Region, Calgary Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under ECW Rules. It will be held at the Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

#11. Jerry Lawler

Vs.

#22. Brian Pillman

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Well I'll give the edge to Lawler here because he is a far mor decorated name. Pillman is the case of 'brilliance that could've been'. Lawler on the other hand ruled the roost in his Memphis days. His WWF run doesn't speak favorably of him but make no mistake, Lawler will scratch and claw his way to the win.


Lawler here.

 

[Davi323]

Yeah, I gotta agree with Ghost. Pillman had the potential to be a top level wrestler, but unfortunately for him, never had a chance to get there...while Lawler has pretty much done everything there is to do in wrestling. Even completely disregarding ALL of the USWA titles that Lawler "won" (hard to give the guy credit for all those title wins when he ran the company) Lawler still had an exceptional career. He has accolades from all over, and during the 1980s, was arguably the 3rd biggest wrestler after Hogan and Flair. I can't fault Lawler for his WWF run, he had already been a professional wrestler for 22 years, and his skills had obviously declined by the time he got to Stamford. In his prime, Jerry the King Lawler was in a league very few people make it to.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

Not pumped for this one, at all.

I suppose I'll go with Lawler. In his prime, Lawler was a bigger deal, and to me, that means he would have beaten Pillman in the first round of a tournament like this. I can't see Flyin' Brian kicking out of that brutal piledriver. Always liked Pillman, but Lawler main evented a PPV one year ago. Pillman might be crazier, but Lawler is the tougher guy.

The King moves on.

 

[#hamler]

Lawler has held 124 championships within his career. Granted, not all are exactly major accomplishments but people seem to forget Jerry Lawler completely dominated Sothern wrestling territories in the '70's and '80's. He was legitimately known as an asshole and played that character well. While Brian Pillman was a fun talent to watch, he never amounted to much on a small scale like the territories like Lawler or a big scale like the WWE.

Lawler moves on easily.

 

[The Brain]

I’m a little surprised so far. I thought Pillman would be an internet favorite here. Even though there are only four responses it’s unanimous for Lawler so far. Although the four posts are from pretty knowledgeable old schoolers and we’ve seen many times the poll outnumber the posts so we’ll see what happens when the poll opens.

I was actually considering Pillman here. I always enjoyed watching Pillman and the Calgary Saddledome does give him somewhat of a home field advantage. I can’t put him through against Lawler though. I’m sure a lot of people will remember the loose cannon fondly and think of Lawler as an announcer but since we’re judging guys by their primes Lawler should win this one. He was a huge name in the 70s and 80s long before he ever stepped foot in the WWF. In his heyday Lawler beat a lot of names bigger than Pillman. Pillman is one of those guys who a lot of internet fans loved to watch but he didn’t have a lot of big time wins on his resume. I have a feeling the poll may favor Pillman but Lawler is the right choice here.

 

[PsychoBlack]

I can't vote for Pillman here. Lawler was the man in the 80's everyone got fed to him from Bockwinkel to Hennig to Hogan. Pillman was excellent but he never drew half the money Lawler did and I dont think he would have been able to carry a company like Lawler did the AWA

 

[NSL]

I'm going with Pillman, and yes, I'll throw a tantrum if he loses to Lawler. Lawler was a Memphis legend, meaning while he was the most-hated man in the world to some, he was also a basic "kick, punch, repeat" wrestler. He had a few decent moves, but nowhere near the speed that Pillman had, and could never keep up with the pace he'd set. Simply based on his legend status, it'd be an interesting match, but Pillman takes the W.

Always liked Pillman, but Lawler main evented a PPV one year ago. Pillman might be crazier, but Lawler is the tougher guy.

Not fair to point out Lawler recently headlining a PPV, with Pillman being dead and all

 

[jtolliver23]

So apparently I'm the one who has voted for Flyin Brian so far. Honestly, I just always thought Brian Pillman was better in the ring than The King. Nothing against Jerry Lawler, he was and still is entertaining, but I always thought Brian Pillman was better and put on more entertaining matches and feel like he should have had more title runs.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'm going with Pillman for the win. I'm going with him based on sheer ability and enjoyment factor as far as watching him wrestle goes.

Lawler won a shitload of titles in his career, possibly more than any other wrestler in history, and he's a multiple time World Champion. I give the man credit because he certainly did a lot during his time and he knew how to tell a story inside the ring. But his matches tended to be soooo boring. Lawler followed a very, very basic patern as NSL pointed out. If this match took place in Memphis, I'd vote Lawler all day long. Lawler was damn near unbeatable in Memphis. But, I do think Pillman would get the win after catching Lawler off guard with a High Cross Body.

 

[ShreddedWheat]

I'm taking Brian Pillman in this clash of styles, for two reasons:
1. The speed differential favors Pillman more than the power/grappling differential favors Lawler, and
2. Pillman has home ring advantage. If this match was in Memphis, I'd give it to The King hands down.

If venues are an important enough factor to merit listing them in these fantasy matches, then I'm playing under the assumption they're important enough to bear weight on the outcome of a match. So "hometown" star Pillman moves on. (I also found him more entertaining in the ring than Lawler.)

 

[Tastycles]

Pillman for me. Look, I know that Lawler was great, and still doesn't embarrass himself, but he achieved virtually nothing outside his home territory. Were this match in the USA, he'd probably still edge it, but the fact of the matter is that he is in his opponents home town, and several thousand miles from his own.

Pillman won significant national titles, Lawler didn't. Pillman featured on national television as a regular active competitor, Lawler didn't. Pillman popularised a style of wrestling on an entire continent, Lawler didn't.

 

[The Crock]

Pillman takes this one for me. I mean, Pillman was a great wrestler, but an even better athlete. If not for his untimely death, Brian Pillman would have had plenty more success -- even so, I take what he did over what Lawler did, with ease. Lawler dominated Memphis, but that was it. He did some great things -- his feud with Andy Kaufman is a career highlight -- but I cannot stress this enough: he largely dominated his home turf and nothing more. This match is not in Memphis, it's not in Lawler's territory; if anything, this match is in Pillman's territory.

Like Tasty said, Pillman achieved success on a far greater scale than Lawler. Lawler is basically the equivalent of an indy darling in today's world of wrestling, where Pillman had success in WCW, WWF, and so on. Pillman was very good at what he did -- in that, he was a great in-ring performer and an even better character. Pillman didn't have to nurture his character in his backyard; no, instead, Pillman went out and perfected his character in front of national television audiences, winning over legions of fans in the process. I'll take Pillman's accomplishments over Lawler's any day.

Vote for the better wrestler. Vote for Brian Pillman.

 

[Bernkastel]

I'm going with Lawler on this one; not only was the man a huge draw in the South, but he defeated tons of huge names at the time. His style was very methodical like Bret Hart's, and he was known for wearing down opponents before finishing them off with the piledriver.

Pillman was known for his high flying abilites, but we wasn't known for anything outrageous like Van Dam or Jeff Hardy. I don't think the crossbody or the dropkick would be enough to fool Lawler more than once. One piledriver and Pillman's done.

 

[pipebomber]

lawler... lawler has such a decorated career, Pilman could have been one of the best, but died before he showed his true potential

 

[Remix]

Jerry Lawler took on a cruiserweight for the top title in the company in a ladder match and only lost because of the outside interferance of one of the most hated heels. This was last year. Lawler knows how to deal with little guys like Pillman een in situations he has the disadvantage. Beating "The Loose Cannon" would be all in a days work for the King.

Vote Lawler.

 

[The Gribbler]

I am going with pillman. I think his ingenuity in the ring would have got him the win here.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Lawler has held 124 championships within his career. Granted, not all are exactly major accomplishments but people seem to forget Jerry Lawler completely dominated Sothern wrestling territories in the '70's and '80's. He was legitimately known as an asshole and played that character well. While Brian Pillman was a fun talent to watch, he never amounted to much on a small scale like the territories like Lawler or a big scale like the WWE.

Lawler moves on easily.

This says it perfectly.

Pillman was certainly a hell of a talent, and its sad that his personal issues and his untimely death stopped what could have been a great career before he reached his prime.

But, in this match up he is against a match who knows the game inside out, a man who dominated southern territories and is still hugely popular today.

Pillman was known as a "high flyer" but I could see Lawler methodically picking him apart, taking away his ability to perform his daring offense and then nailing him with a piledriver and getting the win. It could be argued that Pillman was the better wrestler, but Lawler has the intelligence, nasty streak and experience to take the victory in this one.

 

[pumpkinking8987]

Lawler was THE MAN. he can still go today. Pillman was a better in-ring worker but i cant ignore the fact that Jerry is a booker and bookers that wrestle normally win.

 

[Shotaro]

Pillman was as others have said, great. However he's pitched against a pure showman and someone who is unarguably one of the greats. Lawler all the way.

 

[Peoples_Champ]

In the ECW Region, this match has to go to Brian Pillman. He had a "loaded" gun on an episode of Raw. If that's not Extreme, what is?

I love Lawler, and respect him for his numerous accomplishments. But he would never have been able to compete against Lawler in an ECW match. Unless Lawler piledrives Pillman onto a steal chair or something, this has to go to Pillman.

Pillman by pinfall. 16 minutes.

 

[Silly Willy Nilly Vanilly in the Milly]

Lawler has accumulated the most wrestling championships in his career than any other WWE employee, is a WWE HOF'er, and one of the greatest of all time...
But my vote is MY favorite wrestler, who I consider to be THE BEST wrestler of all time...
I go Brian Pillman.
Reasoning:
1. He was GOLD on the mic. Look up any promo of his if you doubt me.
2. He was EXTREMELY talented in the ring.
3. He was a manipulator. He made people believe he was insane out of the ring, the VERY reason why Eric Bischoff let him out of his WCW contract.
Titles don't mean everything, King.
Pillman takes this one.