Favorite Jerry Lawler Moments/Memories

[emcsq29]

I don't post often, but when I do, it's obvious I'm a Lawler mark. I just thought it would be nice to read some other people's favorite memories of The King (hopefully without someone screaming, "PUPPIES!").

Since this an "Old School" thread, please share some stories pre-WWF/E.

Here are a few of mine:

May 9, 1988: King wins the AWA World Heavyweight Championship from Curt Henning.

Anytime he threw a fireball.

Late 70's, Tupelo, MS: The King and Bill Dundee take on the Blond Bombers, and the fight spills out into the concession stand. Arguably one of the funniest moments of my life up to that point. The cops who were there weren't 100% sure if it was a work or not and were ready to step in.

Early 90's, Kennett, MO: The King once again takes the fight into the crowd and concession stand, this time with Jeff Jarrett against the Moondogs.

Shaving Bill Dundee's head, then his wife's (Beverly?) head the next week.

Too many interviews to count that had me rolling on the floor laughing; his recurring insult to announcer Lance Russel was to call him "Banana Nose."

His ongoing feud with Jimmy Hart and his stable, "The First Family of Professional Wrestling."

My favorite memory of Lawler was from the late 70's/early 80's on live studio wrestling (every Saturday morning on WMCTV5 from 11:00 - 12:30) when he put up his Southern Heavyweight title vs. Handsome Jimmy Valiant's hair. Before the match, he passed out t-shirts to the studio audience that pictured a bald Valiant with the words, "Hairless Jimmy Valiant." Lawler lost the match, but those shirts were just priceless.

 

[HBKperfect23]

My first exposure to the King was his WWF debut. I remember his feud with Bret. I was legit PISSED when he jumped Bret and ruined his crown after KOTR 93. I always thought Lawler brought out the best in Bret as far as promos were concerned. I really enjoyed their feud.

I later rewatched his AWA days. Obviously the Andy Kaufman angle comes to mind. Also Superclash 3 with Kerry Von Erich was a great King memory.

Also, I enjoyed looking back on Jerrys work with the original heel McMahon in the USWA.

 

[nbrew2119]

Now, I don't remember the year for the first one but, one of my favorite Lawler moments was, his feud with Taz. I just liked the whole storyline how, at the time, he was kinda still the heel commentator, but, he stood up for JR.

Also, his feud with the Miz. As far as in the WWE, Lawler never looked better IMO

 

[Trance Metaphor]

My favourite Jerry Lawler moments...

Jerry Lawler vs Macho Man Randy Savage

I loved everything they did together and against each other from the 80s to the early 90s. Their matches were always entertaining and so were their promos. Classic stuff. I loved their steel cage matches. It also reminds me why I miss Macho Man Randy Savage so much and wrestling back then when these legends were still in their primes.

Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol

Jerry Lawler vs Curt Hennig for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship

Lawler finally won a recognizable World title and this moment in general was very cool because it would lead to Lawler facing Kerry Von Erich for the WCWA World title and becoming the Undisputed World Champion. Historical series of events for Lawler.

Jerry Lawler vs Bret Hart

This was such a memorable feud because it was the one and only time in the WWE that the King was relevant as a wrestler for a long time. After this, he never had another valuable feud until he went up against The Miz for the WWE Championship.

Jerry Lawler vs Tazz

Taz is my all-time favourite wrestler, so I was thrilled with this feud. Sure, it wasn't that great, but the history between these two started since ECW invaded the WWE on RAW and then they traded victories over two WWE PPVs and even took their feud to Memphis. It was later revisited for ECW One Night Stand in 2006. The thing I enjoyed about this feud wasn't necessarily the matches but the way they interacted and kept one-upping the other through promos and segments.

I drastically enjoyed Jerry Lawler's involvement with ECW. That was a surprise and seeing him team up with Rob Van Dam on RAW and having cross-promotion appearances was awesome. His match against Tommy Dreamer was a great hardcore mark-out moment.

 

[ECW Sandman]

My Favorite Lawler memory is Title Vs Title match between The King the AWA Heavyweight Champion Vs '' The Modern Day Warrior '' Kerry Von Erich That match was one of the most bloodiest matches in the 80's and If I am right Kerry Von Erich was on drugs because some how he cut his arm right before the match , and Von Erich was a bloody mess and the ref called for the bell and Lawler won the match due to Kerry Von Erich's own safety.

 

[King Rex 51]

I remember Jerry Lawler and Jackie Fargo feuding over the Southern Jr. Heavyweight title at the beginnig of his career in the mid 70's. That is when Jerry first starting wearing the crown. Fargo passed the torch to Lawler and he became King of Memphis. He had a lot of feuds with some of the greats: Jos LeDuc, Rocky Johnson, Ricky Gibson, Bob Armstrong, Austin Idol, Dutch Mantell, Jimmy Valliant, Tommy Rich, Randy Savage and of course Superstar Bill Dundee.

Adam West was actually on Memphis t.v. one Saturday morning dressed as Batman and Jerry dressed up as Superman but was calling himself the SuperKing.

A lot of the greats came through Memphis and Jerry wrestle them all.

Some of the best moments were his feuds with Jimmy Hart's First Family. Hart would bring in the next big thing to destroy the King and he would send them packing. Love him or hate Jerry Lawler is Memphis Wrestling. Get well soon Champ.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Of his in ring career, I would have to say recent weeks with CM Punk - That's the cruel part of all this, Jerry was working with main event talent and more relevant to casual fans than ever.

But the answer, my favourite Lawler moment is:-

Michael Cole ‏@MichaelCole
#wweuniverse you will never believe this! I just got off the phone with #jerrylawler and he is alert and in great spirits!

 

[matman8540]

One of my memories, other than the ones that get rehashed over and over again. Watching Memphis wrestling while I was stationed at Fort Knox in 1981-82; I got to see Jimmy Hart beg Jerry Lawler for help when JJ Dillon tried to invade Memphis with Kamala. Of course, after a while, Hart turned on the King, and everything was back to normal.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Jerry Lawler vs Macho Man Randy Savage

I loved everything they did together and against each other from the 80s to the early 90s. Their matches were always entertaining and so were their promos. Classic stuff. I loved their steel cage matches. It also reminds me why I miss Macho Man Randy Savage so much and wrestling back then when these legends were still in their primes.

I have no memory of this. Wasnt Savage in the WWF and Lawler in Memphis...? Can someone fill me in. Im sure this was nothing but EPIC.

 

[Wolf Pac]

I'm not really familiar with his work before he arrived in the WWF since I wasn't born then and we couldn't get Memphis Wrestling/AWA/USWA on TV here in the UK anyway. I've seen a few Youtube videos of him down in Memphis, of course I loved the Andy Kaufman angle, and there was a Steel Cage match between him & Macho Man, that I also loved, but that's about all I've seen of him pre WWF/E, so I can't really any pick out favourite moments/memories there, sorry.

But in the WWF, I have a lot of favourite moments/memories from him, such as the feud with Bret. Some of his promos where he would poke fun at both of Bret's parents especially Stu's voice, just had me bursting out with laughter.

Even though it ended up with a terrible match between the two, the Piper-Lawler feud in 94 is another favourite of mine, just for some of Lawler's hilarious antics, like making fun of Piper's kilt & calling it a skirt (even though everybody had before that) and bringing in a skinny kid dressed as Piper & making him kiss his feet.

Lawler hiding under the ring in the Royal Rumble 96 match then getting covered with Damien later on, was funny as hell.

So many funny Lawler moments, he always knew how to get a laugh out of someone.

Oh, and this promo he cut on Goldust before he was set to face him in a match right after, was just brutal.

[youtube]6aWKM-UZD3E[/youtube]

 

[dmac]

I grew up watching Memphis wrestling before WWF/E and NWA/WCW were actually on tv nationally. In the early and mid 8Os, Memphis was a hotbed and almost everyone who was anyone came thru there. Lawler wrestled legends like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Harley Race, Terry Funk, Nick Bockwinkel and a whole lot more. He helped stars such as The Undertaker, Kane, Sid Vicious/Justice, Sting, Ultimate Warrior, and many others get their start.

The AWA championship victory in 1988 over Curt "Mr Perfect" Hennig was his most famous, but he had many, many other great moments. The Memphis promos, video packages, etc were the basis for what wrestling is today. Lawler was the genius behind most of this and should be recognized as such.

 

[dmac]

I have no memory of this. Wasnt Savage in the WWF and Lawler in Memphis...? Can someone fill me in. Im sure this was nothing but EPIC.

Savage got his start in Memphis before moving to the WWF in the late 80s. His feud with Lawler was the stuff of legend and it was easy to see he was going to be a star.

 

[EveryNightsMainEvent]

I can't personally go back any further than the WWF, but i will add that one of my all time fave's was on RAW when for some odd reason King was interviewing the awesomely odd Tiny Tim, and Tim kept singing in his trademark falsetto while playing his ukelele. It was classic old school WWF heel Lawler, and eventually I think Tiny Tim called him "Burger King", which led to King smashing his Ukelele.

 

[King Rex 51]

I have no memory of this. Wasnt Savage in the WWF and Lawler in Memphis...? Can someone fill me in. Im sure this was nothing but EPIC.

Yes it was epic. Lawler and Savage were feudeing over the Southern title and who was King of the area. As with many other wrestlers in the day, they would stop by Memphis hoping to make it to the WWF or the NWA. Savage had signed with the WWF so the best way for him to leave was a loser leaves town match with Lawler. Lawler wins, Savage goes to the WWF and the rest is history.

 

[Judah's Lion]

But the answer, my favourite Lawler moment is:-

Michael Cole ‏@MichaelCole
#wweuniverse you will never believe this! I just got off the phone with #jerrylawler and he is alert and in great spirits!

absolutely right on. i've been reading a lot of wrestling biographies lately and it breaks my heart when i remember how many have passed away. so hearing the news from michael cole is amazing and wonderful. as chris cash said, we always knew he could wrestle, but now we know he can fight.

speaking of books, jerry's is a good read. it's good to be the king, sometimes. that's the name of it. got some great wrestling in there, obviously, and his sense of humor really shines thru the pages.

pre wwf i loved his stuff with terry funk. just classic promos and matches.

but most of what i remember and really love is his wwf stuff. in particular but in no particular order, i loved his feud with bret hart, especially his insults against stu and helen, his first feud with tazz that started by standing up for jr, and his recent stuff with miz and punk. and just since nobody's mentioned it and i loved it, his feud with jake the snake roberts. i thought that was amazing. maybe a bit too close for home for jake, but good stuff none the less.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I would have to say his involvement with the original ECW Invasion, back in the mid 1990s. Lawler looked like he had a genuine dislike of the ECW product, calling it "Extremely Crappy Wrestling", and when he appeared in the ECW arena the hatred he received from the crowd was intense, and he revelled in it.

King was a fantastic heel and he came out with the classic line

"This is the famous ECW arena? It should be built out of toilet paper, because there is nothing in it but shit!"

Also, you cannot forget his classic commentary during the attitude era. I am shocked that noone yet has mentioned "PUPPIES" or his obsession with the divas. When Sable took off her top to reveal her hand-print bikini, King's reaction was priceless. It looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head! Just brilliant.

The man is an absolute legend, and his partnership with JR when they were both in their prime is in my eyes the greatest commentary pairing of all time. They worked so well together.

I hope we see King call a match again one day, he will never be in the ring again but seeing him return for just one match would be a great moment. Get well soon Jerry!

 

[theBec2101]

I going with his feud with Bret Hart. It seemed to of last forever. Bret would beat him, then it would be over. Then all of a sudden it was back on. It was good. The kiss my foot match was pretty funny. With Lawler kissing his own foot and getting sick. But I also remember when he was all about the women and puppies.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

LOL, As if he died or something.. Hope he does have a speedy recovery!

Honestly, you want a moment that I like of his, I can only go back 12-14 years since I started watching WWF.. He was a fantastic heel commentator, he used to always back the heels but in a humerous way, I liked all his in-ring segments at the time, mostly because it involved the divas and his expressions were just hilarious as well..

 

[IT Factor]

Largely, I'm more of an early to late 90s wrestling fan. That's when I really got into wrestling on a weekly basis, although I've always watched wrestling in some form since I was 8 or 9. By the time I frequently started watching weekly shows, Lawler was entrenched in his WWF feud with Bret Hart. Those matches were often comical and fun to watch. Lawler always made their back-and-forth entertaining and even brought Stu & Helen[along with the other Harts] into their storylines. Their match with the loser sucking the other's foot was lame but funny as hell, oddly. I remembered seeing the graphic of Lawler vomiting in the bathroom sink afterwards and laughing my ass off. Then they showed Bret all smiles in stark contrast to the sore loser Lawler.

I've since then watched alot of older Lawler material and come to appreciate his work all-around as a performer and entertainer. I also thoroughly enjoyed the Lawler attack on the ECW guys when they 'invaded WWF' back in 1997. He was always agitating the ECW crowds by calling them "extremely crappy wrestling" and in typical King fashion, the crowds boo'ed him royally[pun intended ]. It's a wonder he even made it outta Philly back in those hardcore ECW days and I'm sure security saved his ass on more than one occasion during those days. But it was fun to watch and always entertaining to see.

 

[BigDaddyKewl]

His TLC match with The Miz on his 60th birthday was classic. He actually looked like a believable contender door the title. When Cole pulled him off the ladder and Lawler punched him out it was classic Raw.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

Definitely the Bret Hart feud where he was a total asshole and couldn't wait to see Bret lock in and not release the sharpshooter, and then later the kiss my foot. Later Lawler became the horny perv announcer and it was kind of hilarious at the time. I didn't understand why he seemed to have a fondness for The Kat but I know why now lol. Still, that man loved his damn puppies so much he jumped the shark with it.

The King was better as a heel, but it would work so much better if he could just bicker with Cole without having to see another second of them wrestling. I mean c'mon...you never saw Gorilla and Heenan have a shitty match.

Whether he returns right away or not is unknown, I'm sure he will try to return soon and get a huge ovation. If he doesn't return soon I hope they put someone interesting in there like Paul Heyman. Think about it...he replaced Lawler during his divorce issues around 2000 when he left for a year or so. Heyman coming back would be a way to EFFECTIVELY put over talent while keeping viewers reminded daily how great Lesnar and Punk are. To me that's logical, because Lesnar isn't on TV much and Punk is WWE Champion.

 

[Lucky Dearly]

Gotta say I've seen some old footage of the King in his pre-WWE years and I've seen a few gems

The Lawler vs Kaufman feud has to be up there which included a couple of infamous moments, one of which happened on the old Late Night with David Letterman show which Kaufman threw Letterman's coffee into Lawler's face, Lawler later slapped the taste out of Andy's mouth.

Another moment from that feud was when Kaufman did a face turn in Mid-South and agreed to team with the King to face off against The Assassins whom were managed by Jimmy Hart at the time, during the match Kaufman tagged himself in and threw a hand full of powder into Lawler's eyes thus turning heel in the process and allied himself with Jimmy Hart as the Assassins beat down Lawler. Then sometime after that Lawler got revenge by coming through the crowd during a tag match featuring the Assassins where he came up from behind Kaufman, spun him around and threw a ball of fire into Andy's face sending Kaufman down in a heap, the Assassins ran out of the ring to help Kaufman while Lawler escaped through the crowd, I wish Jerry would have done that to Michael Cole when they were feuding

Another infamous moment with the King was one that almost sent the Mid-south Colloseum into a near riot, it was a cage match between Jerry Lawler vs Austin Idol which was also hair vs hair, during the match Tommy Rich came out from under the ring and attacked Lawler allowing Idol to get the win and then shave the King's head which caused the crowd to nearly riot.

also gotta add on the Lawler vs Hennig match for the AWA title, Jerry's first major world championship, I saw that match on ESPN Classic and it was just that a classic, especially the brilliant promo Curt Hennig did afterward claiming he got robbed cause the match was in Memphis and everybody was in Lawler's back pocket.

and I have to mention the Jerry Lawler vs Macho Man Randy Savage steel cage match, a true classic in their series and featuring the finish with Big Jos LeDuc interfering and attacking Lawler.

And I can't forget the empty arena brawl between Lawler and Terry Funk which Funk bled like a stuffed pig in that match.

And it was mentioned before but I gotta mention the Consession Stand Brawl between Lawler and Dundee vs Larry Latham and Wayne Ferris (The Honky Tonk Man)

And one I remember from seeing some old footage was a wild brawl between Lawler and Bruiser Brody which Brody broke off a part of the time keeper's table and started to jab Lawler in the head with it bloodying the King up. Lawler fought back only for Kareem Muhammad to attack Lawler from behind

 

[HBsam31]

I was familiar with The King before his time in WWE, but only through magazines. I read them all when I was a kid, and I remember seeing Jerry on the cover of one with his crown, and like 3 belts. I thought wow this guy must be the shit lol. My most memerable feud of his that I saw was his feud with Bret. He was a thorn in Bret's side for a long time. The King even ripped on Bret's parents. I couldn't wait to see Bret slap the Sharpshooter on him. Glad to see the King is doing well, and I hope we keep hearing good news.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

So many stories about Jerry 'the King' Lawler. I was blessed enough to grow up in an area where the CWA/USWA aired each Saturday Morning at 11:00 AM. Lawler would make an appearance and talk about what he was going to do to the likes of Eddie 'Hot Stuff' Gilbert, Superstar Bill Dundee, and many others.

These clips I'll put in here brings back a lot of memories. It had to do with the bloody feud with Eddie Gilbert and Lawler.

[youtube]G27ssw7Np4c[/youtube]

[youtube]QfpFtZzDdLY[/youtube]

These were some of the best feuds in any promotion.

I'll always know the King as someone who looked like an everyday man, and he did extraordinary things.