Jerry "The King" Lawler: Overrated or Underrated

[It's...Baylariat!]

I'm stealing Will's idea, only it relates to someone who actually established a long career in wrestling. His name is Jerry "the KING" Lawler. The man from Memphis was an icon in the Mid South area, always headlining the Mid South Coliseum fighting the likes of Nick Bockwinkel, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Stan Hansen, Hulk Hogan, Austin Idol, Superstar Bill Dundee and countless others. If you were a traveling champion coming through Jerry Jarrett's CWA territory, you were headlined against Jerry Lawler.

Lawler earned his King moniker by beating Jackie Fargo in Memphis. Back then, Fargo was the King of Memphis Wrestling, and Lawler dethroned Fargo for the title. There can be a case for both. One is that he never one a HUGE title, and before you go on about the AWA Title, it lost a LOT of luster after Stan Hansen vacated the belt. The other is that he holds wins over Hogan and has never lost to Flair, Savage, and others.

So the question beckons... Jerry Lawler, overrated, or underrated?

 

[rockmysock01]

I think hes a better commentator than a wrestler.
Im sure he was good in his day..but i think he only became really famous because of that feud with Andy Kauffman, and after that he was given victories over Savage, Hogan ect.
Correct me if im wrong

 

[TheBestThereEverWillBe]

Today's new era of wrestling fans, The King is just an awesome commentator. To the attitude era fans, The King is an awesome commentator who loves puppies, and wrestles back in the day. To the seasoned wrestling fan that knows the ins and outs of the business know that before his current wrestling role, he had a successful wrestling career in past. Overrated or underrated, i think it just depends on who you are asking. Today's fans know very little about his career, so i'd have to go with underrated.

 

[FloydFixation]

Jerry Lawler has also never lost a match at SummerSlam.

 

[jmt225]

He's definitely underrated.

The dude's one of the greatest babyfaces in the history of the sport, but is most known as a commentator and the guy who had Bret Hart's foot shoved down his mouth. However, if you watch those Memphis tapes, man, that guy was a SPECTACULAR babyface wrestler, and those fans LOVED him. And it lasted for years and years and years. Hell, that territory stayed around longer than any other after Vince monopolized the business, and it was all because of Jerry Lawler. Not because of Jerry Lawler the business man, but because of Jerry Lawler the wrestler. The fans loved him too much in Memphis to ever abandon him and his company, even after he signed with WWE. That shows a lot, if you ask me.

Also, I dare to say he's underrated as a commentator as well. Today he sucks because WWE has had him face for the last few years, but man... in the nineties, there was NO ONE in a wrestling commentator's booth who was more entertaining than Jerry Lawler. WWE took a HUGE hit when Bobby Heenan jumped ship to WCW, but Lawler stepped up, and made it not such a huge loss for WWE with his heel tactics and ability to be funny, yet stay hated. However, he never gets any credit for that.

 

[axle124]

Well as a wrestler he is underated. The knock on him is he never really wrestled for a huge promotion, but he could still go in the ring and on the mic. As a comentator, he is overated. He was good as heel comentator, but sucks as a face. When he was a heel comenatator, he was probably the third best color comentator of all time behind jesse ventura and bobby henan. It just didn't last long enough to give him that lasting legacy, because now he is awful.

 

[ronalddeo]

As a wrestler he was above average - im just looking at his wwf/e career from 1990 as this is the time i came into watch wrestling. I would base this on the lacksture of high profile feuds. Most notable one that sticks to my head is the one with Bret Hart

As a commenter
Heel - He's second to Paul heyman. I remember back in high school when he would go on a tirade of witty comments/jokes and embarrissing people. The ones i couldnt get tired of was on Brets family and Jake the snake. I couldnt stop laughing. Heres some of his fav quotes:



Jerry: If Vader drops the Vader Bomb on Razor Ramon, a huge grease spot will be left on the ring.



Vince McMahon: Isaac Yankem appears to be scared of the Ultimate Warrior.

Jerry: C'mon McMahon. Isaac Yankem is so tough, he can floss his teeth with barb wire.


As a Face - When Jerry became face he sounded like a has been, like he has gone old and is a shell of his former self. I hate what WWE is doing to him right now, and making him sit to Cole is even worse. i hope WWE changes this formula coz all commentators sound like they are being nice to each other. U need a heel and face commentator so they can make the viewer hate the heel more in wrestling matches thru commentators. Wrestler does his part in the ring and commentators add to wrestlers persona by telling us stories and seling the character. This is where the FACE commentator argues with HEEL commentator between whats good and bad. This pulls in the viewer

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

I am kinda gonna push on this one. He's neither overrated or underrated. However, if you want to look at it from a definite standpoint, you have to consider he was the Dusty Rhodes of the Memphis territory, meaning, he always kept himself on top AND he lost top stars at a time when everyone else was losing them too. Sure, Lawler had feuds with Savage, Idol, Dundee, Flair, a few bouts with Hogan and etc etc, but unless you LOVE wrestling enough to trace its history, most of Lawler's accomplishments are overshadowed by the names above-mentioned, of whom he beat a number of times.
That being said, I don't consider Lawler neither because he beat the top stars in various promotions, but no one really pays tribute to the man nowadays. Pretty much, he was Ross' sidekick and buddy for all those years, seemingly a woman hound who would scream out "Puppies" with that loud picthed voice, and now he's Michael "God, why is he on Raw, please bring back Jim Ross" Cole's sidekick and buddy as well. I don't know if Vince never gave Lawler a title because Vince thought Lawler wasn't worthy or as punishment, but that does go into the over/underrated section. So again, I say it's a push. Lawler was a great wrestler and entertainer who had compelling storylines and a fantastic booker, BUT he obviously wasn't good enough to win the World (or even IC) strap during a time when the belts weren't passed around like a backstage cold. So that does say something about the man, doesn't it?

 

[byrnside]

Jerry Lawler has also never lost a match at SummerSlam.

Haha! That's awesome. He was just in the one match right, and won by DQ? Personally, I love the King. I've only seen him wrestle for the WWE, but he had some legendary feuds with Bret Hart, Jake the Snake, even the Ultimate Warrior. For his day, The King has every right to be called a legend. He doesn't really get the credit, as a wrestler, that he deserves. So I guess I'll have to say underrated. "Burger King! Burger King! Burger King! Burger King!"

 

[byrnside]

As a Face - When Jerry became face he sounded like a has been, like he has gone old and is a shell of his former self. I hate what WWE is doing to him right now, and making him sit to Cole is even worse. i hope WWE changes this formula coz all commentators sound like they are being nice to each other. U need a heel and face commentator so they can make the viewer hate the heel more in wrestling matches thru commentators. Wrestler does his part in the ring and commentators add to wrestlers persona by telling us stories and seling the character. This is where the FACE commentator argues with HEEL commentator between whats good and bad. This pulls in the viewer

Just so we're clear, I'm pretty sure the only reason the King is a face is much like The Undertaker, or Stone Cold before he retired, because he has no choice. I can remember going to WWE events before he turned face, and when they intro'd the commentators, the King got just as big of a pop as JR. They have no choice but to keep him a face. Because people love him.

 

[DRAGO!!!!]

King is very very very underated. His overall acomplishments are above those of Piper, Owen Heart. If people want to talk about how King has never won a major title then neither has those guys, and most of the fans would say that they were better then King. King is like his name the King.

By the way King is face because people just like the guy. Its like with HHH. He was heel for a while but when the fans started getting it he was super face. He didn't go around hitting people with sledgehammers to be face but because the fans like him so much, hes not a forever face, and when he turned so did DX cause HBK was already a face.

King is face cause everyone loves him. Even his bad jokes. Hes always been underrated.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I'd probably have to go with underrated overall. Lawler's heyday was back in the territory days and it's only been within the past 25 years or so,since the WWE and WCW becoming nationally based companies. Today, guys can only have to work in one company their entire career and be a superstar.

Many wrestlers within the older generations can be, unfairly, labeled as overrated because we're going to compare the wrestling product then to what it is now and it's just not an equal comparisson. Now, while Lawler did go out to numerous other territories and have success, as he's won well over 100 championships over his career, he was always huge in Memphis. Most of the biggest stars from yesteryear were only huge in certain places. Even during his first reign as NWA World Champion, Ric Flair was ultimately only a huge draw in the Mid-Atlantic territory. The Von Erichs may have really only been really huge in Texas, but look at just how huge they became within Texas. It's the same with Jerry Lawler.

He had some memorable feuds and matches and cemented his legacy ultimately. He wasn't the best, but hardly anyone was as big in any territory anywhere as Lawler was in Memphis. The reaosn he stayed in Memphis primarily was because he made a killing. After all, why travel all over the country when you can work in one place and make a damn good living? Most wrestlers in Lawler's day would've traded places with him on any day.

 

[Sabre78]

jerry is awesome. I wish him and JR were still together. Stupid thing wwe has did lately was seperating them.

 

[Freddy4190]

Definitely underrated. The man owns Memphis. That's his town. He was a pretty badass wrestler back in the day, he's not THAT bad today. He was insanely over in his hometown, he knew what to do to make them cheer, or to make them boo. As a heel announcer, he couldn't be touched. I loved King as a heel, I loved him as an announcer period, but him being a heel was where he really shined. He's funny too, he always brought that bit of comedy to the table, but when it got down to it, he looked like he could kick your ass.

 

[NSL]

I'm so torn here...

First off, I loved the entire angle with Kaufman. It was one of the best angles in the history of wrestling to include a non-wrestler, and Lawler and Kaufman milked it for everything it was worth.

I also know that he was one of the best champions of the south, but as far as skills go, I'd say he was a bit overrated. His offense was essentially punch, punch, middle rope diving punch, piledriver. That was it. I enjoyed watching some of his older matches, and even some newer ones against Bret, but that's it. He was average as a wrestler, but gold as a character.

As a commentator, he's servely overrated. He's entertaining, but he's not very informative. He was at one point, and has taken a big drop over the years, but I'd blame Vince for that. I won't hold it against Lawler.

Basically, he's rated just about right. He was a legend as a champ, but I think his skills bring him back down to earth.

 

[MisterRob]

I don't think Lawler's overrated or underrated when it comes to his actual wrestling career. I think he's viewed just right, he had a great wrestling career in the South back in the day and certainly left an impact during his time. As an announcer I think Lawler is very overrated. He's certainly not one of the best announcers of all time, not even in wrestling standards.

 

[waylonmercy]

Jerry Lawler was The King of Memphis. Outside of Memphis he was the King of Puppies. Meaning in Memphis he was their Hogan/Flair. He did everything there and due to politics I am sure he pushed himself to the moon. I saw some old footage of him and his storylines were very good for a local promotion. What 95% of the people here know him as is the horny 50+ guy who oagles women and color commentates. I will never forget his HOF speech where he pointed out his gf who had to be 21 at best.

Personally I'd lean towards underrated because he is a lot more talented on the mic than they make him out to be.

Another thing about his Memphis days, he was so over in Memphis that the people there believed if he were to battle Ric Flair he could beat him.