Jerry Lawler shoots on the Memphis Commercial Appeal

From November 1996. Lawler comes out to talk about a article in the Commercial appeal about him saying Wrestling wasn't real during a meeting with the Mississippi gaming commission. The story was in order for USWA to run the Tunica area Casino, The commission wanted all wrestling promotions to pay a lot of money to get a license. Of course Lawler being cheap like he is complained about it and pulled a Vince Mcmahon circa 1989 and said Wrestling was fake and just entertainment.. Here he rips the Commercial Appeal and says fans should read the USA today instead. Also included is a 1996 Phil Hickerson appearance about a house show. He was a promoter in the Jackson area at the time.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Jerry
• Lawler
• Memphis
• Commercial
• Appeal
• Phil
• Hickerson
• USWA

[CombatSportFan]

Oh this was not good. Lawler could have handled that in so many different ways, but he picked the Vince McMahon method which was, to say the least, never the way a wrestling promoter wants to go. It'd have been different if he said this in an interview off of television somewhere, but to do it right there in the middle of the Saturday morning show seems insanely counter productive to ANYTHING he wanted to accomplish. So you want to take heat off of "wrestling is fake" by saying...it's fake?

[timmy8271b]

@CombatSportFan This is like the time in October 1996 where Lawler begged people not to go to Nitro at the MSC and then they sold out and Schivonie thanked Lawler on air. Late 96 wasn't a good time for the King.

[CombatSportFan]

@timmy8271b Oh, that's one story I've never heard. That sounds just sad on so many levels. Now the question that came to my mind is was he doing that for the sake of the USWA or did McMahon ask him to do that?

[timmy8271b]

@CombatSportFan Probably 75% the former and 25% the later.

[OtorresFitness]

I have no problem w/the King breaking Kayfabe. He did it for the business, period.

[velvetgoldmine30]

also Lawler was a DJ and an artist (still is) so he partly may've put the entertainment factor in wrestling because of his promos and it was his idea to wrestle andy kaufman, kaufman approached mvmahon snr but was refused and lawler thought it was a gr8 idea, though kept it between the two of them for years..so lawler's always been an entertaining wrestler and knows how to get the crowd going, but most of the feuds, exept kaufman's

[velvetgoldmine30]

newspapers have been shut down for this type and journalists and editors taken to court for damages but they still won't learn. and in a strange way Lawler was trying to say it is real, by bringing Santa Claus into it, some people believe some don't he believes in Santa and he don't care who don't... Santa Claus is actually saint Nicholas so he's real alright...so's wrestling, although to a limit like you wanna hurt the guy to win but murder isn't on the card

[velvetgoldmine30]

i believe it's all real, Lawler was working in wwf and was just doing a job and trying to maybe protect the company from the media sharks, now wwf has turned into wwe and lawler still works there but also works on independent shows. i don't think lawler would've said that if he wasn't in wwf/e, and it seems the guy running the newspaper was trying to pigeonhole lawler by saying about the way wrestlers are being paid and compared it to boxing

[DeepSouthWrestling1]

It's very obvious that Jarrett was not involved at this point... IMO, what's even more damning is the fact that Lawler is basically admitting he owns the promotion. Why would the gaming commission send a wrestler a gaming license instead of the promoter!? Also, back in '89, Lawler blasted McMahon for admitting wrestling was worked, stating USWA was real, etc... sigh, it's sad to watch Memphis limp to it's death...

[mutarulz]

In South Carolina *where I grew up* the wrestlers had to have a license to wrestle but I dont recall the promoters having to pay anything to any sports commission. We had a lot of outlaw promotions running in North and South Carolina back in the 80s and 90s. Makes ya wonder if some of these big guys had just pulled out of the states that required all that stuff, if kayfabe would still be active and wrestling would still be doing well.

[lizardman77]

Never saw this, very sad. USWA folded in 1997, wonder why? This just shows that Lawler was taking all orders from Vince at this point.

[lizardman77]

Never saw this, very sad. USWA folded in 1997, wonder why?

[doodoobrown58]

I can't believe that Jerry would do this!!! I can understand him not wanting to pay for commission fees but why in the world would you even make reference to this on your wrestling show? Can you imagine back in 1989 if McMahon were to show up on WWF Superstars or WWF Wrestling Challenge and made an announcement that wrestling was entertainment?

[DavidFullam]

That was bizarre.