Sometimes making it big in Professional Wrestling doesn’t have much at all to do with wrestling ability. Sometimes it’s about how well you can strut your stuff. Sometimes it’s about how badly you can piss people off. It’s about how much the crowd will buy into you whether you’re a hero or a heel. Jerry Lawler had been all of that and done all of that. From his early days and his feud with Jimmy Hart in the AWA to his feud with Bret Hart in the WWF, Lawler had always been outspoken enough that he was a natural to take over as commentator as an announcer of the WWF Superstars of Wrestling in 1992.
But to this day, what I associate Jerry Lawler with is his infamous – but very fake – feud with TV sitcom star Andy Kaufman in 1982. This was by far one of the most ingenious storylines to ever develop, and what’s more it unfolded on national TV on Late Night with David Letterman. At the time it happened, I scarcely knew who Lawler was, but afterward I never forgot him…nor Kaufman.
As a ring announcer, Lawler was notorious for prattling on with ridiculous statements about the fan favorites that would often lead to main event attractions in the rare event that he would actually wrestle. By 1998, most of his wrestling days were behind him, but he continued as announcer. Many, including me, thought that we had seen the end of Jerry Lawler when he suffered a very real heart attack while announcing on the air in September of 2012. Immediately I began to regret that I had never met him.
But then – unlike most wrestlers seem to do – he made a full recovery and returned to work, and not long after started on the personal appearance circuit. That’s where I come in. On April 27, 2013, I finally got my chance to meet Jerry “The King” Lawler. As obnoxious as he could be on TV, there was absolutely no sign of that side of him in person. He was extremely nice, and I was very happy to see how good he looked. I asked him how he was feeling since the heart attack and he told me that he was feeling great but had to take it easy in some aspects of his life.
It wasn’t cheap meeting him. At $20 for the signed photo and another $20 for the photo op, it was a bit disappointing that he was asking so much, but I had no thoughts of bypassing him. After all, he was and is “The King.”
Celebrity encounters from the Spring 2013 Chiller Theatre show will continue…
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