Top 30 Thursday - Memphis #10. Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage (Loser Leaves Town), 6/3/85

10. Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Savage (Loser Leaves Town) 6/3/85

Lawler and Savage had a great rivalry over the years, but this is clearly the pinnacle of their feud. This was the second run of the Lawler v. Savage feud, Savage came in as an invader from ICW, turned face and then turned heel again and this was the final battle, with the Loser Leaving Town. The match starts with a classic Memphis slow burn. Lawler starts by pot shotting Macho, with Savage getting more and more frustrated, even breaking out the peekaboo Boxing stance. Savage starts prowling around the ring like a leopard, jumping out to jaw at the fans, throwing chairs into the ring, overturn ring stantions. At his best Savage may have been the greatest short fuse wrestler ever. You really got the sense he might snap and start beating fans or pistol whipping Bill Dundee with his own gun.

We unfortunately get a clip and the story of the match kicks in, with Savage bumping Lawler off of ring apron face first into the thick wooden Memphis table. Lawler is one of the great bumpers in wrestling history, and this was a great bump. He opens a cut over his eye and Savage launches a vicious attack on the wound. Biting it, slamming Lawler into the post, unloading with shot after shot. Then you have a truly classic wrestling finish. The referee stops the bout due to the seriousness of the cut over Lawler's eye, with Lance Russell talking about how Lawler might lose the eye. The King crawls over to the house microphone to get the Mid South Coliseum to beg the ref to restart it. By the time Tom Renesto orders the match restarted the crowd is apoplectic. We then get arguable the greatest strap drop Lawler has ever done, as he just rapid fire assaults Savage with punches, two fistdrops and a piledriver for the win. It really felt like the absolute last burst of energy he had, if he didn't beat him with that flurry, he was done. I normally don't like quick finishes after restarts, but it really worked for me here. The fact that this just barely made the top 10 is a real statement to the quality of Memphis wrestling in the 1980's. What a match.

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