New Footage Friday: All Hail The King

Jerry Lawler/Issac Yankem DDS vs. The Smoking Guns WWF 1/6/96 - GREAT

MD: Hey, another match with some weird legal man issues. This time, it let us enjoy a brief moment of Lawler being a WWF Tag Team Champion. I didn't love the first minute or so of this when Bart was clunkily tag-team specialist-ing against Yankem but the rest was pretty good. Billy was solid, both in reacting to Lawler's antics and as a face-in-peril, though I wish he would have gotten a few more hope spots. Lawler brought the hidden object which is sometimes smoother in a tag setting with the distraction possibilities. He hit a great bulldog mid-heat and then whiffed wildly on the second one to set up the (not perfectly timed on Yankem's cut off attempt) hot tag. They could have handled the restart better since they didn't get across to the crowd well why the disembodied presence of Monsoon was actually restarting the thing. Still, a unique match-up and a new * for Lawler's storied career.

PAS: Lawler never held a title in the WWF/E not even five minutes with the 24/7 title. I guess this phantom tag title change is the closest he ever got. Bart was really bad in this, one of the crappier hot tags I can remember seeing. Billy was a pretty great face in peril, took a big flip bump on a clothesline, was part of that awesome bulldog segment with Lawler, and landed a cool punch. Yankem was really clumsly, but in a way that worked, and Lawler was masterful of course. I always enjoy watching him work a donut hole foreign object and he commanded the ring as he always does. Finish was trash, but a great showcase from a bit of a lost period for the King. 

ER: I always get super excited when WWF house show Lawler turns up. For a guy who has been affiliated with WWF for over 20 years, we really don't have a ton of Lawler footage from up north. He's not someone who was a regular TV worker, seemingly one of the only guys allowed to work indies while also working for WWF. 1996 was his most active year in WWF and he only shows up on TV or PPV 14 times, so house show fancams are genuine blessings. Also, considering they brought Yankem in attached to Lawler, this is one of only 5 tag matches Lawler and Yankem worked together, so again we are blessed. The tag was great (until the inept finish) and I think Yankem really benefitted from being paired with Lawler. He's still a big galoot who isn't great at staggering, but his Memphis offense is way tighter. He throws an overhand right that is far better than his overhand rights even two years later, looking like he just levels Billy; later in the match he drops a jumping elbowdrop right on the collarbones, no light, totally different than his light leaping elbow he was using a couple years later. 

Lawler was a total King in this match, hiding a chain throughout and sneaking in punches behind the ref's back, whiffing on a corner punch to Billy and then getting lambasted by Billy's punch (Lawler is not only wrestling's best puncher, but he is the best at making everyone he works into the best puncher) and hits a gnarly bulldog. The best part of the bulldog is he uses it again late in the match as a comeback spot for Billy, as Billy just throws him forward right when Lawler leaps into it. Lawler selling the bulldog bump was my favorite moment of the match. Bart Gunn sees red on the hot tag and punches Yankem like mad in the corner, while juuuuust off camera Lawler cheats to win (jeez guys, I appreciate the handheld, but how are you only filming HALF of the ring during the finish) and hits a piledriver. Lawler and Yankem win the tag titles, until Finkel gets on the mic and says that Gorilla Monsoon demands the match restarted even though he respects the referee's decision and Finkel can't make the reasoning for a restart sound the least bit convincing. One of the guys filming the match sums the restart up perfectly:

"That really is lame."

Match restarted, Gunns quickly win, and it's incredibly lame. A several month run with Lawler and Yankem holding the straps would have been so much better than the Smoking Gunns. Also, I'd like to say I was there live for Lawler coming close to winning the WWE title at Elimination Chamber 2011. His Heavyweight title match against Miz is one of my all time favorite live wrestling moments, and the crowd definitely wanted Lawler to win the title. I thought it was happening and I wasn't alone. I feel real lucky to have been there for that match. 

Jerry Lawler vs. Mike Rapada NWA Georgia 7/2/99 - SKIPPABLE

PAS: This was full shtick Lawler, and I think Attitude era Lawler may be the low point of his in-ring career. This was 95% crowd mic work and spots worked around the Kat. Lawler is good at this kind of stuff, but it isn't what you want to see him do. We get maybe the most inauthentic looking kiss the valet spots from Rapada ever, the equivalent of watching Ellen do straight romantic comedy roles. During the brief actual wrestling moments, Lawler did hit a nasty fistdrop to the back of Rapada's head and take a big backdrop bump, but otherwise this was about as mailed in as Lawler is going to do. And it isn't like Mike Rapada is going to pick up the slack.

MD: This wasn't much of a match. Probably a little too much Stacy, though it's not like she didn't play her role well, and Rapada had a credibility issue with the crowd and, let's face it, with the world. At times, it was the Jerry Lawler Comedy Hour. That said, if the wrestling ring was the ocean, Lawler would be able to breathe underwater. Obviously, I've seen hundreds of his matches, but he just moves from one thing here to the next with absolute ease. It doesn't matter what he's doing: taunting a fan in the third row, getting cheapshots in on Rapada in the corner, stalling and making it about Stacy again, jawing with the crowd who were chanting something he couldn't quite make out, feeding a giant back body drop for Rapada. It all just seems effortless and natural. That was one secret of Lawler's success; no matter how outlandish what you were watching was, you just had to suspend your disbelief less with him. It only helped the match so much on this night though.

Jerry Lawler/Rob Williams vs. Bad Attitude (David Young/Rick Michaels) NWA Wildside 5/22/01 - EPIC

PAS: This is from a Wildside house show and is a pretty great house show Southern tag. I don't remember Rob Williams at all, but he is a fine Ricky Riceish muscular babyface tag wrestler. Lawler doesn't do a ton in this match, Williams gets a lot of the early face shine, and is the face in peril, but everything he does is perfect. I love tagging in early and bumping the heels leading Michaels to scoot back and crotch himself on the ringpost. All of his punches look like Lawler punches and we get a Lawler piledriver. Most of the match is Bad Attitude beating on Williams, and they are pretty great at it. All of the simple stuff looks great, both Michaels and Young have good looking looping punches, and they hit some killer double teams including a drop toehold into a running knee. We get to see both Young's powerslam and his Spinebuster which are always amazing looking and the finish sends the crowd home happy. Cool discovery, so glad whoever runs the Wildeside channel dug it up. 

MD: It's been a long time since I've seen any Bad Attitude, but Young looked many degrees better than Michaels did to me here. Really solid presence and timing and yes, attitude. His stooging drew me in while Michaels' was too over the top and took me out of the match much more. Half of Williams' stuff looked good. Half of it maybe less so. Lawler was absolutely what you'd want him to be in this role, with a rule of 3 bit with Young in the shine and working of the corner until the hot tag and him clearing house. First half of the finish was weird to me because Williams was obviously not the legal man but it let fans bask in the glory of the attraction at least.

ER: This is the kind of tag match you hope you see when you go to an indy show. This was fantastic. Lawler was in the ring less than anybody in the match and yet was used perfectly, because Bad Attitude were the exact team that could get you invested in a 20 minute indy tag during this era. They know when to come hard with moves and knew how to stooge liberally while still coming off as a threat. Their heat segment on Williams was the kind of thing that gets me insanely involved at a wrestling show, they pulled it off perfectly. Williams was a strong babyface (I don't think I've ever seen him before, but he did everything a good babyface should do in this kind of match) and Lawler made the most of his time in the ring (and punching at Young from the apron), but it's impossible to watch this match and not want to go watch several more Bad Attitude matches. 

David Young works like Alex Jones decided to dedicate his con gifts to pro wrestling, throws a legendarily great spinebuster and powerslam, and takes stooging bumps as good as heel Lawler. I loved how Young took a drop toehold and then held his mouth, or the way he bumped over the top to the floor off a late match Lawler haymaker. His double teams with Michaels were strong as well and made a long heat segment on Williams fly right on by. Michaels is such a pro, and I love the twists he puts on already great spots. BA did one of the best drop toehold/kneedrop spots I've seen, because Michaels dropped that knee head on, not coming at Williams at a perpendicular but dropping it straight into his forehead at a straight angle. Michaels threw great punches and shook his fist out (that's the real sign of what makes a wrestler an all timer), gave Williams brief believable openings before closing them down, backed balls first into a ringpost AND flopped around tremendously for a Lawler legdrop to the balls, and like Young knew exactly where to be at all times. Great tag match, and before tonight I had no idea Lawler even worked Wildside. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING