Lawler and Me We're Free

Jerry Lawler vs. Steve Corino JAPW 8/10/02 - EPIC

ER: Man Lawler had quite a run in early 2000s JAPW. The unreal Kamala match, Funk match, inexplicably great 3 way with Maff/Shane Douglas, and now we can add this Corino match (we'll pretend the Slyck Wagner Brown match happened somewhere else). I assume a match like this must have been a huge treat for Corino, as he gets to work a hide the chain match with the master of hide the chain. Corino spends the pre-chain portions bumping all over for Lawler (including a big one over the top from a perfect Lawler dropkick). Lawler was also throwing these cool left hooks that he really doesn't do anymore. He usually sticks to the left jab to set up his right hook or uppercut these days, so the boss left hooks stood out as being especially awesome. The chain stuff is all fun. I've said before that Lawler gets choked in the ring better than most. He really puffs up his face and sputters. I actually bought the finish when Corino hit his piledriver. I thought Lawler was too far from the ropes, but him barely draping the leg at the last second was a great moment. It all builds to the strap drop which makes Corino instinctively panic and drop the chain. And after that you can't ask for more of a finish than Lawler braining Corino with a piledriver ON the chain.

PAS: I liked how this was worked more violently then a lot of the Lawler 2000s matches. Parts of this were worked like a nasty fight. The chain choking wasn't a stoogish spot it felt like a mean fucker choking a guy. I also loved Corino's stomps to the head. Lawler was great as well and his comeback was a fist fight, Lawler's flying fist drop was like Dr J, flying from the free throw line. That piledriver by Corino was totally badass and I also kind of bought the near fall even though in my mind I knew Lawler wasn't losing. Man I wish Lawler worked other JAPW guys during this run I can imagine how great 02 Homicide v. Lawler would have been.


Batman vs. Dr. Frank vs. Wolfman vs. Bill Clinton vs. Bulldog Rains vs. Killer Klown vs. Popeye vs. Grave Digger Memphis Power Pro 10/31/98 - FUN

PAS: This is a studio elimination match where everyone is dressed up in costume. Has some amusing nonsense with guys wrestling in goofy costumes, but no one seemed to work the gimmick particularly. Finish was kind of fun with Popeye (Brian Christopher) trying to brain Batman (Lawler) with the can of spinach, before smashing him with a pumpkin. Still mostly weak stuff, only misses skippable because of all the goofiness.

ER: Boy...this happened. This was a goofy, only-in-Memphis, studio elimination match that happened on a Halloween morning. Part match, part advertisement for a local costume shop. Not a joke. Most of the guys in this looked bad and until they started getting unmasked upon elimination I assumed most of them were not even wrestlers but perhaps maybe employees of the costume shop. But, no, these were actual workers. Kid Wikkid was Killer Klown, and he had downy soft Petey Williams offense. Dr. Frank wore Zubaz pants. Wolfman didn't even howl (and I also can't figure out if he sold a DDT really nicely or was just trying to keep his mask from falling off). Clinton's pants split up the backside. Spellbinder/Streak was shockingly much better than I remember him being. He was Grave Digger and actually knew what he was doing in there. You know a match is really something when Spellbinder is the guy I'm playing up out of all the participants. Christopher's pumpkin shot looked like it hurt. Likely won't have to type that sentence too many more times in my life. The real winner of the match was probably Stacy Carter decked out in her vinyl Catwoman suit. Most of the workers here couldn't really pull off their look, but I can't imagine too many viewers having a problem with her costume.

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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You're All Right, You Put up a Good Clean Fight, I'm Afraid You'll Lose Tonight to The King

Jerry Lawler/Tommy Rich/Jerry Oates v. Rip Rogers/Bob Roop/Ted Oates GCW 10/31/84 - GREAT

Truly enjoyable workrate TV six man tag. Just a menagerie of random awesome 80's wrestlers (plus the Oateses) moving at a fast pace. We get to see Lawler work against both Rip Rogers and Bob Roop, neither guy got any sort of Memphis run, but both matchups are really fun. Rogers is exactly how you remember him, athletic wild bumper who had a great pace. Roop didn't do as much of his awesome tricky mat wrestling in this context, but he threw some nice punches and he and Lawler had a great standoff. Tommy Rich worked face in peril and threw nifty elbows, the Oates's were perfectly fine, and the match breaks down entertainingly at the end. The kind of match you didn't know you really wanted to see.

Jerry Lawler v. Chris Benoit 1994 - FUN

This is sort of dream match (well pre 2007), the best US based worker of the 1980s v. one of the best of the 90s. However it was pretty much Lawler plugging Benoit into Lawler's touring heel match. Lawler's touring heel match is a pretty great match, but in the role of heel Lawler opponent, Benoit doesn't have the charisma of Eric Embry or Tito Santana and it comes off flat. I imagine this would have been better as heel Benoit v. face Lawler. This had some stuff I liked, Lawler selling the diving headbutt like Fred Sanford coming home to Elizabeth was pretty great, but this was overall sort of a disappointment. Post match Benoit double nogging knocks Lawler and his valet, and it is hard enough to watch Benoit matches without him manhandling women. The rating is FUN, because it had too much good stuff to be SKIPPABLE, not because I had particularly fun time watching it.

Jerry Lawler/Bill Dundee v. Billy Joe Travis/Bulldog Rains MPPW 7/26/98 - FUN

Only about five minutes and it needed another two minutes or so to push over the to the GREAT category, but man alive what we got of this match was pretty awesome. Bulldog Rains is a perfectly serviceable bald goateed guy with big arms and a gut, but holy shit did Billy Joe Travis look amazing when he was in the ring. Travis and Dundee just unload on each other with Travis's uppercuts vs. Superstars short hooks, BJ also takes one of his in the lights high backdrops. Memphis studio wrestling at its most energetic, Lawler looked good, although this style was always more suited to Dundee who shined. Mainly though this match made me want to do a BJ Travis Complete and Accurate.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE KING

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