Lawler taking shoot shots at Vince on commentary

[Deleted]

So I'm watching Summerslam 1995 out of morbid curiosity, I'm only on the first match (123 V Hakushi) but something I've noticed is how Lawler and Vince are taking shots at each other, well it's lawler instigating and Vince retaliating


At one point Lawler jokes about Vince letting in the fans in the upper section for free after Hakushi (the heel) gets a big cheer followed by boos from the top deck (at this time period WWE were papering alot of their shows) Vince responds with "are they all the fans in the burger queen tshirts?" and before that Lawler tries explaining hakushi's tattoos and alludes to them not being legit.


Is this a constant thing during this time period? if so what should I watch next? this has the potential to be entertaining as hell

[4TheGlory]

Sounds like this was back when Jerry still had his balls. He probably still had some resentment for Vince for killing the territories perhaps.

[Deleted]

Yeah on the same show there's been a few more, in the casket match he has called it a "coffin" a few times despite "coffin" being a no-no and "casket" being the correct WWE terminology, that one could be a mistake though

[JTG Fan]

I don't think they were shoot shots, Lawler the character was just accusing babyface announcer Vince of being behind Hakushi being booed.

[Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite]

Yea, Lawler used to go IN

I was watching a RAW from 96 and Lawler made allusions to Vince being on trial/possibly going to jail

[TGM]

Gotta remember that Vince was likely seen as just a wrestling promoter at this point, no the CEO of the global company he is today. Most wrestlers probably enjoyed winding him up because there were plenty of places to work and the thought of being "black balled" by today's WWE would not occur to them.

Still, I think this is actually just Lawler being in character.

[Joe Neglia]

This isn't much different from when Ventura did similar things (though Vince didn't often have a return retort in store). Ventura was always taking shots at Vince that felt half-shoot when they worked together.

[Blindkarevik]

At this point in time, the dynamic was "goody-goody face announcer" paired with "Heel apologist announcer".... and being the heel, he would bully anyone seen as weaker. Being a face announcer and not a wrestler, the heel announcer would mock the face announcer. It's just what the established dynamic was. Now, the dynamic is to have all face announcers, then once you have a heel announcer... you eventually soften him to a point where he becomes a face. They've already started it with JBL and him attacking the Ascension with the NWO, NAO and Ron Simmons. The idea is to have a wrestler who's SUCH a heel, that the heel announcer acts like a face around him.

It's hard to think back to a time when the dynamic would exist where JBL would encourage the heel to attack the face announcers, or that he would always be on the same page as the heel. But there was a time when that would've happened. I kinda prefer it, but just because I miss the good guy vs. bad guy dynamic rather than kayfabe vs. "going too far"

[thegame415]

Fans chant Hakushi

Vince: here that, they're chanting 123 Kid.

[Crappler El 0 M]

That was part of Jerry's shtick. He was a heel trash-talker. He would constantly take jabs at McMahon.

[Deleted]

This era especially is why I'll never believe Lawler is anything but a fantastic commentator. He just couldn't be bothered to care now, and I don't blame him.

[willyjakes]

Yes I'm certain this was Lawler getting approval from Vince and taking a more biting, backhanded approach at dealing with Vince the commentator. Perhaps an early foray into an edgier product

I still never much liked Lawler on commentary. Voice too grating, his jokes weren't delivered as smoothly. It's like he was reading off a cue card

Lawler: "Stu Hart...Stu Hart is old...Stu Hart may have been bitten by the wrestling bug, but he's also apparently old enough to have been bitten by a pterodactyl too! *cackling* HAHAHAHAHAHA

Heenan: "Stu Hart trained all his kids--only three of them use the litter box."

This was in a nutshell the step down we had to take in going from Heenan to Lawler in terms of comedy

[Deleted]

Man, Lawler used to be incredible.

[adamclark52]

Lawlers commentary from the mid-1990's is some of the best parts of the entire shows. I still love his angle with Bret and some of the stuff he said about the Hart Family. And his segment on ECW Barely Legal '97 still gives me goosebumps.

He was no Heenan, that's for sure. But he was great in his own regards.

[Digital Witness]

There was a time where Jerry Lawler had balls bigger than Vince when it came to the stuff he'd say on the mic.

Part of me thinks Vince thought it was hilarious. Same with Ventura pairing.

[Mozenrath]

Feb 26, 2015 0:18:47 GMT -5 @wvguitar said:

This era especially is why I'll never believe Lawler is anything but a fantastic commentator. He just couldn't be bothered to care now, and I don't blame him.

They pay him a whole lot more than they ought to if he can't be bothered to give a f***.

[johnnyk9]

I always liked when Lawler would crack on Vince that he wore a toupee and the funnier part was Vince never denied it, in fact years later at WM 23 JR would even reference it while Vince was getting his head shaved.

[DjZonk]

My favorite "Vince breaks character" moment on commentary ever was Survivor Series 1996. After the Bret match JR says neither Shawn Michaels or Sid could have beat the Hitman "tonight". Vince looks visibily f***ed off and utters "I don't agree with that at all..." JR goes quiet.

[Joe Neglia]

Feb 25, 2015 19:46:14 GMT -5 Blindkarevik said:

It's hard to think back to a time when the dynamic would exist where JBL would encourage the heel to attack the face announcers

When Kane ordered the Shield to attack Lawler (Shield's face turn).

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Feb 26, 2015 0:18:47 GMT -5 @wvguitar said:

This era especially is why I'll never believe Lawler is anything but a fantastic commentator. He just couldn't be bothered to care now, and I don't blame him.

He has no leverage now, there's no Memphis wrestling he can go back to, no WCW, so like all the other commentators he has to parrot what he's told to by Vince and Dunn. I can't believe people actually blame Lawler for being unmotivated when they've so successfully stripped everyone else who's gotten in the booth of their edge, Tazz, JBL, Striker, Foley quite because of the yelling and so on.

He's in the same situation as Tony Schiavone was back in WCW, tow the line and be paid well, call the action and be fired. He loves money and wrestling, we'd all just suck it up in his situation.