Jerry Lawler nwa champion?

[hulksmash87]

Was the King ever considered for a run with the nwa title?

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Depends on who you ask lol.

Jerry Jarrett said that whenever he asked the other promoters on the nwa board to vote for Lawler, they would tell him that they wouldn't vote for him because Lawler wasn't tough enough in real life. Eventually Jarrett grew frustrated and broke away from the nwa.

Jim Cornette said Lawler could've been a great traveling nwa champion, but the problem was that everytime Lawler left to work for another territory like Georgia, Memphis's business would go down, so Jerry had to return immediately. Lawler was making a shit ton of money in Memphis, I think it would've been a paycut for him to be nwa champion.

[Joe Neglia]

Yes and no. What you have to remember is that the NWA board was comprised of all the promoters, and pretty much every promoter was pushing for "their guy" to be the NWA champ. However, they all had a very hard time coming to a consensus. It's how we got the "David Von Erich was promised the NWA title" urban myth - he never was, but his dad was pushing hard for him to get it. Similarly, Jerry Jarrett and Lawler lobbied for Lawler to get the belt (at least during the times they were playing nice with the NWA), but the rest of the board never really got behind him either.

We were talking about this in another thread recently, but basically in the early 80s before Crockett monopolized the title, there were only two names that most of the board could agree on to replace Race as the regular champ (as opposed to the brief transitional champs like Dusty, Rich and Kerry) - Flair and Ted DiBiase. Those are pretty much the only two guys that were ever seriously considered during that period.

[honsou]

I may be wrong but I remember Meltzer mentioning that Lawler was never given the belt because Jarrett really wanted to keep him in Memphis because he was basically the only wrestler that can draw there. And if you're NWA champ, you gotta tour the country and he coudln't spend a significant amount of time just in Memphis

[Sir Woodrow]

The King might still get to be NWA champ some day all things considered with that belt

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 20, 2017 23:55:59 GMT -5 Sir Woodrow said:

The King might still get to be NWA champ some day all things considered with that belt

Well being nwa champ in the present time is not necessarily a good thing.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Dec 20, 2017 23:55:59 GMT -5 Sir Woodrow said:

The King might still get to be NWA champ some day all things considered with that belt

Hell, I was all for him taking the WWE title from the Miz, so why not?

[Mozenrath]

If Billy Corgan could talk Jerry into winning the belt now, I'd get a kick out of that, I admit. Obviously wouldn't be something longterm.

[mizerable]

Yeah, it might be 35 years too late, but Lawler winning the title couldn't hurt the title anymore than it already has been.

[Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃]

He did fight Tim Storm for it recently....lol.

Ring statisticians said that the average age between Storm and Lawler during the encounter was "deceased"

[cabbageboy]

That actually could be a fun storyline, Lawler trying to win the title that has eluded him since 1974. Anyway I don't think Lawler would ever have been given the NWA title as a long term deal, but rather a short term 1 week thing like Tommy Rich (or Dusty in 1979) to pop the Memphis crowd.

That aspect of Dibiase being considered is interesting. Think about the first Starrcade. Wouldn't Dibiase in retrospect make more sense in that Race role? It was a proto Million Dollar Man type angle where he bribed Orton and Slater to take out Flair, etc. I think Dibiase's problem was that he just never had anyone really in his corner. Mid-South wasn't even an NWA territory exactly, and I think he also went to Georgia in 1983, but Georgia was declining by then.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Dec 21, 2017 8:05:41 GMT -5 Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 said:

He did fight Tim Storm for it recently....lol.

Ring statisticians said that the average age between Storm and Lawler during the encounter was "deceased"

This was the return bout, their first meeting had King Solomon as the special referee.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

I do like the notion of an old territory veteran really gearing it up and working it out for "one more shot at that belt" that was so important back in the day. Could be fun. Not sure I'd make Lawler the guy for that, or who would be in good enough shape to make it believable, but the idea is neat.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Dec 21, 2017 8:05:41 GMT -5 Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 said:

He did fight Tim Storm for it recently....lol.

Ring statisticians said that the average age between Storm and Lawler during the encounter was "deceased"

Off topic but someone in twitter said that Tim Storm was on the level of Terry Funk, I died.

The only thing they have in common is that they're old.

[Deleted]

I’ve always been a King fan, so I’d get a kick out of him winning it now. I mean, Magnus has it, Lawler is probably a step up.

[fw91]

Was Memphis already out of the NWA by the time the Kaufman feud happened? You'd figure that would have had to boost King's nationwide celebrity status.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 21, 2017 9:01:15 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

That actually could be a fun storyline, Lawler trying to win the title that has eluded him since 1974. Anyway I don't think Lawler would ever have been given the NWA title as a long term deal, but rather a short term 1 week thing like Tommy Rich (or Dusty in 1979) to pop the Memphis crowd.

That aspect of Dibiase being considered is interesting. Think about the first Starrcade. Wouldn't Dibiase in retrospect make more sense in that Race role? It was a proto Million Dollar Man type angle where he bribed Orton and Slater to take out Flair, etc. I think Dibiase's problem was that he just never had anyone really in his corner. Mid-South wasn't even an NWA territory exactly, and I think he also went to Georgia in 1983, but Georgia was declining by then.

That's largely it, Flair had more support as the heir apparent.

I wonder if they'd have traded if they could.

[Joe Neglia]

Dec 21, 2017 18:53:50 GMT -5 fw91 said:

Was Memphis already out of the NWA by the time the Kaufman feud happened? You'd figure that would have had to boost King's nationwide celebrity status.

No they were still tied to the NWA at the time and didn't sever the cord until 1986, when they switched to backing the AWA.

Here's the thing to remember about the Lawler/Kaufman feud at the time: Outside of the Letterman appearance, it was not in the national media at all, and even that was quickly forgotten about by everyone except wrestling, Kaufman and Letterman fans. And to muddy the waters even worse, it was during the years when Letterman regularly had the weirdest guests he could find, so even then, the whole incident wasn't that big of a deal at the time.

[mizerable]

Dec 21, 2017 21:51:40 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

And to muddy the waters even worse, it was during the years when Letterman regularly had the weirdest guests he could find, so even then, the whole incident wasn't that big of a deal at the time.

Yeah, the early years of 'Late Night' for both Letterman and Conan largely had weird guests to counteract what Carson or Leno we're doing. I liken the early years of Letterman almost to what Howard Stern did by bringing weird people on there. Harvey Pekar was on numerous times where Dave basically mocked him or put weird graphics over the screen while Harvey spoke. Conan on the other hand had guys like Jonathan Harris as a guest for the sake of interacting with Pimp Bot.

[Deleted]

Dec 21, 2017 8:05:41 GMT -5 Stone Coke Miami Watson 🥃 said:

He did fight Tim Storm for it recently....lol.

Ring statisticians said that the average age between Storm and Lawler during the encounter was "deceased"

I wish there was a Haha option, I'd give you 50.