How many times did Lawler turn? Because if you want to get into the logic behind pro-wrestling a guy who turns back and forth a lot doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lawler was a face the entire decade of the 1980s. After that, I have no idea. I know he was at least a face from 1992-1996 in Memphis.

Lawler teaming with Andy made no sense but I'll be damned if Andy's celebration with Jimmy Hart after he turns back heel doesn't kill me every time. I love that angle so much

What's even better, to me, is the old woman in the crowd that clearly yells "SON OF A BITCH!" when Andy powders Lawler.

How many times did Lawler turn? Because if you want to get into the logic behind pro-wrestling a guy who turns back and forth a lot doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lawler was a face the entire decade of the 1980s. After that, I have no idea. I know he was at least a face from 1992-1996 in Memphis.

 

Didn't he turn heel at the end of 1989? Are we counting just Memphis? He was a heel in Texas in the late 80's and in Florida I think?

 

As for the 90s in Memphis, he turned in the summer of 1996 and turned back babyface when the Nation of Domination showed up. Then he was a heel at the start of Power Pro wrestling till Randy Hales turned into Vince mcmahon and Lawler turned into mini Austin in 1998.

Wasn't there a weird time in the 90s where Lawler was a babyface in Memphis and a heel in the WWF at the same time? I seem to recall him explaining it on Memphis TV by basically saying what they saw on WWF TV was just him doing their silly fake stuff but what they saw in Memphis was the real deal.

Regularly heeled out of Memphis was staying a face in Memphis.

Regularly heeled out of Memphis was staying a face in Memphis.

 

Well I know the Memphis vs WCCW feud was specifically designed for both sides to be the heels in the other, but for some reason the WWF run seemed like he was really going out of his way to point out what fans saw on WWF TV didn't "count".

Lawler was pretty much always a heel whenever he wrestled outside of Tennessee.

 

In Memphis, Lawler's first face run came in late '74-early '75 after wrestling as a heel to that point. He turned heel again to feud with Tommy Rich--unclear on the details, and in fact his feud with Sam Bass almost reads as a Horsemen vs. NWO quasi-heel vs. heel thing. He would turn babyface after being attacked by Jimmy Valiant in the fall of '77, and would remain that way until turning heel in late '89. After about a year as a heel he turned babyface during a feud with the Snowman, and stayed that way until turning heel again around 1996 to align with King Mabel, which only lasted a few months.

 

Four turns in the span of 20 years isn't too bad--just seems like more because he was pretty much never a babyface anywhere else. (I can only think of a few mid-'80s guest shots in the AWA).

 

Lawler's explanations for his WWF behavior kind-of sort-of made sense as I recall. He was defending the honor of the South against those city slickers in New York and had to use their own tactics against them. Or something.

And Lawler was a much more overt heel in Texas than Kerry was in Memphis. Kerry wrestled and acted pretty much the same way he always did--the most over-the-line thing Von Erich did was point out how "in World Class, we don't have no sissy rules like no piledrivers."

How many times did Lawler turn? Because if you want to get into the logic behind pro-wrestling a guy who turns back and forth a lot doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lawler was a face the entire decade of the 1980s. After that, I have no idea. I know he was at least a face from 1992-1996 in Memphis.

 

Didn't he turn heel at the end of 1989? Are we counting just Memphis? He was a heel in Texas in the late 80's and in Florida I think?

 

As for the 90s in Memphis, he turned in the summer of 1996 and turned back babyface when the Nation of Domination showed up. Then he was a heel at the start of Power Pro wrestling till Randy Hales turned into Vince mcmahon and Lawler turned into mini Austin in 1998.

 

Yeah, he turned heel in 1989 and it is featured on the Memphis set. Still from 1980 -89, that is a pretty long face run. As a heel in other territories, that doesn't bother me at all and I can't count that against him. Watch the AWESOME WWF vs. Memphis feud and his playing both roles at the same time depending on the federation is a work of art.

And Lawler was a much more overt heel in Texas than Kerry was in Memphis. Kerry wrestled and acted pretty much the same way he always did--the most over-the-line thing Von Erich did was point out how "in World Class, we don't have no sissy rules like no piledrivers."

That sounds awesome, gotta try and track down that promo

How many times did Lawler turn? Because if you want to get into the logic behind pro-wrestling a guy who turns back and forth a lot doesn't make a lot of sense.

Lawler was a face the entire decade of the 1980s. After that, I have no idea. I know he was at least a face from 1992-1996 in Memphis.

 

Didn't he turn heel at the end of 1989? Are we counting just Memphis? He was a heel in Texas in the late 80's and in Florida I think?

 

As for the 90s in Memphis, he turned in the summer of 1996 and turned back babyface when the Nation of Domination showed up. Then he was a heel at the start of Power Pro wrestling till Randy Hales turned into Vince mcmahon and Lawler turned into mini Austin in 1998.

 

Yeah, he turned heel in 1989 and it is featured on the Memphis set. Still from 1980 -89, that is a pretty long face run. As a heel in other territories, that doesn't bother me at all and I can't count that against him. Watch the AWESOME WWF vs. Memphis feud and his playing both roles at the same time depending on the federation is a work of art.

 

God damn Jerry Calhoun.

 

The 1980 Hart/Lawler pairing was so great, especially when Valiant was there with them. They could have milked that for so long if Lawler didn't get injured. I mean obviously the Hart/Lawler FEUD was legendary but there was so much more mileage out of heel Lawler in 80. He had practically just turned when he went down.

And Lawler was a much more overt heel in Texas than Kerry was in Memphis. Kerry wrestled and acted pretty much the same way he always did--the most over-the-line thing Von Erich did was point out how "in World Class, we don't have no sissy rules like no piledrivers."

That sounds awesome, gotta try and track down that promo

 

Don't think it was a promo, I believe it was during a match. I think it was in Memphis, Kerry got DQed for using a piledriver, Lawler said, "Hey, don't they have a rule in World Class where you lose the title on a DQ?" And Kerry replied, "That is true, but we also don't have any wimp rules like no piledrivers."