Discuss here.

Here is a link to my complete and accurate Lawler which has 40 or so reviews

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2011/03/complete-and-accurate-jerry-king-lawler.html

Great wrestler. Will thinks I don't like him, but I think you can be critical of something and still like it. My biggest issue with Lawler is that I don't like his instincts as a heel because he doesn't really have a mean streak. He usually just takes the full coward route and plays hide the foreign object, which feels more like a midcarder gimmick than a world champion top heel gimmick. As a babyface, I enjoy him immensely. I'm not a fan of wrestlers cutting promos mid-match.

I watched the 80s Memphis set and didn't come away from that thinking of Lawler as an all timer. Not sure there's a whole lot else out there that would change my thinking here but happy to have my attention turned somewhere new.

Lawler will probably be my highest ranked American. I'm tempted to call him a number 1 contender because I love his best matches and feuds so much but I doubt I'll end up actually putting him at number 1. My conflict is determining how much value I'm going to place on his range. I appreciate that Lawler has a great emotional range. He can be fun, funny, competitive, serious, hateful, violent, brave, or cowardly. He can work big and he can work small. I love him as a babyface and while some don't enjoy it I love him as the cowardly heel, hiding weapons and doing whatever he can to win.

 

The difficulty for me is his lack of range when it comes to the kind of matches he has. One one hand, he is so good at being Jerry Lawler that I like how he handles himself in a mat based encounter. That is, I like that he plays upon the fact that he is limited in that part of his game. He is a brawler and not a grappler and that comes across when his opponents take him to the mat. Those qualities really enhance his matches with Bockwinkel and Martel. On the other hand, I wish he had a mat based match I really loved. The draw against Race is really good but I'm looking for something more than one match where he worked a really good headlock.

 

Sometimes that bothers me and sometimes it doesn't. I guess I have a lot of time to think about that.

I'm going to have to delve into Memphis more (especially to get more information on Dundee and Dutch) and I'm hoping to see more of the fired up babyface that I've seen in a few old VHS tapes where Jerry could tear the house down with Randy Savage or with the Road Warriors. The amount of heel stuff I have seen and some of the TV matches I've caught can make Jerry seem almost lazy considering the lack of action and deliberate pace. Like a few people have mentioned, I think heel Lawler could spend way too much time hiding foreign objects that may or may not exist and I considered what I saw to be a major drag.

In a technical sense, Lawler is going to be the least physically skilled wrestler in my top 100. But he has just about every intangible you can imagine in spades. Being a god in Memphis really adds to his matches as well. He is probably the epitome of charisma raising someone up 3 or 4 levels in the ring.

Great wrestler. Will thinks I don't like him, but I think you can be critical of something and still like it. My biggest issue with Lawler is that I don't like his instincts as a heel because he doesn't really have a mean streak. He usually just takes the full coward route and plays hide the foreign object, which feels more like a midcarder gimmick than a world champion top heel gimmick. As a babyface, I enjoy him immensely. I'm not a fan of wrestlers cutting promos mid-match.

I have the same thoughts, and I think Will thinks I don't like Lawler too.

In a technical sense, Lawler is going to be the least physically skilled wrestler in my top 100. But he has just about every intangible you can imagine in spades. Being a god in Memphis really adds to his matches as well. He is probably the epitome of charisma raising someone up 3 or 4 levels in the ring.

 

I don't buy Lawler as not physically skilled, he is still throwing a dropkick in his 60's and is a really athletic bumper, he isn't AR Fox or someone, but he has plenty of physical skill

And Lawler's smarts has made him still able to work matches today when a lot of guys that worked a harder style in his era can hardly walk.

 

Lawler is undeniable in my eyes and sits among the pantheon of wrestlers.

In fairness, when Lawler played hide-the-object it was generally with an honest-to-God chain. Not saying he never used a phantom object, but more often than not he was showing some real skilled sleight of hand and I don't say that facetiously.

 

In a technical sense, Lawler is going to be the least physically skilled wrestler in my top 100. But he has just about every intangible you can imagine in spades. Being a god in Memphis really adds to his matches as well. He is probably the epitome of charisma raising someone up 3 or 4 levels in the ring.

 

I don't buy Lawler as not physically skilled, he is still throwing a dropkick in his 60's and is a really athletic bumper, he isn't AR Fox or someone, but he has plenty of physical skill

I don't mean to say he's as un athletic as I am, I just mean out of wrestlers who are going to make my top 100, he's going to be at the bottom athletically.

One of my favourite moments recording on a show ever, was when I had the temerity to compare Baron Scicluna's foreign-object stuff to Lawler. Pete almost bit my head off.

In fairness, when Lawler played hide-the-object it was generally with an honest-to-God chain. Not saying he never used a phantom object, but more often than not he was showing some real skilled sleight of hand and I don't say that facetiously.

Yeah, my favorite hide-the-object moment from Lawler is in the cage match against Kerry when he spits the chain out of his mouth and wraps it around his fist. It makes him look devious.

Athleticism has always meant jack shit in wrestling. 80% of pro wrestling today is athleticism and it's pretty bad, so I don't get the argument on Lawler having a handicap for not being "athletic."

 

Legit #1 candidate. Body of work, in-ring style, promos, style that doesn't get old, one of the best carriers I've ever seen, great matches with basically every wrestler in U.S in a 20+ year span.

Great wrestler. Will thinks I don't like him, but I think you can be critical of something and still like it. My biggest issue with Lawler is that I don't like his instincts as a heel because he doesn't really have a mean streak. He usually just takes the full coward route and plays hide the foreign object, which feels more like a midcarder gimmick than a world champion top heel gimmick. As a babyface, I enjoy him immensely. I'm not a fan of wrestlers cutting promos mid-match.

 

My main argument is that you haven't watched the 1980s set where the bulk of his best matches are located. He'll be my number one but I have also watched hundreds of hours of his work and feel comfortable in that.

 

Great wrestler. Will thinks I don't like him, but I think you can be critical of something and still like it. My biggest issue with Lawler is that I don't like his instincts as a heel because he doesn't really have a mean streak. He usually just takes the full coward route and plays hide the foreign object, which feels more like a midcarder gimmick than a world champion top heel gimmick. As a babyface, I enjoy him immensely. I'm not a fan of wrestlers cutting promos mid-match.

I have the same thoughts, and I think Will thinks I don't like Lawler too.

 

 

I know you love Lawler. I just think your star ratings are dogshit.

Are there any Heel Lawler matches in 80s Memphis outside of Superclash? I think he's an awesome babyface and love him in that role. I just think he needs some heel matches at the same level on his resume. I've seen the Dundee match from '77 which was great, but that's really the only one. If he has some great heel matches, I want to watch them.

He was a heel for most of the 70s. I have about 7 discs worth of his 70s work. I think he was a face for about a year of that.

What are the best matches from that time period?

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2013/12/lawler-thinks-hes-mystery-to-all.html

 

http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2011/03/wont-you-tell-king-to-get-off-my-back.html

 

 

I need to check to see what else is complete or near complete but if you ever doubted his bumping ability, he takes the famous bleacher fall in one of the Fuller matches.

reminder that lawler got a better match out of 1990 junkyard dog than flair did

 

the definitive "working smart" guy in my view

Re: Athleticism/Lawler/Modern Wrestling

 

He didn't do them often, but weren't Lawler's flying legdrop and flying headbutt as aesthetically pleasing, if not more so than Cena's and Bryan's? Also, his 360 over-the-top rope bump, and huge back body drop (in and out of the ring) were impressive athletic spots, to this day. And he was doing the 360 spot into the 2000's, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm curious to see how much traction Lawler got since 2006. In the SC poll I remember Bix and a few others trumpeting him. Now he's a guy who's stock seemed to rise in a lot of circles. Mine included. I see him in my top 10 list. Making a run at top 5. Watching him he truly is a master.. He has his flaws that Loss has hit on. The flaws aren't their all the time, but they are their at times. To me though his strengths far outweigh the weaknesses.

I've read a ton about what folks on PWO love about Lawler and have tried to see it for myself, but don't. Can't see him ranking for me.