Jerry Lawler just recently defeated Jack Brisco, the former NWA World heavyweight champion but he will have his hands full tonight when he goes up against Cowboy Frankie Laine. In the studio with me, I've got none other than Jerry Lawler, the NWA Southern heavyweight champion. Now, Jerry, I don't know if you..."

Lawler:  "Stop. Pardon me, let me interrupt you. I would appreciate  it if in the future when you refer to me not only as the Southern heavyweight champion but as the King of Wrestling because that's the title I have assumed and that's the title all the fans refer to me as all across the country, I'm known as the King of Wrestling, so when you refer to me just say 'King' or 'King of Wrestling Jerry Lawler'"

Gulas:   "Don't worry about the King. You gotta worry about your Cowboy Frankie Laine match tonight because I know the man is one of the top heavyweights in the country. He's a former NWA Mid-America, North American champion. He's got one ambition, winning that title from you tonight, Jerry Lawler."

Lawler: "I'm not, I'm, I'm not worried about it Nick Gulas. I'm looking forward to it. You know I told you when I came here I want you to put me up against the best you could find. I thrive on competition. I don't want to go out here and beat some jerk that don't mean nothing like Tojo Yamamoto or somebody like that, or there's, or Don Anderson or some of these clowns. Everybody knows that I can beat them and even Frankie Laine is like that. I want good competition. I want a contest when I go in the ring because that's what I love. That's the name of the game. You know it's supposed to be a contest when people go in there, when two wrestlers enter the ring there's supposed to be some doubt in the fan's mind as to who's gonna come out the winner. Ninety percent of the time when I walk in the ring there's no doubt in anybody's mind that I've got my opponent so outclassed that he's not even in the same caliber wrestler as I am. Ninety-nine percent of the time when I walk in the ring the fans can say right now there's the winner standing right there, the King of Wrestling because there's not many wrestlers around the country that can come up to my standards. You know that don't you?"

Gulas:   "Jerry Lawler, let me tell you one thing, you can sit here and talk all you want but I know what Frankie Laine can do. I know what Tojo Yamamoto can do. I know what Tommy Rich can do. They're all great, outstanding stars and you're sitting here bragging about you're the king. We know..."

Lawler:   "That's why I'm looking forward to this match."

Gulas:  "We know you're the Southern heavyweight champion but one thing..."

Lawler:  "Because I'm the best."

Gulas:   "You may be a former champion after tonight."

Lawler:  "That's why I'm looking forward to this match tonight because you people think Frankie Laine is so great and it's gonna be a thrill, it's gonna do my heart good to prove you wrong, to make a fool out of you and all the little rednecks down there, here in Chattanooga, to show you people to make you realize once and for all that I am the greatest wrestler that's ever lived and possibly the greatest that will ever live. I don't want there to be any doubt in anybody's mind and after tonight, I'm sure I'm gonna change a lot of minds wrestling tonight."

Gulas:   "They may change your mind, too. (Lawler laughs.) So, all  you wrestling fans, that's tonight right here at the Memorial Auditorium. Before I go here, I want to announce that Saturday night, November 6 at 8:00 PM at the West Hill Elementary School in Pulaski, Tennessee, we've got another all-star card there but tonight right here at the Memorial Auditorium you're in store for one of the biggest NWA Southern heavyweight championship matches that's ever been signed bringing back Jerry Lawler after a long absence to put that title on the line against the number one challenger in Cowboy Frankie Laine. Let's go back to Harry Thornton, he'll announce the complete card for tonight."

Jerry Lawler to Dave Brown, 1977:

"I'll have a great conversation if you don't interrupt me."

Jerry Lawler with Dave Brown, 1989, as Lawler harangues King Cobra:

Lawler:    "I found out about his old man. You know he first went to  jail, Cobra's old man first went to jail back during the Korean war because he would not go to Korea to fight for his country. (To Brown) Did you know that? And I asked him, I said why would you not go to Korea and you know what he told me Dave? He said 'Well, Mr. Lawler 'cause I done had gonorrhea and had diarrhea and if Korea was anything like 'em I didn't want to have nothing to do with 'em.' Now that's what he told me, Dave."

Brown: "Will you stop all this?"

Lawler:   "This is the truth. Every word of it is true, Dave. I'm telling you about Cobra. So I then asked his mother I said 'Just tell me what is the boy's name. Tell me what his name is'. She said, 'Well you know he got three sisters'. She said 'His first sister we named her Emerald. Second sister we named her Ruby and the third sister we named her Pearl. And then he came along and we named him Onyx'. And I said 'Onyx?' 'Yeah,' she said, 'he was onyx-pected, so that's what we named him."

Jerry Lawler, 1977, on how his manager Mickey Poole suddenly had a head full of hair although Poole had his head shaved after a Lawler loss to Bill Dundee the previous week:

"I don't know if any of these feeble-brain, redneck, pea brains out there can go back far enough but good ol' Sam Bass, there was one thing he left me. One time he got his head shaved in a match and his granddaddy was of Indian descent. He left him a little yellow bottle of hair restorer and Sam left that to me and all I did Monday night was go out and rub that on Mickey Poole's head and it came out. Hair looks better than it did before. Look at it. That's the best head of hair I've seen in a long time."

Jerry Lawler to Dave Brown, 1979:

"You know what your trouble is, Dave? Every time you open your mouth words come out."

Jerry Lawler with Dave Brown, Lawler comments on Rocky Johnson, 1977:

Lawler:  "First of all, I want to talk about some of the matches coming up there Tuesday night. One in which Rocky Johnson is gonna be taking on my man Dr. Frank. Now that's a match that I've been looking forward to for a long time. Johnson stands out here and calls the man a freak, all this kind of stuff. Well, he's gonna be talking a different tune come Tuesday night when you see that freak wearing that Southern heavyweight championship belt around his waist, bring it right out of the ring and hand it to the king. Did you, let me ask you a question. Did you see "Roots"? Huh?

Brown:   "I saw parts of it, yes."

Lawler:   "You know, ever since Johnson saw "Roots" he really thinks he's somebody so what he did he went out and spent five hundred dollars to have his family tree searched and found out he was the sap (laughs)."

Jerry Lawler, 1989 on newcomer Steve Austin:

"Here's a guy who was fifteen years old before he could wave goodbye."

Jerry Lawler, 1979:

"I'm gonna go through Handsome Jimmy just like Ex-Lax through a widow woman."

Jerry Lawler, 1979, after a sixty minute draw against AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel:

"I was fighting two world champions that night. Not only Nick Bockwinkel, the world heavyweight wrestling champion but Tommy Marlin, the world heavyweight cheating referee. It was two against one. I'm telling this to everybody that was at the Mid-South Coliseum in your heart you know I'm right baby. That guy cheated me out of the world heavyweight championship. Let me tell you why Lance Russell. You know why? You know who Tommy Marlin is? You know he don't referee around here all the time. You know why? Well, let me tell you why because his brother is Eddie Marlin. Now do you know who Eddie Marlin is? Eddie Marlin is Jerry Jarrett's father-in-law. Now this all seems to be a little convenient family affair doesn't it? Jerry Jarrett puts Tommy Marlin in there because he don't want me to be the world heavyweight champion. I realize that. Jerry Jarrett knows if I was the world heavyweight champion, I'd have to leave here and he could see his little candy castle come crumbling down, baby. He knows without the King around here, he'd go right in the dumper. That's why he put Tommy Marlin in there. That's why I was cheated out of the world's heavyweight championship. But, in spite of all that, I still did what no man on earth has been able to do and that's beat Nick Bockwinkel. What do you think of that, banana nose?"

Jerry Lawler with Lance Russell, regarding Lawler's recent NWA title match against Terry Funk and Lawler's upcoming Southern title defense against former champion Ron Fuller, 1976:

Lawler:  "How does it feel banana nose to stand next to the world heavyweight champion?" 

Russell: "Well, I did an interview with Terry Funk and, uh, it was a  tough bout, it was one of those things that went against you but..."

Lawler:  "It was his toughest bout he's ever had in his wrestling career because it was the one where he finally lost the belt."

Russell:  "Well."

Lawler:  "He lost the title. I'll, I'll, I'll, let me rephrase that. He didn't lose the belt but he lost the title. He is no longer the world's heavyweight champion. You people are looking at him right now."

Russell:  "Oh, c'mon Jerry, now, you're just claiming that you're the world's heavyweight champion. The belt still belongs to Terry..."

Lawler:  "Do we have the slide I brought with you? The, the picture I had made after the, after the matches there? Can you show that? And this may, uh, wipe out any doubt in your mind."

Russell:   "What is this now? We haven't seen this one."

Lawler:  "Well, it's just an official photograph that I'm gonna, that, uh, will be distributed all over the country. That's exactly what it is. (Slide of Lawler wearing the NWA title is shown.) There it is. Can you, can you get it down there and see what belt that I'm wearing?"

Russell:  "No."

Lawler: "That was taken immediately after the match Monday night and around my waist is the world's heavyweight championship belt. I left the ring with it. I had it around my waist. I beat Terry Funk and what more can you say? I am the world's heavyweight champion. So from now on when you refer to me you say 'The King, the world's heavyweight champion and also the Southern heavyweight champion.' There you go."

Russell:  "Uh, there you go. Uh, the fact of the matter is that Mr. Lawler has just stated that he's the world heavyweight champion and that makes him a claimant to the world heavyweight champion. Uh, I would remind the folks that that belt you were talking about still remains in the uh, possession..."

Lawler:  "The belt is merely a trinket just exactly like this one right here is, (Lawler picks the Southern title belt off the announce desk.) merely a symbol. The title is what is important and that's what Mister Terry Funk lost. He lost the title of world's heavyweight champion."

Russell:  "Okay."

Lawler:  "I possess that now."

Russell:  "You possess that now? All right. I know you possess the NWA Southern heavyweight title. We have no dispute about that. There is a very large gentleman who you met one other time before when you had the NWA Southern heavyweight title. You not only lost the title but you lost the belt to Ron Fuller and he is back, ten pounds heavier."

Lawler:  (Laughs.): "Ron Fuller? Well, he's ten pounds heavier? Well, that's gonna be an advantage for me. The only way he won the last time was he turned sideways in the ring and I couldn't see him. He was moving all around like a string bean pole and I couldn't see where the man was. He's so skinny. How much did you say he weighs?"

Russell:  "Two hundred sixty five, six nine."

Lawler:  "Six nine, two-sixty five. Well, you figure out distributing two hundred sixty five pounds. His feet are size fourteen. They're about this long and then you distribute the rest of that two hundred pounds right up six foot nine inches tall and that makes him just about this big around. Do you realize that Russell?"

Russell:  "Yeah."

Lawler:  "And do you know what I'm gonna do to him Monday night? I'm gonna take him and I'm gonna take him just like you take a pencil and I'm gonna snap him right into. His neck looks like a stack of dimes. I'm gonna take my finger and I'm gonna thump 'em, break that punk neck of his and then he's not gonna be coming around here and calling me a queen because it's one thing I don't take kindly to, son, and that's being called the queen of Memphis. Everybody knows I am the undisputed king, I am the Southern heavyweight champion and I am the world's heavyweight champion. Now what more can you ask from one man?"

Russell:  "Uh, I would say that that's about all that we would like to ask of one man right now as a matter of fact."

Lawler: "So I want to say this to Mister Ron Fuller, where has he been all this time, Lance?"

Russell:  "He has been in Florida and..."

Lawler:  "He's been in Florida..."

Russell:  "...he's been over on the east coast."

Lawler:  "...he's been on the east coast. You know what he's been doing? He's been avoiding the king because every since that last match I've been begging for a match with Mister Ron Fuller because don't nobody go around the country saying that they're one up on the king which is what he's been doing. He's been traveling all over Florida like you said, all over the east coast like you said and his main claim to fame is that he at one time emerged from the match with the king of Memphis as the victor and he wouldn't come back for a rematch because he knew that he had something he could hold on to. He knew that he had made a name for himself in the wrestling profession. So, he's been going all over the country spouting off 'I once beat the king. I once beat the king right in Memphis, Tennessee.' Well I got news for you Mister Fuller, I got you back in Memphis, Tennessee and after this coming Monday night, you'll never be able to use those words again because I'm gonna do a job on you, son, like ain't never been done before, do you understand what I'm saying?"

Russell:  "I hear exactly what you're saying, Jerry Lawler."

Lawler:  "Well, that's all I got to say for you today."

Russell:  "That's fine."

Lawler:  "Say goodbye to the world's heavyweight champion and I'll tell you one more thing before I go. (Crowd jeers.) I am so confident, shut up over there you rednecks. I am so confident of victory Monday night that not only am I putting my Southern heavyweight championship title and belt on the line that I'm also gonna make this one of the most important matches to ever be held in Memphis, Tennessee. I will risk my world's heavyweight championship Monday night also. So, it's gonna be a double title match should Ron Fuller walk out the victor, he can be the world's heavyweight champion come Monday night." (Lawler laughs and leaves the set.)

The Good King

Jerry Lawler, 1986, after Don Bass, Dirty Rhodes and Larry Wright had stomped a crown Lawler was going to give to a fan:

"Hey, they didn't ruin that for me. That's something they ruined that I said I just stood out here awhile ago and I said I was gonna give to some of the fans down there. That's who they ruined this for. That's what I'm talking about, jerks like that. Like you said, Lance, they have no respect. All they got to do is, it, it shows, it takes some big tough man to stomp on something that can't fight back, don't it? But, brother, you can't stomp on the king, can you? That's why you have to stomp on something that can't fight back. Well, when I get in the ring with you, I'm gonna stomp you just like you stomped this crown."

Jerry Lawler with Lance Russell, 1981, after Jimmy Hart's Super Destroyer defeated Lawler when referee Jerry Calhoun stopped the match concerned about a cut over Lawler's eye (if Lawler had won, he would have received a match against Hart):

Lawler:  "I've had a lot of cut heads before. And I've had cuts over my eye before. And I want you to know, I will, this will leave a scar that they don't wash away and they don't go away with time. I want Jimmy Hart to realize that every time I look at this eye and scar from now until the day I die and every time I look at this scar, I'll think of you Hart and your Super Destroyer. I know that you Lance and the fans have seen me come out a lot of times and seen me rant and rave and scream and yell and want to add a match when I'm mad as heck at somebody but I'm not gonna be doing any screaming or yelling. But I am mad, Lance, but I'm mad mostly at myself today because I wanna say that I feel like I let a lot of people down (audience mumbles) and I know you can say that the guy, I don't know if he's six feet six, but he's big and he's strong and he's mean and he's tough.

Russell:  "He's all that."

Lawler:  "Well, that's true. I'll vouch for that but I'm supposed to be the king, Lance. I'm supposed to be the good that overcomes all the evil no matter how big and mean and how tough it is. I just wanna say this, I know I got a lot of fans out there. I realize that (audience cheers) I wanna thank you. I know, I know exactly how they're feeling right now and I just wanna say that you know I'm sure a lot of people say, 'Well, he's on TV all the time. He's a celebrity or whatever. He's not a fan of anything.' But I want the people to realize that I am just exactly like you are and I have things that I like and things that I dislike and I just wanna tell a little story here in comparison, something that happened to me earlier in the week and I, can I have just a minute of time here?"

Russell: "Yeah, go ahead."

Lawler:  "You know Lance and I don't know if any of the people realize it but people are fans of wrestling. I'm a big fan, just to tell a little story, I'm a big fan of the Cleveland Browns football team. You know that and I go to a lot of their games in Cleveland and everywhere and watch them on TV. And I just wanna say, last Sunday I was watching the football game. They're playing the Denver Broncos. It's a game Cleveland really needed to win to, uh, to, uh, keep their playoff hopes alive. The end of the game, it was tied, so they had to go into overtime. I'm sitting there watching it and Cleveland got the ball and they're driving down the field. It looked like they were going in for a score. Boy, I was happy and I was excited and I was standing up on every play and just when it looked like they were gonna score the winning touchdown, one of the Cleveland players fumbled the ball. Denver got it and a couple of plays later, kicked a field goal and Cleveland lost the game. And I know I went at that time from being happy to being miserable (Lawler snaps his fingers) just like that. And I went out to eat later in the evening and I went to a movie but I really didn't enjoy it because my team had lost. I saw the players faces on the sidelines and they all had their heads down and especially the guy that fumbled the ball. You know, I felt bad for him because I know how bad he was feeling and at that time I wished, I was wishing maybe the cameras could go back in the locker room and you could see the players saying, you know, maybe one with a smile on his face, or one saying 'Hey, the season's not over for us, we'll get 'em next week.' But the game was over and they just went to another show. And I felt bad about it and the next day I was at the box office at the Mid-South Coliseum a little early, I went down and a little black lady came over to me, she saw me there, she came over and she said, she said, 'King, don't let 'em hurt you tonight because I cry when you lose.' And that hit me like a shot because I realized at that moment that there's people out there who care enough about me, Lance, that when I hurt, they hurt. And when I lose, they lose. And these are the people that, these are the people that put the food on my table and these are the people that put the clothes on my back. And they're the people who take time out of their schedule to watch me on TV or pay their hard-earned money to come to see me wrestle and these are the people I owe everything to and these are the people, Lance, that I let down today by losing this match. (Lance moans.) But what I can say, wait just a second, where I have the opportunity that the football players didn't have, I can sit here right now, thanks to you, and I can tell my fans that the season's not over and that there will be another day and what I wanna do is I wanna ask, I'm not screaming and I'm not ranting and raving, I wanna ask Eddie Marlin that if this week, if he will add another match to the card with the same stipulations, me against the Destroyer. If I win, I get Jimmy Hart in the ring then I wanna tell (crowd cheers). If he'll add that match, Lance, I just wanna tell my fans that I won't let 'em down anymore and they won't be disappointed in me anymore. That's all I gotta say."

Jerry Lawler about Thunderbolt Patterson (and after Patterson had no-showed appearances in the area the previous week), 1979:

"That guy's got a fascinating set of eyes, hadn't he? (to Lance) His eyes and your nose would make a great face."

Jerry Lawler with Dave Brown, 1984, regarding his feud with Rick Rude and King Kong Bundy:

Lawler:  "Can everybody hear me all right? I want to just say a couple of words here. You know, I've been wrestling here, Dave, for quite awhile. And there's been all kind of guys, all kind of guys, give me all kind of problems, come through here through the years, you know that."

Brown: "Uh-huh."

Lawler:  "But I don't think that there's ever been any body that has been as persistent, has nagged and has been such a thorn in my side as this jerk Rick Rude."

Brown:  "I agree."

Lawler:   "Now let me just say something real quick here. Everybody knows that, well, everybody saw what he did to my car out here a few weeks ago. Now then everybody knows that last week there was a big tournament that not only was there a twenty-six thousand dollar Cadilac at stake but there was also my Southern title at stake in this match with Bundy. Well, Rude comes in. I have Bundy beat, Rude interferes, causes me to lose, so, the way I look at it, he cost me my Southern title. He cost me a twenty-six thousand dollar car. He busted up my car. Not to mention the other stuff that he'd done. I just want to say this to you, Rick Rude. I want you to hear this now. He is here today. I talked to promoter Eddie Marlin. I said, 'Look, Rude's here, I'm here, you got me wrestling a jerk like Keith Robertson.' I said, 'Put me in with Rick Rude. We'll have a match right here today.' Right? (Crowd cheers.) Eddie says, 'No, no.' Now I can understand, you know (laughs) maybe I shouldn't say this but Eddie's looking at dollar signs, right?

Brown:  "Sure."

Lawler:  "He's not gonna give away a match that people may pay to come see here on TV but I said, 'Eddie, put that out, aside, for a minute. I want this jerk every chance I can get him.' But, no, do I get him? No, I didn't. But let me just say this. I'm telling you, Rick Rude. Well, no, I'm not gonna say it, because the people have heard me say a thousand times I'm gonna get you. I'm not gonna say I'm gonna get you anymore. But what I want to say to you people is that every time that Rick Rude is on a card, I don't care where it is. If he's wrestling there, no matter who's he's wrestling, he's gonna wrestle me, too, because I'm gonna be there, brother.  (Crowd cheers.) And I don't care what match you're in, Rude, I'm gonna be in it, too. Because the way I figure it, I gotta a twenty-six, twenty-six thousand dollars to take out of the rear ends of Rick Rude and King Kong Bundy. Now Bundy's got about fifty grand worth of rear end but brother, let me tell you something, before this is all over one or the other, any time you Rude or you King Kong Bundy are wrestling any where, you're gonna also have to wrestle the King and that's a promise."

Jerry Lawler, 1984:

"How fat is King Kong Bundy? You know I wanna tell you how fat he is. King Kong Bundy is so fat, I'll never forget the day he was born-March 17, 18 and 19."

Jerry Lawler, 1983, after Andy Kaufman had turned on him in a tag match against one of the Assassins and Jimmy Hart:

"You know to see Kaufman out here with a crown on, first of all, is sickening. Now I'm sure that Kaufman and Hart and the Assassins are in the back somewhere seeing me here with this neckbrace on after the piledrivers. Now I'm sure that they're, they're laughing right now, 'cause you see this is what, this is what Kaufman has wanted to see for over a year now. So, Kaufman, you take a good look. I want you to look at it real hard and Hart, I want to borrow a little statement that you use all the time. It's 'He who laughs last, laughs best' (rips neckbrace off) because I want to tell you something I am not, I am not a stinking little pencil neck wimp like you and Jimmy Hart and Andy Kaufman (hits his neck with his fist). You see it takes more than a couple of bums like the Assassins to put me in the hospital. I want you to roll a little piece of film. Wait a minute, I want, I want to tell you something, Hart. I want you to take a good look at this piece of film. Roll it right now. I want you to take a look at this. There's been a lot of men (video rolls of various Lawler highlights) come through here and they've done a lot of things to the king. There's been men bigger as you can see right here. Bigger and a lot better than your stinking Assassins. And, brother, I've had it all done to me by each and every one of them. They've come from all corners of the world. Terry Funk, Kendo Nagasaki, Crusher Blackwell, Nick Bockwinkel, Handsome Jimmy Valiant breaking a bottle over my head, Jos LeDuc throwing me on the table. But let me tell you something, brother, I am still here. Do you see that? I'm always gonna be here. It's gonna take more than you Kaufman and more than you Hart and more than your stinking Assassins to do away with the king. Brother, he who laughs last, laughs best and I promise you, I swear to God, I'm gonna have the last laugh on you punks."

Jerry Lawler, 1985, about Bill Dundee:

"You know one of the bad things about being that short? You're the last one to know when it's raining."

Jerry Lawler, 1987, after a video recap of his long-running feud against Nick Bockwinkel promoting his match against Bockwinkel with the winner receiving a shot at AWA champion Curt Hennig:

"I watched the video. More importantly than that I watched Nick Bockwinkel's interview. And I listened very carefully to it and you know, I'm used to, I'm used to coming out here and following an interview of somebody that's been out here spouting off a lot of lies and saying a lot of things that aren't necessarily true. But when I listened to Nick Bockwinkel's interview, it was very, very true. I couldn't have said it better myself. When Nick Bockwinkel said that the world heavyweight championship is something that he's had for over ten years, it's reality to Nick and it's just, uh, in his mind, it's just a slight misfortune and temporary setback that he doesn't have the belt right now. But to me, as he said, the world heavyweight championship has always just sorta been a dream. Now what I want to say to Nick Bockwinkel is this, it's true, the world championship has been a dream of mine for years now. (To Lance) You know it. The fans know it. All the wrestlers know it. Every time I set foot in a ring, I don't care who I'm wrestling, if it's here on television or if it's a match in any city anywhere in the world the things that's in the back of your mind is you gotta win this match because it'll put you one step closer to another shot at the world heavyweight championship and any loss is nothing but a setback in that goal. And the dream of the world heavyweight championship to me Nick Bockwinkel is something I want you to understand. You're right, it is just a dream but myself like everybody out here like anybody, like any little kid growing up, everybody has dreams. Dreams are nothing more than wishful thinking, something that you'd like. You know when a little kid grows up he may dream of someday being a cowboy or something like this but a lot of the times we all know that these are things that are not necessarily gonna take place but it's something that you would like to take place. But the difference Nick Bockwinkel in myself and a lot of people that just have these dreams is somewhere along the line, something may happen that makes you give up on your dream, makes you give up in trying to reach that goal. And a lot of things have happened to me over the years, right here in these rings that could have made me give up on this dream, could have made me give up on the goal. Lance, you will recall a lot of these things. When, uh, one of the years, when I was kicked in the stomach by Austin Idol, passed out in the Nashville airport because of loss of blood and nearly died. Was in the hospital for about three months because of this and was unable to wrestle for about four months. It would have been real easy to look at my situation then and say, 'Boy, this may be time to hang it up.' Or the time when Jos LeDuc picked me up over his head at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis and threw me out about fifteen feet and cut the muscle in the upper portion of my leg right in half there when I landed on the corner of your announcing table there Lance. It would have been real easy while I was laying in the hospital bed there to say, 'It's a good time to call it quits.' And when a guy, when I had a broken leg and was out of wrestling for one solid year and a guy that I thought was my very best friend, Jimmy Hart, who I put into wrestling, turned his back on me, walked away from me. Lost a lot of friends, out of action, no income at all for a year. It would have been real easy then too Lance to call it quits. But I want you to know Nick Bockwinkel that the difference between me and a lot of people is I'm not a quitter and I'm not gonna quit on my quest for the world heavyweight championship and right now there's only one thing in my way in getting that title shot and it's Nick Bockwinkel. And Monday night at the Mid-South Coliseum we're gonna step in the ring as we have many times before and just like Nick said, most of those times he had that world heavyweight championship around his waist and I was always trying to get it and for some reason I always came up just about this much short. (Holds index finger and thumb nearly together.) But Nick Bockwinkel, I want you to know and I think the fans here in Memphis know that I can beat you. (Crowd roars.) And the big thing we're talking about here today is a dream, Nick Bockwinkel. And my dream is being the world heavyweight champion and you are the only thing that's stopping that dream from becoming a reality. And Monday night at the Coliseum with the support of all those thousands, hundreds of thousands of fans watching right now and the thousands that's gonna be down at the Mid-South Coliseum, I'm gonna make that dream a reality. I'm gonna beat Nick Bockwinkel, Lance."

Jerry Lawler, 1989 to Ronnie Gossett:

"Is that your real face or are you breaking it in for a bulldog?"

Jerry Lawler, promoting an upcoming match against The Masked Russian Invader, 1983:

"Let me tell you something, Russian. You talk, I tell you another bit of freedom we got we got the freedom to show a stupid movie that's coming on like "The Day After" and what that movie I think, if you ask me, I think there's some sort of communist plot behind that because what that movie is designed to do is to make the American people afraid of the Russians. Well, let me tell you something, I'm not gonna watch the stinking movie and I don't  think anybody else should watch it because I'm not afraid of you Russian! And the Americans are not afraid of Russia and we'll kick your butt any day of the week, brother! And you're gonna find that out when you step in the ring with me, I want you to know that Russian!"

and later in the show

Jerry Lawler, after The Russian Invader "busted a one hundred pound sack of wheat" over Lawler's head, 1983:

"Let me tell, let me tell that Russian Invader one thing, brother! We got a little bag and we got a little bit of this wheat left and I want to tell you something, I'm gonna bring this with me (holding the sack of wheat up) down to that ring this week and there's a little bit of this wheat left in here and I promise you, you're gonna eat this wheat Russian through the other end, brother! I guarantee you that because I'm not scared of you one bit. And I'm gonna prove it to you when we get in that ring. We're gonna see what a Russian can do to an American. I promise you, brother, you're gonna eat this one way or the other."

Jerry Lawler and Lance Russell, Nashville house show promo for a match versus Bill Dundee, 1985:

Russell:    "We're talking about tonight. I mean out at the Fairgrounds and as long as it stands up I don't know about it. It'll be Jerry going against Bill Dundee. Of course, Dundee has an awful lot to say about how afraid you were of everything, Jerry."

Lawler:   "Yeah, he's doing a lot of talking, Lance. You know you've heard the old saying 'the little dogs barks the loudest'? I've never really liked Bill Dundee, let's face it. You know it's fact, even though he and I have been teamed together and partners an awful lot in the past. I guess, Lance, and I used to try to like Dundee. You know I used to try to overlook all the things that he used to say and do because I figured the guy had what you call a small man's complex."

Russell:  "Uh-huh."

Lawler:  "You know with a little short sawed-off runt that he is, he has always tried to overcompensate for that and you know run his mouth and you know it, try to tell everybody and brag and all this stuff about how great he is and I always figured it was like an insecurity complex, you know. But I guess what the problem is Dundee has said this stuff and shouted and mouthed off for so long that he really believes that he is a superstar. He really believes that he is really something. Now, let me tell you something, Dundee, you stole my belt. Now I don't know how you can come out here, put that Southern heavyweight championship belt on your shoulder and be proud of the fact that you pulled a chain out of your tights right here in front of millions of people on television. Everybody saw it. They saw how you got the belt and then you're gonna call yourself a champion? And then to further prove the fact that he's not a worthy champion, Lance, he won't give me a rematch."

Russell:  "Won't give you a rematch."

Lawler:  "Not for the belt. No, because he knows when the chips are  down he can't defend that title. He won't be able to beat anybody when the belt's on the line. Well, let me tell you something, Dundee, you made a big enough mistake, because you gave me a rematch, whether it's for the belt or not. I'm gonna beat you so bad tonight, brother, when I get through with you, you may get better but you won't ever get well. You won't ever be able to defend that title after tonight."

Jerry Lawler, 1988, promo for his first AWA title defense in Memphis against old nemesis Bill Dundee:

"You know coming up Monday night it's gonna be my very first defense of this AWA World heavyweight championship at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. I've had seven days since I was able to put this belt around my waist. And Bill Dundee, of course, is gonna be my first opponent and there's a reason for this. There's a little bit of history there. Uh, Bill and I both made a promise to each other a couple of years back that if either one of us ever won the world heavyweight championship then that person would give the other one the first shot at it. So, that's what's gonna take place. Now Bill likes to, Bill likes to go back into the past and think about all the matches we've had against each other over the years and uh, you know, if you're into that kind of thing, if you like to look into record books and statistics I guess somewhere you might find that Bill does have a slight edge in wins over me at least that's what he claims. Uh, but as I like to tell Bill, let's don't live in the past. Lets' talk about the future, let's talk about now, let's talk about who is the world champion and you're looking at him right here. And all I got to say to Bill Superstar Dundee is one thing. I didn't come this far, I didn't struggle for fourteen long years to win this belt and then be a one week wonder, lose it after seven days. No way! And I just want to let Bill understand and I want to let all the fans that are out there watching understand this, that I thought, I thought all those fourteen years that I knew what it would be like to hold this belt but I really didn't know. But now that I've got it I know that it's something I don't ever want to let go of. So, what that means is no matter what I have to do, I'm telling you, Bill and I'm telling the fans, too. Don't be disappointed in the King for trying to hang onto this belt because I'm gonna do whatever it takes, no matter what it takes, to remain the world heavyweight champion. So, Dundee, all I can say is, you've got fair warning."

Parting Shot

Jerry Lawler and Lance Russell, 1979:

Lawler:  "Lance and I could have a terrific show biz act together I was thinking. I could picture it. Look, no kidding now, this would be great. The curtain comes up, out I come, tell a few jokes, you know, a little monologue then the curtain comes down. Wait a few minutes, curtain comes up again and I sing a few songs and do that, you know then the curtain comes down. Then wait a few minutes and the curtain comes up again and I ..."

Russell:  "Hey, what about, uh, me? I thought it was gonna be a team thing. Where do I fit in on it?"

Lawler:  "You don't think that curtain goes up and down by itself do you?"

NEXT MONTH:

Back in time: 1965.

Special Thanks

Edsel Harrison, Mike Rodgers, Scott Teal, Charles Warburton and David Williamson