Views from the Hawke’s Nest: It’s Good to be the King – The Jerry Lawler Story – Disc 3

RAW
January 9, 1995

King’s Court segment with William Shatner. Well, now I know why William Shatner did Lawler’s introduction all those years ago at the Hall of Fame.

 

RAW
June 5, 1995

Kiss My Foot Match Training #1: Jerry Lawler informed us that he was not washing his feet until after the match with Bret Hart.

 

RAW
June 12, 1995

Kiss My Foot Match Training #2: Jerry Lawler showed us in his “Royal Stables” stepping in horseshit.

 

King of the Ring
June 25, 1995

Jerry Lawler vs. Bret Hart [Kiss My Foot Match]

This was disappointing. People just did not care about the match, and that took all the steam out of it. They didn’t do anything interesting it the ring to compensate for it either. Hakushi ran down to help, but he accidentally hit Lawler. Bret came back and applied the sharpshooter. Lawler tapped out. Hakushi failed to save Lawler again. Bret made Lawler kiss his foot, and he then made Lawler kiss his own foot. Here’s a better idea than watching this match: watch the Hakushi/Bret match from the IYH. It is fantastic. (**1/4)

 

Superstars
March 23, 1996

Jerry Lawler vs. Al Jackson

This featured the amazing concept of the heel doing his own commentary for the match. Lawler was great at it. They need to do Kevin Owens squash matches in 2015 with this gimmick. I was surprised to see that Jackson actually got to make a comeback, but Lawler quickly hit him with a piledriver to win. Thumbs up for this.

 

SummerSlam
August 18, 1996

Jerry Lawler vs. Jake Roberts

Most of this match was Lawler trolling Roberts or running away. Jake caught up to him and beat him up a little bit. Lawler eventually won after hitting Jake in the neck with a bottle of whiskey. Mark Henry saved Jake after the match from a Lawler beatdown. (1/2*)

 

RAW
March 10, 1997

The Great Debate – Jerry Lawler vs. Paul E. DangerouslyI. This was a cringe-y worked-shoot promo that probably popped internet fans of the time. The live crowd did not know what to make of it as best as I can tell.

 

Shotgun Saturday Night
June 14, 1997

Jerry Lawer & Rob Van Dam vs. The Headbangers

Michael Cole trying to make The Headbangers sound like a hip act accomplished the opposite. I suppose some things never change. Jim Cornette marked out for them, which is funny for 2012 ROH fans. This was an exceptionally flat match that made zero impact on the crowd and me.  Tommy Dreamer ran in and attacked RVD. The match was officially ruled “No Decision.” Doing ECW angles in front of WWF crowds probably seemed like a great idea in theory… (1/4*)

 

ECW Hardcore Heaven
August 17, 1997

Jerry Lawler vs. Tommy Dreamer

I’ll give the match credit for being put together in a way that would have been awesome if anyone in the crowd responded to any of it. Instead, no one gave a fuck and the match was as dead as ECW is now. As a result, the match felt lethargic and outdated, and the interference from Rude, Roberts, and Sunny felt like cheap pops to cover for a shitty match instead of fun moments to make a blood feud match seem more chaotic. (1/4*)

 

Shotgun Saturday Night
October 4, 1997

Jerry Lawler & “Too Sexy” Brian Christopher vs. Flash Funk & Scott Taylor

Wow, we finally found a diamond this ROUGH patch of matches from King’s time in the WWE. There was just a great energy to this one with Scorpio working particularly hard in this throwaway match. Scorpio ended up getting distracted with sending Lawler to the floor, which allowed Christopher to pin Taylor with a guillotine legdrop. This might not seem as good outside the context of a terrible DVD mind you. (***)

 

SummerSlam
August 27, 2000

Jerry Lawler vs. Tazz

The Tazz had hit Ross in the face with glass or something, right? Anyhoo, Lawler and The Tazz did a shot, yet heated, brawl based on Lawler defending Ross. Tazz almost won with a Tazzmission, but Ross hit him in the face with glass to give Lawler the win. This was not bad at all. (**3/4)

 

RAW
November 29, 2004

Jerry Lawler vs. Ric Flair

This was actually a bit disappointing. I should have probably kept my expectations low for a 2004 match between these two, but I honestly expected a bit more energy and pep from this one. Flair won when he put his hands on the ropes during a figure four, as Lawler was forced to submit. (**1/2)

 

WWE Hall of Fame
March 31, 2007

We saw Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame induction. William Shatner inducted him. Shatner’s speech was not funny, did not really pay homage for Lawler’s career, and a bunch of audience members would not shut up.  That ended up being the peak of this whole ordeal, as Jerry Lawler’s speech made me embarrassed to be a fan of pro wrestling and for watching his DVD. He was making all sorts of dick jokes, cuckolding jokes, and racist jokes in this one. If Jerry wants to be a racist weirdo, that is absolutely high right. I’m surprised WWE was willing to put this speech on a 2015 DVD though. It does not reflect well on them. (EDIT: I actually watched the documentary after discs 2 & 3, and the racist joke was kept IN the documentary. MIND BLOWING.)

 

RAW
November 29, 2010

The Miz (w/ Alex Riley) vs. Jerry Lawler [TLC Match for the WWE Championship]

This was Lawler’s very first shot at the WWE Championship. This was the case of having a great babyface (Lawler) and a hated champ (Miz) having a very easy time with the crowd and taking full advantage of it. They worked in some key plunder spots as well, with Miz getting back-body dropped onto a ladder, and Riley getting put through a table probably being the highlights. Lawler was actually on the verge of winning the title, but Michael Cole prevented him from doing so. Lawler then got distracted by attacking Cole, and that gave Miz a chance to recover. Miz won shortly thereafter. This did Miz few favors as a credible champion, but we got a good match. Thumbs up. (***1/2)

 

WrestleMania XXVII
April 3, 2011

Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole (w/ Jack Swagger)

Steve Austin was the Special Guest Referee. This is a fairly infamous terrible match from the Wrestlemania. I actually defended the match ever-so slightly at the time…and I will continue to do so right now! There is a major problem with this match though that fully prevents it from being considered remotely good. They decided to do a disastrous heat segment in the ring with Cole working over Lawler’s leg. This was an embarrassment to pro wrestling and an insult to everyone who did not make the main card. The other stuff is a good a bit of fun though. The antics with The Cole Mine, Swagger, Austin, Booker T, and Josh Matthews got over fairly well, and I like the idea of Wrestlemania having one WrestleCrap match. They just fucked up a key part of the execution. (**)

 

Watch Jerry Lawler for free!

Jerry Lawler vs. Kevin Steen

Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk [Hardcore Match]

Jerry Lawler vs. Mark Henry

Jerry Lawler vs. Dick Slater

Jerry Lawler vs. Michael Cole

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

Jerry Lawler was one of the most successful wrestlers in the eighties, and it is nice that the WWE is finally trying to educate younger fans about his legacy in the business. Sadly, this DVD is almost a complete failure in that regard. They either did not have access to the Memphis footage, or they chose not use a lot of the matches they had from that time period. Either way, a Lawler DVD with six hours of segments and matches should not be 75% WWF/E material. Overall, this set was *ust* watchable enough to cautiously recommend it as there were a couple of great matches and a handful of gems. It is nothing you want to pay full price for though.