Tom Lawlor Says He Turned Down Power Slap, Thinks a Worked Version Would Draw on Wrestling TV

Tom Lawlor has watched Power Slap (though he hates that he has), and he says that he was once offered a chance to do it. Lawlor recently spoke with Fightful for a new interview and was asked about Dana White’s Power Slap, which airs on TBS after Dynamite and has drawn considerable criticism both inside and outside of the combat sports world. You can see some of Lawlor’s comments below:

On watching the show: “I hate to say this, but I’ve watched the majority of Power Slap. I hate myself for it, but I can’t tune away. During the initial episode, my mother must have caught it. She was like, ‘what the hell is this?’ Then, she was like, ‘You may have been the impetus of this. You may have started it by punching that guy in the bathroom on Ultimate Fighter.’ I was a prototype for this sport, I guess.”

On turning down an offer to do Power Slap: “My management, a few years ago, well before Power Slap was even put out in the media, asked if I was interested in doing it. I said ‘no.’ A bunch of dumbass pro wrestlers would probably do it.”

On the idea of a worked slap fight on wrestling TV: “I would do [a worked slap fight] [laughs]. If you make it to a point in your life where you’re competing in that anyways, what moral standard do you think we have here? You could have a segment, throw this on MizTV. Bronson Reed is mad at Gallows because Gallows told him he should stay in Japan because he beat Okada. So, they have a Slap Fight! I think people would tune in to see that. Get the worked Slap Fight, get some synergy. If you wanna run that angle in AEW.”