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[1990-05] People Magazine: Jerry Lawler


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Weird opening with Lawler in a mask, because I guess all wrestlers have to be in masks and capes. Kind of an odd blend of honesty about the size of the USWA yet not breaking kayfabe, while also pushing Lawler as still being a babyface. Lawler acknowledges the eagerness of fans to be insulted by him. Much better than the Connie Chung piece and much more honest about things like lack of health insurance or a pension, with Lawler coming off pretty well.

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Lawler wearing a mask? Lawler says people love to see violence. Narrator talks about how everyone is after Lawler to help boost their resume to make it to another federation. Some kayfabe being used. Narrator asks about whether wrestling is stage. Wow. Interview with Lawler’s wife who really sells wrestling as being real with a story of her being attacked in the ring by a Lawler opponent. Everyone is more serious when it comes to the sacrifices of wrestling.

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Not as full of shit as you'd expect a piece about Jerry Lawler to be, which is a plus. I have to imagine that this was probably one of the better mainstream pieces you'd see about pro wrestling in this day and age. Still, strange that they would choose to spotlight Lawler, since he was pretty far removed from the national spotlight at this point, and even stranger that they didn't even mention Andy Kaufman.

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A lot more honest than the Connie Chung piece; I felt that Lawler opened up as much as he could without breaking kayfabe. The $300,000 a year figure's probably inflated, but you'd expect that.

 

I liked that Lawler admitted that he carried Jimmy Valiant, which we fans all knew but must have been a shock to those few people who still thought wrestling was completely on the up and up.

 

Who was the caller on the radio who said that Lawler's done more for the positive image of Memphis than Elvis? I hate to be cynical, but it almost sounds like a USWA office worker. Are there really people in Memphis who believe that?

 

I enjoyed seeing Paula, as it made Jerry seem just a tad more human. I can believe the Plowboy Frazier story, but considering how wild Memphis was in the old days, I have a hard time believing that that was the one and only time she ever got involved. Maybe physically, but she had to cut a few promos in her day.

 

I also liked the finale, where Jerry admits that sometimes he just wants the crowd to leave him alone. I'm sure all the boys have been there a time or hundred.

 

I can't find anything about the program as a whole (even on Wikipedia), but I want to say that the narrator/host for this particular piece is Paula Zahn.

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I liked this one a lot. I can't imagine you'd get a wrestler to be any more honest about wrestling who came up during the kayfabe days and was still involved. Still some strangeness, but it's wrestling. I can't imagine anything documenting pro wrestling would come off without being more than a little strange.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1990-05] People Magazine: Jerry Lawler

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