By Scott Fishman
Miami Herald Writer
Jerry The King Lawler initially didn’t want to take his place in the WWE Hall of Fame before he accepted the offer in 2007.
His career already spanned four decades, winning a number of championships along the way, but the longtime voice of Monday Night Raw felt he wasn’t ready.
“Vince [McMahon] came to me and said, ‘King we are going to induct you in the Hall of Fame this year.’ Lawler recalled. “My first reaction was, ‘No. I don’t want to.’
“I’d always related the Hall of Fame to baseball and football where you don’t go in until a couple of years after your career is over. So I said to myself and Vince, ‘I don’t feel my career is over. I still want to compete. I still want to perform.’ He said, ‘You have to understand. The WWE Hall of Fame is not like baseball and football in that sense. It’s not that you have to wait until someone’s career is over. If you look around, there are guys in there who still compete, still perform. We just do it to honor and acknowledge what you have accomplished to this point.’
“If someone has accomplished enough to that point, then they are considered for the Hall of Fame. Afterward I didn’t slow down, as I still perform and compete on a regular basis. So it worked out well for me.”
WWE recently announced Edge and the Four Horsemen would join Mil Mascaras in the 2012 Class. Tickets for the March 31 ceremony, emanating from the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, officially go on sale 10 a.m. [EST] Saturday, Jan. 14.
There is some whispers among the Internet wrestling community that Edge’s induction, although deserving, is too soon for the 38-year-old superstar. Lawler couldn’t be happier for the Rated R Superstar.
“We know how young Edge is, but because of his physical condition, his career was cut short,” Lawler said.
“In that respect, he has come to the end of his wrestling career, but when you look back, he was such an amazing performer and accomplished so much in a short time to become worthy of being in the Hall of Fame. He is a special individual. I think it’s great he is going to be in there.
“His popularity is worldwide. It’s just tremendous. I don’t think there will be anyone out there saying he shouldn’t be in there because he is too young. Here is a guy who has accomplished so much that everybody I have talked to since it was announced is just excited for Edge.”
The same excitement is felt for the induction of the Four Horsemen, the incarnation of the respected group made up of Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Barry Windham, Ric Flair and manager J.J. Dillon. The Nature Boy already has a Hall of Fame ring as a member of the 2008 Class.
“Ric Flair having two rings is going to make a lot of people a little bit jealous” Lawler said.
“Though there is no way you can say the Four Horsemen are not worthy of being inducted in the Hall of Fame because, as a group, industry-wide, they were as formidable a group of talent that there ever has been. Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard, I’m excited for them. J.J. Dillon has always been a favorite of mine. I remember when Kamala first got his start in Memphis, J.J. came over and did the favor of basically managing and introducing Kamala.
“Nobody in our Memphis area knew who J.J. Dillon was, but he did such a tremendous job as he did his entire career. So I’m excited for him to be acknowledged. That’s the great thing about the WWE Hall of Fame. It’s an opportunity to acknowledge what these special guys, special talents have done. Without that, it just goes unheralded so to speak. All these guys deserve it for their accomplishments, but also everything they have brought to our industry.”
If the Memphis legend had his way a certain broadcaster would join the WWE Hall of Fame ranks.
“Lance Russell would be a personal favorite of mine,” Lawler said. “Basically I grew up with Lance Russell as our play-by-play announcer in our Memphis and Mid-South Wrestling area, territory. To me, there has never been anyone better, and I’ve heard them all. From Gordon Solie to J.R. [Jim Ross] and everybody, he was my personal favorite because he was the guy I grew up on and listened to every week. It’s indelible in my mind when I think of a play-by-play guy, I think of Lance Russell. However, Lance is a guy not known on a national level, probably not as well as he would need to be to get inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He certainly deserves to be there.”
Another pick Lawler believes deserves a slot in the hallowed hall is rival Andy Kaufman. The King and the late actor’s “hatred” for one another was the talk of the entertainment industry. It put pro wrestling in the limelight, like never before. WWE does have a celebrity wing to its Hall of Fame with Drew Carey, William the Refrigerator Perry, Pete Rose and Bob Uecker.
“I’ve pushed for him to be there,” Lawler said. “The match I had with him, and that whole scenario I think opened the door and changed the face of wrestling to what it is today. There was the Hollywood involvement, the showbiz aspect, but especially the Hollywood involvement. When Andy came along and he and I had those matches, all of a sudden we were on national television on David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and these sorts of things. Our industry got the big Hollywood rub from Andy Kaufman.
“Then Mr. McMahon just took that ball and ran with it. Next thing you know you have Cyndi Lauper out there, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan in the Rocky movie. It just snowballed to what we have today. We have so much Hollywood involvement. Every time you look around Hollywood stars want to be on Monday Night Raw or involved in WWE. I think it all started with Andy Kaufman. I think he really deserves to be in there.”
The Hall of Fame occurs the night before WrestleMania. Despite being with the company since 1992, Lawler had never competed on the mega event until last year. The veteran took on his Monday night broadcast partner Michael Cole.
“Everybody has the dream of being a part of WrestleMania, performing on the grandest stage of them all,” Lawler said.
“That is something that has eluded me for years and years. I remember back in 2007 when Vince came to me about being in the Hall of Fame. I didn’t feel like I deserved it. I didn’t feel I had done enough. I told him I had never even competed at WrestleMania. He was shocked. He said, ‘What? You’ve never wrestled at WrestleMania?’ I said, ‘No’. He said, “How did that fall through the cracks? How did that escape me? You’re going to be on it next year.’”
“Then 2008 came, and I wasn’t on there. Then 2009 came, and I’m not on there. So I had almost given up on the notion of ever competing at WrestleMania. Then it sort of fell into place last year.”
Momentum began to build for Lawler and a coveted spot on the WrestleMania 27 card in Atlanta. It all started on his 61st birthday in 2010 with a memorable match on Raw against The Miz, the WWE champion at the time.
“I will never forget it,” Lawler said.
“It was in Philadelphia. The response was so good. This thing grew some legs, and I was starting to have more matches. This was at a time when I was content being the color commentator, but the response was so good they gave me some more matches with the Miz. Then the Michael Cole involvement came along when he interfered in a title match I had against the Miz. Michael Cole looked like he cost me the WWE title in that match.
“Then there was the bad blood between Michael Cole and myself that grew every week. Then in February of last year my mother passed away. Michael Cole alluded to that fact. I made sure he didn’t say anything derogatory about my mom, but he just made some mentions to her. The fans were so sensitive to that. It really made everyone despise Michael Cole. That led to the blow off match at WrestleMania with me and Michael Cole.”
Even though it wasn’t the greatest match from a technical standpoint, Lawler says it was the ideal opponent for that scenario. The icing on the cake for the King was having Stone Cold Steve Austin serve as special referee.
“It couldn’t have turned out better for me,” Lawler said.
“It was an honor to be in my first WrestleMania, finally at this point in my career, and then have Stone Cold Steve Austin as the special referee. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”
From the age of “puppies” to the “PG” era, Lawler has seen WWE change and evolve in many ways. The usage of social media has become a more prevalent part of the company.
“I don’t know if anybody is doing a better job of taking advantage of social media than WWE,” Lawler said.
“We are one of the most interactive companies out there with tweeting and all the social media out there. Every week we are plugging it on our live broadcasts. We are responsible for people trending worldwide, just like Brodus Clay this past week. Who would have ever thought this big guy making his debut would be the number one trending on Twitter, but he was.
“It’s always fun to be a part of that. Guys are starting to realize they can really take advantage of social media. You remember when Ashton Kutcher was talking about how many followers he had. All it did was get his name out there, putting his name out there worldwide in front of millions of people. Some of our guys, like Zack Ryder, are saying if it worked for those guys, then it can work for me. Zack has used social media to bring himself in the forefront singlehandedly.
“He didn’t sit around and wait for Mr. McMahon or creative staff to say, ‘This guy looks promising. Let’s give this guy some exposure and an opportunity.’ He made that through social media. A lot of the guys are realizing this, maybe even some young guys who aren’t in the WWE and want to be. This is something that you need to take advantage of to get your name out there. This is something that is growing by leaps and bounds. I think we are still on the ground floor of what we are going to be able to do with social media, but I think you are going to see some big things from it in the future in WWE.”
Lawler is looking forward to soaking up the sun, fun and everything else WrestleMania 28 Week has to offer in Miami.
“I just know me personally and everybody I have talked to so far is really excited about it,” Lawler said.
“Everybody knows what a fun city Miami is, and we get to go in a week before WrestleMania. It’s not just WrestleMania and the WWE Hall of Fame. We take over the city. There is the art show and all kinds of events going on all week long in Miami. What a fun city Miami is, with South Beach and all the great things associated with Florida and Miami that we are going to take advantage of. We have a lot of things we have to do, but there is always that off time, so it’s great to be in a place where you can enjoy yourself.”
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То вече няма и смисъл, стана на 100 жената... Иначе от последните години за сравнение, Майк Тайсън определено е най-добрият и заслужил избор от знаменитостите.
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