History Wrestling / JerryLawler

* HiddenDepths: Did you know that Lawler is an accomplished commercial artist? As well as designing graphics for numerous companies, including WWE, he also painted the cover art for 2007 wrestling comic book ''Headlocked.''

* YesMan: To Vince McMahon during the Attitude Era, something Jim Ross frequently called him out or mocked him for, especially when Stone Cold Steve Austin was involved.

* RingOldies: Still found time away from WWE to wrestle at age ''64''.

* DissonantSerenity: His call of [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]] being thrown through the roof in his Hell In The Cell match with Wrestling/TheUndertaker is a rather blasé sounding declaration of "he's dead", considering he legit thought Foley was indeed dead.

* CoolCrown: Carried around a regal-looking crown whenever he wrestled and would wear it whenever he was commentating during the New Generation Era.

** Throughout his run as the pro-heel commentator, he would ruthlessly mock the good guys and sometimes condone the most despicable acts by the heels. He was arguably at the height of this persona in 1998 and 1999, but broke character during two pay-per-view events when two wrestlers he regularly mocked with mean-spirited commentary were involved in horrible accidents: [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]] being thrown through an announcers' table from the top of a 16-foot cage and knocked unconscious; and Owen Hart suffering a fatal injury after a ring stunt gone wrong. In the latter instance, Lawler (just minutes after making Owen Hart jokes) somberly announced that it didn't look good for Hart.

** Has been creeping into his commentary as of late. During the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match on the [[Wrestling/NoWayOutWrestling No Way Out 2012]] PPV, Jerry said the crowd was chanting let's go Sheamus when they were clearly cheering for Wrestling/DolphZiggler.

** (in Memphis): [[Wrestling/JimmyHart "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart]] and his [[RevolvingDoorBand huge stable]] the First Family (which included, '''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters among others]]''', Wrestling/{{Kamala}}, Creator/AndyKaufman, Wrestling/KevinSullivan [who had [[FaceHeelTurn turned heel]] on Lawler], Wrestling/TheIronSheik and Wrestling/RickRude) and [[Wrestling/EddieGilbert "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert]]

* MoralDissonance: Has been creeping into his commentary. One particular recent and jarring example involves how WWE World Heavyweight Champion [=Sheamus=] stealing Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio's car and bringing it back soiled all the way to hell is justified as him just "borrowing" it for a "joyride", whereas WWE Champion CM Punk attacking [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] during a run-in after Rock had told him earlier that night that he had a gifted shot at his title months in advance means Punk "still needs to earn respect" and "[[FaceHeelTurn has turned his back on the WWE Universe]]". Becomes even more jarring when you realize that when Del Rio first became #1 contender to Sheamus's championship, Sheamus promptly clubbed him from behind on the stage within a minute -- and Lawler later condemned not the original deed, but Del Rio doing the same to Sheamus as payback. Of course, it's worth noting that Lawler's commentary has always contained DoubleStandard bias; it's just more glaring seeing him do it as a watered-down {{Face}} in the modern-day Be a Star PG era.

* AutobiographicalRole: More like "Biographical Role" since the film wasn't actually ''his'' autobiography, but Lawler played himself as he was in 1982 in the biopic ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'', reenacting his famous feud with Creator/AndyKaufman.

[[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} That Other Wiki]] has more information on him. Read it [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Lawler here]].

Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American {{professional wrestl|ing}}er, promoter, illustrator, almost-politician and color commentator from Memphis, TN.

* TheStarscream: Had a feud with the man who trained him, Jackie Fargo.

* RealityEnsues: On September 10, 2012, Lawler had an absolutely, 100% real heart attack on a live airing of Monday Night Raw. As ringside medics attended to him, there was a very legitimate concern that he would die that night. Wrestling/MichaelCole, despite being a heel and having on-and-off feuds with Lawler at the time, was visibly distraught and didn't even bother to call at least one match after the incident. If one looked at the commentary area at ringside, [[http://teamhellions.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/michael-cole-jerry-lawler.jpg Cole could be seen sitting alone with his head in his hands]], likely doing anything he could to not break down into tears at the thought of his partner on commentary and real-life friend passing away ''right in front of him.''

* TheCastShowoff: Lawler is a decent cartoonist, which was put into an angle with him and the Wrestling/UltimateWarrior in the mid-90's when Warrior's comic series came out. He also did the illustrations for Mick Foley's WWE Christmas-themed children's book.

* IronicEcho: Of the unintentional kind. An old early-90s promo for the Royal Rumble involved Jerry dying of a heart attack and being involved in a Battle Royal in Heaven with various other "Kings", such as King Arthur and Elvis Presley. [[CueIrony Flash forward to September 2012...]] Thankfully, got better.

He gained the title "King of Wrestling" after winning the [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-h.html (Memphis) Heavyweight Championship]], a title he rosed and held 51 times. Besides this Lawler is a former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/cwa-int-h.html CWA International Heavyweight Champion]], former 9x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/tn-south-h.html NWA-Southern (Tenesse, Alabama and Kentucky) Heavyweight Champion]], former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/tn-cwa-t.html CWA Tag-Team Champion]] (1x w/Tommy Rich and 2x w/Austin Idol), former 17x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-t.html NWA Mid-America/AWA Southern Tag-Team Champion]] (7x w/Jim White, 4x w/Bill Dundee, 1x w/[[Wrestling/UncleElmer Giant Hillbilly Elmer]], 1x w/[[Wrestling/FredOttman Big Bubba]], 1x w/Austin Idol, 1x w/Jimmy Valiant and 1x w/ Jos Le Duc), former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/midam-h.html NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion]], former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html#880509 AWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and former 27x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/uswa/uswa-uh.html WCWA World Heavyweight Champion]], having unified both last titles by defeating [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily Kerry Von Erich]] at ''AWA [=SuperClash=] III'' in December 1988.

Starting in 1970, Lawler wrestled for numerous promotions including [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation the AWA]] and various promotions based in the Memphis area. He gained the title "King of Wrestling" after winning the [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-h.html (Memphis) Heavyweight Championship]]. He worked as both a {{Face}} and {{Heel}}, and had a famous feud with Creator/AndyKaufman. Lawler is a former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/cwa-int-h.html CWA International Heavyweight Champion]], former 9x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/tn-south-h.html NWA-Southern (Tenesse, Alabama and Kentucky) Heavyweight Champion]], former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/tn-cwa-t.html CWA Tag-Team Champion]] (1x w/Tommy Rich and 2x w/Austin Idol), former 17x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-t.html NWA Mid-America/AWA Southern Tag-Team Champion]] (7x w/Jim White, 4x w/Bill Dundee, 1x w/[[Wrestling/UncleElmer Giant Hillbilly Elmer]], 1x w/[[Wrestling/FredOttman Big Bubba]], 1x w/Austin Idol, 1x w/Jimmy Valiant and 1x w/ Jos Le Duc), former 3x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/midam-h.html NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion]], former 2x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html#880509 AWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and former 27x [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/uswa/uswa-uh.html WCWA World Heavyweight Champion]], having unified both last titles by defeating [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily Kerry Von Erich]] at ''AWA [=SuperClash=] III'' in December 1988. He's also managed a few wrestling promotions, such as Pro Wrestling USA and the United States Wrestling Association.

Starting in 1970, Lawler wrestled for numerous promotions including [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation the AWA]] and various promotions based in the Memphis area. He gained the title "King of Wrestling" after winning the [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-h.html (Memphis) Heavyweight Championship]]. He worked as both a {{Face}} and {{Heel}}, and had a famous feud with Creator/AndyKaufman. Lawler is a former x3 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/cwa-int-h.html CWA International Heavyweight Champion]], former x9 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/tn-south-h.html NWA-Southern (Tenesse, Alabama and Kentucky) Heavyweight Champion]], former x3 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/tn-cwa-t.html CWA Tag-Team Champion]] (once with Tommy Rich and twice with Austin Idol), former x17 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/cwa/awa-s-t.html NWA Mid-America/AWA Southern Tag-Team Champion]] (x7 w/Jim White, x4 w/Bill Dundee, x1 w/[[Wrestling/UncleElmer Giant Hillbilly Elmer]], x1 w/[[Wrestling/FredOttman Big Bubba]], x1 w/Austin Idol, x1 w/Jimmy Valiant and x1 w/ Jos Le Duc), former x3 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/nwa/midam-h.html NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Champion]], former x2 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/awa/awa-h.html#880509 AWA World Heavyweight Champion]] and former x27 [[https://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/tn/uswa/uswa-uh.html WCWA World Heavyweight Champion]], having unified both last titles by defeating [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily Kerry Von Erich]] at ''AWA [=SuperClash=] III'' in December 1988. He's also managed a few wrestling promotions, such as Pro Wrestling USA and the United States Wrestling Association.

Starting in 1970, Lawler wrestled for numerous promotions including [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation the AWA]] and various promotions based in the Memphis area. He gained the title "King of Wrestling" after winning the Southern (Memphis) Heavyweight Championship. He worked as both a {{Face}} and {{Heel}}, and had a famous feud with Creator/AndyKaufman. Lawler is a former AWA World Heavyweight Champion and WCWA World Heavyweight Champion, having unified the titles by defeating [[Wrestling/VonErichFamily Kerry Von Erich]] at ''AWA [=SuperClash=] III'' in December 1988. He's also managed a few wrestling promotions, such as Pro Wrestling USA and the United States Wrestling Association.

* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Tragically, his son Brian Christopher, better known as Grandmaster Sexay from Too Cool, committed suicide on July 29th, 2018 while in prison and was brain dead on the way to the hospital. Lawler made the difficult decision to end his life support shortly before he passed away.

* BigOMG: While it is actually Wrestling/JoeyStyles' CatchPhrase, Lawler used it beautifully during ''Wrestling/{{Backlash}} '04'' in the match between Wrestling/MickFoley and Randy Orton when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7OgrDS3-Dg Foley dropped Orton into a pile of thumbtacks.]]

[[caption-width-right:287:The King of Memphis.]]

* BadassGrandpa
** At the ripe old age of 61, Lawler took on Wrestling/TheMiz, thirty years younger than him, for the WWE Championship. In a ''ladder match.'' How did he earn this title shot? By winning a battle royale that also included the likes of Wrestling/JohnCena, Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/CMPunk and King Wrestling/{{Sheamus}}.
** Made all the more badass by the fact that he would've beaten the Miz if Michael Cole hadn't interfered.
** Three days after he had a heart attack that nearly killed him, Lawler was on Tout thanking the fans and cracking jokes.
--->'''Lawler:''' I've got more wires coming out of me than AT&T

* AccidentalPun: There was some snickering when people saw the card for ''Main Event Championship Wrestling Arrives''. The promotion boasted that it had a WWE star in Lawler and a [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] star in Wrestling/JeffJarrett on the same card. Some people also recognized Wrestling/{{Chikara}} star Chuck Taylor but most noticed it had Jerry Lawler, who has a reputation for "raiding the cradle", and a much younger woman ''named'' Wrestling/SuYung on the same card. It became even funnier when she got a developmental deal with the WWE version of FCW later that year and wound up teaming with Lawler, though WWE repackaged her as "Sonia".