Jerry Lawler's beef with ECW
 

What was all this about?

I know he was a heel commentator back then but on the Legends Roundtable ("biggest heatseekers") he said he hated Heyman too.

He absolutely trashed them on commentary every opportunity, Gertner/ROH-esque, why was this?

Sure he said it was just garbage wrestling,nothing but guys bleeding for no reason. Not sure how much is a work though since he did a few shows and a PPV for them. Found this :


James Guttman welcomes Jerry” The King” Lawler back to ClubWWI.com and mentions all the things that have happened since he was last on. For one thing, ECW rose from the ashes…and was dead again a few years later. Jerry is remembered for his work with Extreme Championship Wrestling’s first incarnation. Jokingly James asks if Lawler’s feelings for the company has changed since he showed up in Philly to cane Tommy Dreamer. Lawler responds and gives his true feelings for the company he once called “Extremely Crappy Wrestling”:

“The appearance that I didn’t like ECW and everything is hopefully attributed to my ability to sell what we’re trying to do on the air. A lot of people think I really, absolutely hated ECW, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. If you look back, you’ll see that I was the only one who went and worked with ECW from the WWF. I went and worked their pay-per-views. You don’t work on someone’s pay-per-view and wrestle on their show if there’s genuine bad feelings between the two. I was always… I won’t say a big fan, because I was down in Memphis and I didn’t really get to see firsthand all they were doing. I heard about it. I knew. Because we were trying to keep the Memphis Territory afloat, I knew the struggles and hardships these guys were going through.”

ECW was direct competition to USWA. Jerry was a big star (and later owner) of USWA.

Paul started in CWA with Jerry if my facts are right. And obviously Jerry's distain was a work.

No idea about the fued, but I'm getting tattooed in 2 hours time. My mate dared me to get the ultimate warrior logo on the back of my hand, and I accepted. Dumb as fuck, but I've only got space left on my hands anyways. May as well dedicate it to a fucking insano cunt. ECW!

Complete work.

Honestly, this angle just showed how amazing of a heel Lawler is/was. "Smart" ECW fans wanted his fucking head.

I don't think Lawler's dislike of ECW was all work. I don't think he hated them with the venom he showed on TV but I can believe that he wasn't a fan of the product and didn't understand its appeal. On the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD he does state that he agreed with the "extremely crappy wrestling" bit and didn't understand why Vince McMahon would support it financially. Always seemed to me to be the classic case of "be yourself with the volume turned way up."

But yeah, I firmly believe that Lawler could turn the fans against him faster than a silent Chris Jericho promo.

His work with the Intergender Champ suggests to me that he is so old-school that he will portray everything as "real" regardless of where he is or who he's talking to. I think on some level Jerry will always be in-character.

It was kind of hypocritical of him, though, because Memphis held some pretty violent and "controversial" angles back in the day. Maybe he hated the product for some reason, I can't say for sure, but it was absolutely largely a work.

Warrior will forever watch you masterbate. Queering doesn't make the world go round!

yep Memphis had alot of controversial stuff in its heyday

hell Lawler practically invented beating up a woman in the ring

it was practically the ECW of its era

For the record, Wrestling being Family Friendly wasn't a thing until Vince McMahon Jr. came along.

Yeah that's why it was at every circus/carnival right?

I think he means modern wrestling, not wrestling in the 1850's.

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This was 1988.

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This was 1985.