There have been a lot of champions over the years that have been highly decorated. Bruno Sammartino, Harley Race, Ric Flair to name a few. Ric Flair is talked about a lot today for his great feat of being 16 time world heavyweight champion between NWA/WCW/WWE. Harley Race was as rough & tough as they came. No non sense, nothing flashy or pretty about him. He just came to the ring and fought. Great wrestler and could brawl as well. Bruno Sammartino was very well publicized like Race for being the man's man of wrestling. He had the muscles to take on all and backed down from nobody and Vince McMahon Sr carried him to the top & back. All three of the above mentioned guys had a well documented career thanks to cable tv but most people only know Jerry Lawler as the announcer on RAW that showed up in the 90's as a self proclaimed king of wrestling. They don't know of his credentials as a champion in the mid-south Memphis wrestling territory that was owned by Jerry Jarrett. Well, let's help change some of that by talking about one of the all time greats that never had the exposure as the others did.
Jerry Lawler was the most highly decorated champion in memphis history. In wrestling in general, all territories included, he has held more total titles than anyone in professional wrestling. He fought all newcomers in the area including the people that Jimmy Hart would specifically bring in to take him down. His most notable feuds were with other locals such as Jackie Fargo when Lawler was new to the sport, Superstar Bill Dundee off & on throughout his career in Memphis, The Universal Hearth Throb Austin Idol & Hot Stuff Eddie Gilbert. The feuds with Eddie Gilbert were legendary there as they pulled out all the stops.
That is some of the great stuff we used to get to see on tv. Studio brawls and wrestling matches, not just 75% of a three hour program talking on a mic. There was action every single week and Jerry Lawler was dishing it out with the best of them. Like I said, Jimmy Hart tried bringing in a lot of people to take out the king and he just kept on coming. Some of the names include Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Kamala the Ugandan Giant, The Undertaker wrestling as the Master of Pain, Sid Vicious wrestling as Lord Humongous, Terry Funk, Austin Idol and more. He has beaten Ric Flair & Harley Race. He feuded with Nick Bockwinkle who was the AWA Heavyweight champion and traded wins with him. He beat Curt Henning for that Same title years later and beat Kerry Von Erich for the WCWA heavyweight belt. He was the first wrestler to hold two heavyweight titles at one time and the first wrestler to be a Unified World Heavyweight Champion by combining the AWA & WCWA title he won from Kerry Von Erich. I am sure I am a little biased on my favoritism towards Jerry Lawler since I grew up watching him but right is right & he deserves the recognition. He has won over 140 championships over his career including tag team gold. As a tag team with numerous partners he has faced and beat the Road Warrios, Moondogs, The SHeepherders, The Bladerunners (Sting & Ultimate Warrior), The Fabulous Ones, The Four Horsemen Ole, Arn & Tully while teaming with Dusty Rhodes & Magnum TA.
So when you hear someone say "Introducing the 16 time World Heavyweight Champion", you just laugh ahd say "So what!! The King had over 140 title reigns!". Leave your comments & likes or dislikes & share with your friends for their opinion as well.
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