User:JerryLawlersCrown/Continental Wrestling Association
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Article Draft
[edit]Lead
[edit]Article body
[edit]Notable Feuds
[edit]1977: Jerry Lawler vs Bill Dundee
[edit]Through the summer until the early fall of 1977, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee had their first of many feuds take place.[1] From July to September, the pair faced each other 10 times. The matches varied in types of wrestling matches and in stipulations. The types of matches varied from a one-fall contest to a Texas death match.[1] The stipulations of these matches varied from a title vs Cadillac match, where Lawler promised to take the Southern Heavyweight Title, the main championship in the promotion, from Dundee or he would give Dundee his Cadillac.[1] Another stipulation was that Dundee said he would shave his head if he did not win the title from Lawler.[2] Dundee lost this match, but the week after promised to beat Lawler for the title or else he would shave his wife's head.[2] Dundee lost this match as well, and his wife's head was shaven.[2]
This was a notable feud in the CWA, as it did a lot of business in terms of ticket sales.[3] According to newspaper clippings, the pair sold a total of 85,538 tickets over their 10-match feud.[1][2][3] That is roughly an average of 8,500 people coming to watch wrestling every Monday night at the Mid-south Coliseum. In those matches, the pair sold out the Mid-south Coliseum once on August 1, where 11,300 people came to watch the two fight.[4]
1981: Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk
[edit]Jimmy Hart would try to bring in wrestlers from other areas to fight Jerry Lawler. Hart did this because Lawler had broken his leg.[5] So, Hart wanted to bring in a wrestler to break Jerry's leg.[5] One of the wrestlers brought in was Terry Funk.[6] Terry Funk was a National Wrestling Alliance champion from 1975 to 1977, and was considered by many to be one of the best wrestlers of his generation.[7]
The first Lawler vs Funk match occurred on March 23, 1981, in the Mid-south Coliseum.[6] This match was a No Disqualification match.[6] Terry Funk had Jimmy Hart at ringside.[6] The two men wrestled for about 11 minutes. Jerry Lawler won the match by count out, as Terry Funk had been incapacitated and could not return to the ring after he had his head slammed into a table by Lawler.[6] This match is remembered as being the first time Lawler had ever dropped his strap on his wrestling singlet and not won the match immediately.[6][8] Before this match, Lawler would drop his strap and immediately beat his opponent.[9][10] When watching the match, people in the audience can audibly be heard cheering that the match continued after Lawler had dropped his strap.[6]
The match started out with Terry Funk beating up Jerry Lawler.[6] Terry first threw Lawler outside the ring and proceeded to elbow him and atomic drop him.[6] After that, Terry entered the ring and waited for Lawler to reenter the ring.[6] Once Lawler reentered the ring, Funk punched him and leg-dropped him.[6] Terry Funk then missed Lawler with a punch, which allowed Lawler to begin making his comeback.[6] Lawler punched Funk repeatedly, and then he threw Funk out of the ring.[6] Lawler followed Funk out of the ring, and that is where he slammed Funk's eye onto the ringside bell.[6] After having his head slammed onto the bell, Funk's eye began to bleed.[6] Both men returned to the ring, where Lawler continuously punched Terry Funk's bleeding eye.[6] Jerry Lawler looked to be the victor, but after interference from Jimmy Hart, Terry Funk was able to gain the upper hand.[6] Terry Funk head butted Lawler, and then he bit Lawler's face.[6] This caused Jerry Lawler to bleed.[6] Funk continued to beat Lawler up by punching and elbowing him.[6] While punching Lawler, Funk can be heard screaming the word "pig" at Lawler.[6] Funk threw Lawler outside the ring for a second time, which is where Jimmy Hart punched Lawler.[6] Jerry Lawler then reentered the ring, only to be punched by Funk some more.[6] Lawler was unaffected by these punches.[6] Lawler then dropped the arm strap on his wrestling singlet and proceeded to make his comeback.[6] This was a significant moment in the match because prior to this match with Funk, Lawler would drop his strap and immediately beat his opponent.[9][10] After Lawler did not immediately beat Terry Funk.[6] This was due to Jimmy Hart bringing in a chair to the ring and trying to hit Lawler with it.[6] Lawler stopped Hart's attack and then started to beat Hart up.[6] While dealing with Hart, Jerry did not notice Funk go and pick up the chair.[6] Hart's distraction allowed for Funk to hit Lawler in his left leg, which was broken most of 1980.[6][11] Funk continued to beat Lawler's leg with a chair.[6] Even after the referee grabbed the chair from him, Funk still tried to get at Lawler's leg by ripping his pants and exposing the leg.[6] Funk, after ripping Jerry Lawler's pants, then applied to spinning toe hold on Lawler.[6] Lawler retaliated by punching Funk in the head.[6] Jimmy Hart attempted to interfere in the match with a chair again, but this time he gave Funk the chair.[6] Funk attempted to beat Lawler's leg again, but Jerry dodged the attack.[6] Jerry grabbed the chair from Funk than proceeded to beat Funk with the chair.[6] Funk retreated outside of the ring, and Lawler followed him with the chair.[6] Lawler then beat Funk with the chair and climbed back into the ring, where he won the match by count out.[6]
After this match, Funk was extremely upset that he had lost. He wanted to get his revenge on Lawler during a rematch.[12] Funk wanted this rematch to take place in an empty arena.[12] Funk's justification for this was that he did not trust the audience or referee, who he felt were on Lawler's side.[12] The match took place in an empty Mid-south Coliseum on April 6, 1981 and it aired on television on April 25, 1981.[13][14] The only people at this match other than Lawler and Funk was Lance Russell, a cameraman, and a photographer.[14] The match ended after Lawler had stuck a wooden spike in Funk's eye.[15] This was after Funk made the spike from smashing it against the ring post and tried to drive the spike into Lawler's eye.[14]
The two men began the match by brawling in the ring.[14] Terry Funk exited the ring while Jerry Lawler stayed in the ring.[14] Funk returned to the ring, where the two men continued to brawl.[14] Both men exited the ring and continued to brawl, until Lawler pushed Terry Funk into the empty ringside seats.[14] Lawler punched Funk while he was on the ground.[14] Lawler let Terry Funk stand up, and once Funk stood up, he threw two ringside seats at Lawler.[14] The two men continued to brawl outside of the ring, and then Lawler threw Funk over some more ringside seats.[14] Once he got to his feet, Funk ran away from Lawler.[14] Lawler returned to the ring.[14] Funk broke the top of an identification stand, and he took it with him to the ring.[14] Funk beat Lawler over the head with top of the identification stand.[14] Funk then took Lawler out of the ring, where he did a piledriver to Lawler.[14] Funk then threw Lawler into the ringside seats.[14] While Lawler was laying in the seats, Funk went to another part outside of the ring.[14] Funk broke a two-by-four piece of wood against the ring post in order to from a spike.[14] Funk returned to Lawler, where he took Lawler and slammed his head onto a ringside table.[14] Funk then slammed Lawler's head onto the table 3 more times.[14] Funk then through Lawler back into the ring.[14] Once back in the ring, Funk took the spike he previously made and attempted to drive the spike into Lawler's eye.[14] Lawler stopped Funk's attempts to drive the spike in his by punching and kicking Funk.[14] Lawler then grabbed the spike from Funk, and Lawler began to drive the spike into Funk's eye.[14] Lawler stopped driving the spike into Funk's eye once Funk began shouting, "I can't see."[15] Lawler exited the ring and left.[15] Funk stayed in the ring where he continued to shout things, such as "Doctor" and "God help me."[15]
According to Jim Cornette, former wrestling manager and wrestling historian, Funk left the CWA for a month to wrestle in Japan.[8] Funk did return later in 1981, where he came on television and asked where Lawler was.[16] Lawler was not present in the studio, so Terry Funk decided to take out his anger by punching a chair several times.[16]
Terry Funk and Jerry Lawler would not fight against each other for the rest of 1981, according to Jim Cornette.[8]
This was a notable feud as it marked the first time Terry Funk ever wrestled Jerry Lawler, with both men putting on two classic wrestling matches that some might say are the best in wrestling history.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d James, Mark (2014). Memphis Wrestling History Presents: 1977 The War For Memphis. www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com. pp. 211–213. ISBN 978-1478134725.
- ^ a b c d James, Marck (2014). Memphis Wrestling History Presents: 1977 The War For Memphis. www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com. pp. 299–301. ISBN 978-1478134725.
- ^ a b James, Mark (2014). Memphis Wrestling History Presents: 1977 The War For Memphis. www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com. p. 253. ISBN 978-1478134725.
- ^ James, Mark (2014). Memphis Wrestling History Presents: 1977 The War For Memphis. www.memphiswrestlinghistory.com. p. 259. ISBN 978-1478134725.
- ^ a b JERRY LAWLER BREAKS JIMMY HART'S LEG-1981, retrieved 2021-09-25
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am Bloody No DQ Match - Jerry Lawler vs Terry Funk w Jimmy Hart (3-23-81) Memphis Wrestling, retrieved 2021-09-25
- ^ Hornbaker, Tim (2007). National Wrestling Alliance : the untold story of the monopoly that strangled professional wresting. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55490-741-0. OCLC 301504167.
- ^ a b c d Jim Cornette on The First Five Star Match, retrieved 2021-09-29
- ^ a b 1981 Jerry Lawler vs Paul Ellering (Last Match) MEMPHIS WRESTLING, retrieved 2021-09-27
- ^ a b Jerry Lawler vs. Hulk Hogan Memphis & Florida Showdowns: 1981, retrieved 2021-09-30
- ^ The Jimmy Hart horse promo - One of the biggest money promos in wrestling history, retrieved 2021-09-25
- ^ a b c Jerry Lawler No-Sells Terry Funk's Taped Promo - Re: Empty Arena Match (April 1981), retrieved 2021-09-25
- ^ Terry Funk Cussing Mad - Funny Interview at Empty Arena Match (4-6-81) Memphis Wrestling, retrieved 2021-09-27
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Empty Arena Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler Original Broadcast 04/25/1981 MEMPHIS WRESTLING, retrieved 2021-09-27
- ^ a b c d Terry Funk vs Jerry Lawler 'Empty Arena Match', retrieved 2021-09-29
- ^ a b Terry Funk - Most Insane Promo Ever! (1981) Classic Memphis Wrestling Performance, retrieved 2021-09-29