40 Years Ago Yesterday - Andy Kaufman vs. Jerry "The King" Lawler

[TMC]

A match that wasn't even the main event but will live on forever and ever took place at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee on April 5, 1982.

[Chocolate Moose]

Not my favorite part of Andy's career.

[Yong Fang]

I am from Memphis and was a fan of Memphis wrestling. Actually there was a "territory" between Memphis, Louisville Kentucky and Evansville Indiana (Evansville is actually closer than Louisville. The wrestlers did live shows Monday (Memphis) Tuesday (Louisville) and Wednesday (Evansville).

Kaufman wanted to be in wrestling and first tried to get into McMahon's outfit of WWF, but McMahon turned him down (for some stupid reason). Someone knew of this and contacted Memphis and Jerry Lawler and the promotion were very interested in Kaufman coming.

Kaufman's first match was his usual (and stupid) "Intergender Champion" where Kaufman would wrestle women. Now for me, there (has to be and is) a lot of women who could kick Kaufman's ass in the ring (women in the USMC, women with martial arts training, women who are members of the police). The person chosen was a lady named "Foxy" and supposedly Foxy gave Kaufman a helluva match and Kaufman "won" without a pin due to the experiation of time and Lawler came in and asked that Foxy be given three more minutes, and then in the end Lawler got in the ring and threw Andy off starting the "fued".

Kaufman would have these insulting videos saying that the people of Memphis are dirty, have poor hygiene and actually was insulting us and giving us "helpful hints" to improve ourselves. So naturally the people went to the Midsouth Coliseum to hopefully see our hero Jerry Lawler kill Kaufman, and up to over 10,000 fans would show up and the first match was the piledriver heard around the World.

In actuality of course, Kaufman and Lawler were friends who set this whole thing up, Kaufman playing a "heel“ and pissing off the local public and Kaufman "hating" Lawler so much that Kaufman would pay for someone to hurt Lawler enough to put Lawler in the hospital. Total BS, but it was hilarious none the less.

I have never been much of a fan of Kaufman's "comedy" but he was great here. I think Kaufman wanted to be involved in wrestling and he would have succeeded if he did'nt die so young, basically he died right after he left Memphis of lung cancer at the age of 35.

One can watch all aspects of "the fued" on Youtube.

[TMC]

On Wrestling With Wregret, we look at the legendary feud between ANDY KAUFMAN and JERRY LAWLER! Find out how the actor and the Memphis icon worked everyone!

[TMC]

Marc & Pete strap on their neck brace and blur the lines between "work" & "shoot" as they delve into the unbelievable story of Andy Kaufman's wrestling career and his LEGENDARY feud with Jerry "The King" Lawler!!

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

I am from Memphis and was a fan of Memphis wrestling. Actually there was a "territory" between Memphis, Louisville Kentucky and Evansville Indiana (Evansville is actually closer than Louisville. The wrestlers did live shows Monday (Memphis) Tuesday (Louisville) and Wednesday (Evansville).

Kaufman wanted to be in wrestling and first tried to get into McMahon's outfit of WWF, but McMahon turned him down (for some stupid reason). Someone knew of this and contacted Memphis and Jerry Lawler and the promotion were very interested in Kaufman coming.

Kaufman's first match was his usual (and stupid) "Intergender Champion" where Kaufman would wrestle women. Now for me, there (has to be and is) a lot of women who could kick Kaufman's ass in the ring (women in the USMC, women with martial arts training, women who are members of the police). The person chosen was a lady named "Foxy" and supposedly Foxy gave Kaufman a helluva match and Kaufman "won" without a pin due to the experiation of time and Lawler came in and asked that Foxy be given three more minutes, and then in the end Lawler got in the ring and threw Andy off starting the "fued".

Kaufman would have these insulting videos saying that the people of Memphis are dirty, have poor hygiene and actually was insulting us and giving us "helpful hints" to improve ourselves. So naturally the people went to the Midsouth Coliseum to hopefully see our hero Jerry Lawler kill Kaufman, and up to over 10,000 fans would show up and the first match was the piledriver heard around the World.

In actuality of course, Kaufman and Lawler were friends who set this whole thing up, Kaufman playing a "heel“ and pissing off the local public and Kaufman "hating" Lawler so much that Kaufman would pay for someone to hurt Lawler enough to put Lawler in the hospital. Total BS, but it was hilarious none the less.

I have never been much of a fan of Kaufman's "comedy" but he was great here. I think Kaufman wanted to be involved in wrestling and he would have succeeded if he did'nt die so young, basically he died right after he left Memphis of lung cancer at the age of 35.

One can watch all aspects of "the fued" on Youtube.

You said:

"Kaufman wanted to be in wrestling and first tried to get into McMahon's outfit of WWF, but McMahon turned him down (for some stupid reason)".

I wonder which McMahon he approached, it may well have been Vince McMahon Sr. . Vince Jr. purchased the company from his father sometime in 1982. Vince Sr. had an entirely different approach to promoting wrestling, for example he did not approve of wrestlers participating in things like movies, TV shows, and interviews that weren't part of the promotion theatrics . He was old school and wanted the illusion of legitimacy of professional wrestling to be protected.

Kaufman was an in your face comedian, it was easy to see what would attract him to the world of wrestling. For a long time I had difficulty believing he had actually died.

[biffbronson]

I remember vividly seeing Kaufman and Lawler together on David Letterman's show; for anyone interested in watching their segment, all or in part, just do a search for those 3 names and you'll find several online videos. Weird stuff.