Jerry Lawler
Known as “the man fans love to hate” this former Memphis State University art student’s foray into wrestling wasn’t initially promising — he once admitted that he lost 100 bouts before finally winning his first one. But with a penchant for showmanship, abetted by the self-proclaimed title of “The King,” Lawler has been a constant and entertaining presence on the national circuit, both in and out of the ring, well-known as an announcer and commentator for WWE since 1992. “A man with a mouth,” he has said, “can get an awful lot of attention.” And that attention has been earned, winning more than 160 championships throughout his career. His long-running feud with the late comedian Andy Kaufman — climaxed by an on-air slapdown on Late Night with David Letterman — caused plenty of controversy, though later Lawler admitted the whole drama had been staged. Over the years he’s added a few albums to his repertoire, appeared in MTV videos and movies (playing himself in the 1998 Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon), and in 2016 opened King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille on Beale Street. In 2017 he added an eatery in Cordova, King Jerry Lawler’s Memphis BBQ.
