Steve Carrier on May 3, 2018
Jerry Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Glenn Moore.
Lawler informs that he visited his doctor and had a cat scan done recently, to check the effect that his stroke had on his brain. There is a dark spot the size of a quarter on his brain where his brain cells were damaged, but he was just fortunate that the damaged cells weren’t in a different location on his brain because he could have lost the use of the entire left side of his body. Overall the doctor was pleased and Lawler doesn’t have to visit him anymore.
Lawler and Jim Ross traveled together to Saudi Arabia for WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble event, and he says he’s glad he had Ross’ companionship on those flights because if he was traveling alone he would have been bored stiff. He says that the trip was challenging, and he doesn’t know how people make long trips like that in the cramped quarters of economy seating.
He informs that it was a breeze getting through security when they were travelling into Saudi Arabia, but they had a much tougher time when they traveled from Saudi Arabia back to Paris before boarding the plane back to Atlanta. He adds that they were triple checked before boarding that plane, and Ross was upset because the security guards took his hat to check it and crumpled it all up.
Lawler mentions that he was concerned about bringing his cell phone on the trip. Visitors can get the death penalty for bringing drugs or pornography into the country, and Lawler was concerned that they’d take his phone, scroll through social media and see a picture of a half naked women or something along those lines. Luckily, they treated the WWE talent like kings over there, and they never had any issues at all.
During the show, WWE played a commercial which showed a few female talents dressed in their ring gear. WWE had to later apologize for showing that commercial, and Lawler is unsure how that made it into the show because he’s sure WWE agreed not to show those types of things in order to respect the laws and customs of the country.
Lawler heard that when WWE was negotiating the deal for this show, the Saudi Arabian representatives asked WWE to bring Yokozuna and The Ultimate Warrior. Vince McMahon had to tell them that those guys were dead. Then the Saudi Arabian representatives asked for “the guy who wears the crown, and the guy who wears the cowboy hat”. Lawler thought it was neat that they specifically asked for him and Ross to appear at the event.
Lawler informs that they did a fantastic job with security in the building that day. They did a major security sweep of the building before the Royal Family arrived, and performers/commentators had to pass through a metal detector every time they passed from the backstage area out to their commentary position. Since there was a lot of open space on the stadium’s floor separating the Royal Family and the rest of the audience, Lawler watched 80% of the show just standing there on the floor in his ring gear.
Lawler speaks about Titus O’Neil’s big fall during his entrance. He informs that this was a big hit with Vince McMahon and everyone in the backstage area. Everyone thought it was one of funniest things they’d ever seen, and Lawler was in agreement with that.
After he stopped laughing, Lawler immediately started to think about how O’Neil and WWE can capitalize on this. He points out that things happen for a reason, and he texted O’Neil after the show to let him know that this might be one of the best things that’s ever happened to him. Wrestling is about making money, and O’Neil and WWE have a chance to turn a negative into a positive here by monetizing that fall.
Lawler adds that O’Neil was lucky that he didn’t break his neck during that fall, especially if WWE would have been using their regular video screens on the bottom of the ring. O’Neil told people after the show that he did indeed hit his head on something under the ring, and that’s actually what stopped his slide.
Lawler thought this was a great show overall, adding that Triple H and John Cena set the pace by opening the show and Lesnar/Reigns had a great cage match as well. WWE signed a 10-year deal to continue going back to Saudi Arabia, and he hopes he’s around next year so he can go back again.
Moore mentions that the show’s pyro really made it feel important. Lawler agrees and informs that one of the pyro guys told him that this was the most pyro WWE has ever used on any one show.
That sums up today’s episode of Dinner With the King. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
May 3, 2018 12:29 pm
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