Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Glenn Moore.
Moore and Lawler mention that they’re going to be travelling to Chicago in a few months to be a part of All In’s Starrcast event. They both inform that they’re very excited about this opportunity and they’re really looking forward to the event.
Lawler mentions that he recently spoke to a crowd of kids about the value of hard work. He admits that he’s actually terrified of public speaking when crowds are small. He has no issue with doing commentary or talking in front of thousands of people, but standing and talking in front of a small group of people is very tough for him.
Lawler mentions that he has a number of upcoming independent wrestling bookings, and he still really enjoys performing in the ring. Moore asks him if he’ll still be wrestling when he’s 98 and Lawler laughs, noting that the odds are stacked against him there. He informs that Mae Young always made it known that she wanted to wrestle on her 100th birthday. For a long time that seemed like a possibility because she was getting powerbombed through tables in her 80s. Unfortunately she died at 90 years of age.
Lawler speaks about Dave Meltzer and his Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He informs that a lot of performers couldn’t stand Meltzer and the promoters didn’t like him either because they felt that he was bad for business. Lawler agreed with that opinion at the time and was not a fan of what Meltzer was doing.
He notes that part of the mystique of the wrestling business is not knowing what’s going to happen next, and Meltzer was like a movie critique watching an early preview of a film and then spoiling it for everyone else. He informs that he’s only met Meltzer a couple of times and he doesn’t know him well enough to hate him nowadays.
Lawler mentioned on a previous podcast that he believed WWE’s female talents would get paid for the Greatest Royal Rumble, even though they didn’t work the show. Lawler clarifies that he just said that off the top of his head and it didn’t come from any WWE officials, but that’s the way Meltzer made it seem. This is the kind of stuff that Meltzer has always done; he’s always sensationalized things and looked for dirt in the lives of performers.
Lawler suspects that there’s been more than one person leaking things to Meltzer over the years, and he’s sure Vince McMahon would quickly dismiss those individuals if he were to find out who they were. Moore mentions that he believes Lawler was involved int he first ever Meltzer 5-star match, but Lawler doesn’t care about that, noting that Meltzer’s rating didn’t earn him anymore money for the match that evening.
In today’s modernized age, Meltzer and other dirt sheet writers have taken advantage of social media and the internet in order to build their audience and start their own shows. Much like TMZ in the entertainment industry, Meltzer and other dirt sheet writer have become big names in the wrestling business, for better or for worse.
Moore mentions that Meltzer previously wrote that Lawler almost won the WWE Title from Bret Hart back in 1994. Lawler says this is absolutely not true, adding that he didn’t hear anything about that at the time. He mentions that he doesn’t think Hart enjoyed working with him in the early part of their feud because Hart thought he was above Lawler and other incoming Memphis talents. They went on to have some great matches and do good business together, but Lawler doesn’t think he was ever scheduled to win the WWE Title.
Moore asks Lawler if he thinks we’ll ever see classic Memphis wrestling on the WWE Network. Lawler would love that, noting that he hopes to make that happen. He adds that WWE has basically bought all the catalogues of the old promotions, but they’ve never been able to agree to terms with him for Memphis Wrestling. He mentions that he’d love to have it on the Network and hopes that they can get back to negotiating in the near future.
Moore asks Lawler to name his favourite tag team partner. Lawler says he loved tagging with Bill Dundee and Jeff Jarrett, but his favourite was Jackie Fargo. He tagged with Fargo multiple times, adding that just being around Fargo – in or out of the ring – was very special for him. Fargo was a charismatic guy and Lawler loved him.
Moore then asks Lawler to name one deceased wrestler who he’d love to have a conversation with on this podcast. Lawler chooses Jackie Fargo again, adding that he’d love to let his fans hear what Fargo was really like. He notes that it’d be great to have a conversation with almost any deceased performer, pointing out how great it’d be to chat with someone like Andre the Giant.
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!
