Steve Carrier on January 14, 2019
Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host, Glenn Moore.
Lawler informs that he worked an indie match this past weekend and by wrestling that match, he has now wrestled at least one match in 49 consecutive years. Moore points out that that’s an incredible feat, noting that Lawler has had a tremendous career.
Lawler notes that Monday Night Raw will be live from Memphis tonight, and you never know who might show up to that show. The last time WWE was in town Lawler received a call to appear on the show at 4:30 in the afternoon.
WWE officials called him one day last week and told him they might want to film something at his restaurant for tonight’s show, but he hasn’t heard anything about that since. He urges people to watch the show regardless and it’s implied that he’ll have a role on the show.
Lawler informs that he’s been under contract with WWE since 1995, and his contract ends each year on January 10th. On the 8th of this month he hadn’t heard from WWE and he started to get concerned. He contacted Kevin Dunn and Dunn replied with an apology, noting that Lawler’s contract must have slipped through the cracks.
Lawler got a new contract in the mail the following day, for two years instead of one, and with a raise. Lawler is happy to be locked into the WWE family for at least another two years.
Moore points out that with all the hype surrounding AEW, maybe Lawler would have received an opportunity with them in 2019 and beyond. Lawler says he’s more than happy to accept a new WWE contract and return to WWE.
Lawler says he’s not sure if he can even say this publicly or not yet, but he’s going to be calling this year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match with Michael Cole. As of right now, the plan is for JBL to return to call that match with them as well. Renee Young will reportedly call the Women’s Rumble Match.
Lawler welcomes a special guest host, Mike, to the show.
Mike informs that his favourite Lawler moment was his ongoing feud with Andy Kaufman many years ago. Lawler notes that lots of people ask him to name his favourite match, and he notes that his match with Kaufman was his favourite because that shaped his career and changed the business as a whole in some ways.
Mike introduces his surprise guest, The Godfather, to the show.
Lawler is surprised to have his old friend join the show. Godfather made his way to Memphis in 1989 and worked with Lawler there for a while. Godfather says he wrestled Lawler in his very first match, after not even really training. Lawler told Godfather to just listen to him in the ring, and that’s how he learned how to wrestle.
Godfather informs that he eventually got a WWE tryout and was signed shortly thereafter. Vince McMahon told him to start thinking about a gimmick, adding that he had the body of a monster but the face of a baby. Eventually they settled on the Papa Shango character.
Eventually he dropped the Papa Shango character and he became a part of the Nation of Domination. At the end of that faction’s run, The Rock went on to become a huge star and other performers like Farooque and Mark Henry went their separate ways. WWE creative weren’t doing much with him or D-Lo Brown, so he started to brainstorm new ideas.
People started to tell him he was dressing like a pimp, and after his wife urged him to pursue the character The Godfather was born. Eventually McMahon asked him to incorporate some girls to his entrance and the character really took off.
Godfather points out that times have really changed in terms of the wrestling business. He can’t imagine a character like Godfather existing today. Also, The Nation of Domination and their black power promos were hated by fans back in those days, but if a faction existed like that today they’d probably be huge babyfaces.
He points out that the transition from The Godfather to The Goodfather as part of the Right to Censor was very tough for him. Sometimes he even refuses to sign Goodfather pictures at meet and greets because that was a very dark time for him. He knows it’s all a work but going from having fun and making everyone happy to being the bad guy and hating fun was very difficult.
Godfather talks about his Hall of Fame induction. Mark Carano called him and told him that he was being inducted and he was very surprised. It was an honour for him but he still can’t believe he forgot to thank his wife in his induction speech. Every podcast or interview he’s done since he’s been sure to mention how supportive she’s been over the last 20 years.
That sums up this week’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!
January 14, 2019 4:04 pm
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