----“Axeman” Randall Lewis interviewed Jerry Lawler for www.hollywoodjimmy.com at the RWA debut show in Jonesboro, AR last Saturday. These two things I am reprinting because they were important to the complete Memphis scene. If you want to read the full interview, which goes in and out of kayfabe at times, then go over there to Jimmy’s site and check it out. The stuff about RRO is really funny. The stuff about Joe Leduc and Tojo Yamamoto is good also. And, as you can read, it looks like we will see the return of live Memphis Wrestling.
Axeman ask, “How does Corey Maclin's suit against the WWE affect your being on Memphis Wrestling, or will it affect it at all?”
Jerry Lawler responded, “I don't have any information on the suit. I haven't seen it or read it or anything, so I would rather not even comment on that. I don't know anything about it, other than what I have heard about it on the news. I was out of town, I was in Florida on vacation when it all happened. I saw when I got back where a couple of TV stations had tried to call me for some comments, but I haven't talked to anybody about it, I have not heard from anybody about it, so I would rather not say anything. There's really not anything I can say about it.”
Axeman ask, “OK. Speaking of Memphis Wrestling, what is the status of the organization? We have heard that it is gone for good, and we have heard that they are going to resume taping, so what is the scoop?”
Lawler responded, "The date... I can't remember the exact date, but Channel 30 was up for sale. Clear Channel was trying to sell Channel 30. We were approached by the Station Manager, more directly by the Program Director, Mr. Jim Doty, who we worked closely with at Channel 30, and he said that while the sale is hopefully going through, and at the time they were hoping it would go through, they were going to do some cost cutting measures, some cost cutting decisions, and basically it was to make the sale of the station look more attractive. In other words, to make the bottom line look a little better... Not that wrestling was costing them a great deal of money or anything like that, I think they looked at every aspect of their operation to see where they could cut back until the sale went through. One of the things they suggested was... There is quite a bit of production cost associated with doing the show, it's about $6000 per show that the station spends to produce the show... So they came to Corey and suggested that, until the sale goes through, that they put the production on hold and show re-runs and save that $6000 production cost until after the sale goes through. So we agreed. We wanted the sale to go through, too. So that's where we were. And they were expecting the sale to maybe go through some time in March. I was watching TV day before yesterday, and it was announced on Channel 30 that the sale has already gone through. It was announced on a public information spot that they are running during commercial time, saying that Clear Channel has sold their license to, and I don't even remember what the name of the new owners are, but anyway the sale has gone through, and there will be a little transition time, and then I'm looking for... We never even took the ring down, the ring is still set up in the studio, and so we'll definitely be back doing live matches in the studio, I'm figuring probably some time around the end of February.”
Credit: "Axeman" Randall Lewis
