This Week’s Flashsback Highlights Sept 19, 1977 and we cover the first Memphis appearance of Handsome Jimmy Valiant.
Sept 19, 197731 Years ago this Friday, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant rolled into Memphis and it would never be the same again.
Sept 19, 1977
I’ve been lucky enough to interview both Jimmy Valiant and promoter Jerry Jarrett about this time in Memphis Wrestling. Jimmy explained it was supposed to be a one shot deal for him. At the time Jimmy was working for Dick the Bruiser up in Illinois (the old WWA territory) and they didn’t have a Monday night show in their territory. Jarrett called Dick and asked for a good talking villain for the Southern Heavyweight Title tournament. Dick provided Jimmy Valiant.
Valiant had called into the Sat morning show and told the fans he was going to come to Memphis and take the title back to New York City, (so they would never see it again). Jimmy’s first match that Monday night was against “Superstar” Bill Dundee. Dundee had just finished a huge summer feud with Jerry Lawler. In many people’s eyes Dundee was the local favorite to win the belt. The Valiant-Dundee match took place and the fans seemed to really hate Jimmy Valiant. So much so that promoter Jerry Jarrett changed his plans. Originally, Mr Wrestling (Dick Steinborn) was supposed to go over in the Southern Title tourney and turn heel in the process (over Bill Dundee in the finals).
When the ref of the Valiant-Dundee draw flipped a coin to see who went on, the nod went to Valiant. In the finals, Jimmy Valiant got a highly contested win over Mr. Wrestling.
Results for Sep 19, 1977
If you go below the surface a little, the root of this was Jerry Jarrett’s decision to turn Jerry Lawler into a babyface. The previous week, Lawler had won his “retirement” match with “Superstar” Bill Dundee. Also, being this was Memphis and Elvis Presley had just died a few weeks earlier, Jarrett thought to incorporate all this into the “retirement angle”. Lawler talked about how life is short and he didn’t always want to be a wrestler, etc. He wanted to be a music star and this was his opportunity to do it. The fans bought it. In the final matches that Lawler had against Dundee, the attendance was near a sell-out each week. The fans never expected Lawler to go out on top, (which he did).
Results for Sept 13, 1977
A few weeks into Valiant’s reign as Southern champ, Jerry Lawler had a small concert at the beginning of the Monday night card. Valiant, in ultimate heel mode ended up busting a guitar over Lawler’s head. This of course led to the King coming back as a huge fan favorite and beginning a feud with Valiant that went on for many months.
Results for Oct 10, 1977
----Mark James is the author of “Memphis Wrestling History – Cards, Matches, Results, Newspaper Clippings” Vol 1 and "Vol 2: The Programs 1972 - 1976" James also is the webmaster to the BEST Memphis Wrestling site in the area – memphiswrestlinghistory.com - Click on his site and order his books!!
