A few weeks ago I discussed how Handsome Jimmy Valiant arrived in Memphis. Today these cards show the return of Jerry Lawler to Memphis Wrestling (from his short-lived retirement).
Oct 10, 1977
Jerry Lawler returned to challenge the new Southern heavyweight champion, Jimmy Valiant. The previous week Valiant interrupted a Lawler concert by busting a guitar over his head. If you look back a few weeks earlier, Jerry was the most hated wrestler in Memphis. He was a man who had defeated the fan favorite Bill Dundee and not only won the right to shave his head, but Bill’s wife’s head as well. For Lawler to no be considered a fan favorite was a testament to how much hatred Jimmy Valiant had generated in a very short time. A lot of people remember the re-invented, babyface “Boogie-woogie Man”, but the 1970’s heel, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant was really something to see.
In their first match ever, nearly 6,800 fans saw Jerry Lawler get his title back by defeating Valiant.
The Samoans retained their tag titles by defeating Bill Dundee and Norvell Austin. Some of the other people on the card were: Mr. Wrestling, Phil Hickerson, Dennis Condrey, Plowboy Frazier, Leroy Brown and a young Jimmy Garvin.
Oct 17, 1977
Jimmy Valiant claimed he was wronged the previous week and wanted a special stipulation added to his rematch with Jerry Lawler. The new stipulation was a 2 out of 3 falls match with a New York City referee. When the smoke cleared, even with his handpicked ref, Valiant didn’t do any better and the King got the win.
Jerry Jarrett continued to push Jerry Lawler into the role of his top babyface. In addition to his match with Valiant, the King was having trouble with former friends, Phil Hickerson and Dennis Condrey. In his 2nd match of the night, Lawler formed a team with another fan favorite, Norvell Austin. Nearly a decade earlier, in the middle of the civil rights era, Austin had formed a team in Memphis with Sputnik Monroe Jr. and a lot of the old guard didn’t like a white man tagging up with a black man. At the time, Norvell had been teaming with Bill Dundee and agreed to help Lawler by teaming with him. This week the Lawler-Austin team came up short, but this eventually led to Lawler and Bill Dundee forming a superteam and this would cement Lawler into the top spot.
Also on the card, Bill Dundee and Mr Wrestling got a dq win but not the belts from the Samoans.
----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!!
