Jerry Lawler vs the Champions

it's odd that I was watching this DVD last night, as Jerry "The King" Lawler had a heart attack on the set of RAW.  my best wishes for a speedy recovery for him and for strength for his family and friends.  though at first I thought this was a very elaborate work on the part of the WWF.  yeah, I'm that jaded now about the biz. 

sorry Jerry!

anyway, this is a really fun DVD.  it's three and a half hours of Jerry's battles against various NWA and AWA champions (though Ric Flair is noticeably absent, I think his only appearance is on another disc altogether).

we start out with a battle against Jack Brisco, a former NWA champ.  Lawler is a heel here, which is always odd for me to see, since I'm so used to him being the face.  he beats Jack for the Southern Heavyweight title.  then we get a full hour of Jerry vs Harley Race for the NWA title.  this is pretty damn impressive.  Harley is not the most exciting wrestler, but damn if he can't go and go.  Jerry proves he's worthy of being the star he is as well.  I still never want to let Harley drop that knee on my head.

next we move into the AWA territory, with a match or two against the awesome and underrated Nick Bockwinkel, plus several interviews.  Nick and Jerry put each other over so well it's amazing to look at now that everyone is wise to the biz.  Nick is so smooth in both interview style and wrestling style that he could make me look like a great wrestler in a bout, and with Jerry's mastery of ring psychology (more accurately, crowd psychology) these bouts are great.

the we get an oddity- Jerry vs Rick Martel.  I'm not quite sure what the background here is, but Rick plays the heel.  Lance Russel tries to play this off as Rick not being prepared for the crowd supporting Jerry.  it works a bit, though Rick is in full heel mode, and he's really good at it.  they work together well for a really good match.

finally, we have the lead up to the "win the AWA title or retire" match with Curt Hennig (RIP).  this is pretty good, and we get to see Curt destroy the CWA studio.  and threaten Lance.  their match is also pretty great, though I wish we would have had several lead ups to it, make it seem like he's at his wit's end trying to beat Curt.

you can get this DVD from www.highspots.com.  quality varies from match to match, but it's all pretty watchable.  get well soon, Jerry!