2015 was the 45th anniversary of Jerry Lawler wrestling professionally. In the Memphis area, there were several celebrations of this anniversary at various events. I had been on a business trip but was returning home in time to see the event in Jackson, Tennessee, where I currently live. It had been many years since I had been to a wrestling match. To my knowledge, there were no wrestling programs on TV that featured the local promotion. Attending events like this one was the only way to know anything about these wrestlers. During the event, I took notes about many of the things I saw. My notes started with observations about the people I saw. I share these excerpts here because they don’t fit in anywhere else in the story but give an idea of the environment I was in:
“People in 4x plus size t shirts
Neon colored hair shaved heads tattoos
Large breasted older women not covering up very well
peroxide blonde men
People in a variety of casts and back braces.
Athletic shorts and buzz cuts
Plumbers crack
Back cleavage
Mentally challenged.
I stand out in this crowd”
I think it’s worth noting that this event was being held at a 5,600-seat arena in Jackson that was home to weekly matches in the 1970’s that were professionally run by the Memphis promotion. I could tell that this show wasn’t going to have the same quality when I recognized the guy selling tickets at the box-office was also the promoter of the show.
At this event, each wrestler had their own table where they were selling a variety of merchandise. Some had wrestler masks. Most had shirts. I bought a book from Bill Dundee which he autographed. It was odd to see these guys who were supposed but be big rivals with their tables sitting next to each other.
The Jackson mayor Gist made an appearance at the beginning of the event to give Lawler a certificate suitable for framing acknowledging his years in wrestling. Prior to becoming mayor, Gist had worked for the city and oversaw the Oman Arena and booking it for events like wrestling. So, it was fitting that he would be recognizing Lawler for his years in wrestling. When Gist climbed into the ring, someone in the crowd started booing. The guy booing was obviously a city employee because someone else in the crowd shouted at him, “That man sign your check!”
My ringside seat not only got me closer to the show but closer to a family of women that interacted with the wrestlers. I had the best seats in the house for watching this family. There was a row of seats between me and them but no one was sitting in them. I’m guessing that there were probably 8 generations of this family spanning 30 years represented in this group. The matriarch of the group put on the biggest show, constantly yelling at he bad guys who were standing in the corner of the ring directly in front of them. Grandma’s shirt had a wrestler’s autograph, but the shirt looked several years old and had been washed many times. You could see she had a scar in her armpit and a cast on her leg. She hung her cellphone on the cleavage of the shirt.
She shouted things at the wrestlers like, “Get your ass back in that dressing room!” to which the wrestlers replied, “I’m gonna call the security guard”. She started walking toward the ring and the wrestler told her, “I seen you last night!” Grandma had to be pulled back in her seat. Her flimsy top stretched to reveal undergarments that should never see the light of day. A wrestler saw this and shouted “Big woman put on a t shirt!” One of her daughters told her “We are not at home behave! I told you I didn’t want to bail you out tonight.” One grandkid sat with her fingers in her ears to block the noise. Another was crying the whole time. The kids were getting no attention from anyone in the family, but the family was getting attention from everyone in the arena. Another wrestler told grandma, “You’d better sit down Telletubby!” This was the same guy that proclaimed to be the sexiest man alive man. His gut hung over his pick tights with stars on the ass.
The intermission lasted over an hour because this was the only time that Lawler was selling merchandise. They wanted to give everyone a chance to get autographs and pictures along with pictures, dvd and books. During the break I went to the restroom.
The men’s restroom has 3 stalls and 4 urinals. When I walked in, the stalls were all occupied. The urinal next to the stalls was occupied by a big guy, the next one was open, an older, black man was in the next one and the last one was occupied by a big mentally challenged man. His pants were on the floor and his big white butt was exposed. The old black man was laughing at him and saying, “Man, get your pant up off the floor and cover your ass!” Just after I stepped up to the open urinal, the old man walked over to the sinks with the mentally challenged man. I don’t know if he was there to take care of him, but he was helping him out. About that time, the guy standing next to me starts grunting and groaning. Things were getting a little too weird in the restroom. I finished up and got out as quickly as possible.
After the intermission I heard a few more interesting things shouted from the crowd:
“You got your butt whipped by a girl!”
‘I wanna whoop his ass, I will.”
“That guy’s cheatin’ like a mf”
“You could blind a guy”
At one point during a tag team match, not much was happening that was exciting. The crowd was quiet enough that you could hear people chewing their food. One of the bad guy wrestlers walked over to the corner of the ring where there were a lot of young kids in the crowd and yelled “Shut up!” The crowd erupted with angry shouts. The arena wasn’t quiet anymore.
