Jerry Lawler has a big shin-dig in his backyard of Jackson, TN as “The King” will be celebrating his 50th Anniversary as a professional wrestler and he won’t be alone.
USA Championship Wrestling will be having the special outdoor event at The Ballpark In Jackson (home of The Generals) that will have eight matches booked on the card to celebrate The King and will include appearances from Scott Steiner, Kane, Sgt. Slaughter, Road Warrior Animal, Lex Luger and Jimmy Hart.
John Beifuss of the local publication The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote a feature on Lawler that mentions how he infamously got into the business and what his 50 year journey has been like. He talked about how your body does adapt to such matters of weekly punishment.
“Your body just gets used to taking that certain specific abuse,” he said. “I wrestled on such a regular basis for 20 years, probably six or seven nights a week, and every night I would get picked up and body-slammed. And then maybe on your night off you’d go bowling and the next morning wake up and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sore.'”
With arguably having the best punch in the business, Lawler admits to never having worked out outside of the wrestling ring.
“I never worked out a day in my life,” he said. His work was his exercise. (Also, “I’ve never in my life even tasted one sip of beer, wine, whisky or any type of alcohol,” he said. “Or coffee.”)
Lawler does credit plenty of historical talent that he’s worked with over the years as to being more than just pro wrestlers.
“These guys have always been, in my eyes, great athletes,” Lawler said, citing such predecessors as Fargo and Sputnik Monroe. “And when I say ‘athletes,’ the stuff you see (wrestlers) doing, what you’re seeing is really happening. Getting picked up over somebody’s head, getting slammed to the ground. It’s like football players when they’re getting tackled.”
If you’re interested in attending the show gates open at 5 p.m while the show kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Masks required for entry. For tickets and more information, visit milb.com/jackson or call (731) 234-5883.
