1977 Memphis Wrestling Bloody Realism with Jerry Lawler

One of the matches from Volume 7 of my Umatic Masters Series DVDs. Lawler/Austin vs. Hickerson/Condry. This footage is owned exclusively by 70s-tv.com. Shop with us today.

[@rict5878]

" Condrey and Lawler chicken fightin' there while Hickerson is chokin' the stew out of Norvell" 😂 Lance Russell was the best!

[@gl6996]

As a kid(and even now) the sound of the Memphis ring and that bell drove me nuts!!! Loved it!!!

[@Yoni123]

They need to bring back some sound to the ring

[@gl6996]

@@Yoni123 I don't watch wrestling anymore. Wouldn't know what the ring sounded like now...

[@Bandana_Boi]

2019 anyone?! Simplicity and realism at its finest. Everyone’s bleeding, I love it

[@allanr6132]

Surprisingly Lawler wasn't bleeding.

[@ifimnothereandimnottherewh2576]

How about 2020, I say fuck modern wrestling. I only watch wrestling pre 2000 but pre 1985 is the best

[@gl6996]

The rattle of that ring and the sound of that bell...and the scent of Maxwell House coffee is a big part of my childhood.

[@gl6996]

@John Doe Until Vince McMahon ruined it...😠

[@gl6996]

@John Doe Haven't watched it in years...

[@gl6996]

@John Doe My son and I went to a WWE event here in Memphis back in 2004. That was it for me.

[@blackatheistmillionaire1636]

They sold coffee in the arena???

[@gl6996]

@@blackatheistmillionaire1636 No. I was being nostalgic!! My grandparents loved Memphis rasslin' and on Saturday mornings they drank Maxwell House coffe while watching it. 😅😃🤣😂😀

[@manuelper]

Jerry's working punch is something else, one of the best ever, so damn realistic looking.

[@SlimmArmstrong]

Best in the business!

[@TimCousar]

Hickerson's ain't bad, either.

[@needsaride15126]

I think Terry Funk had the best looking punch there was, far better than lawler. Funk also sold better than lawler. Funk had better promos too.

[@reedhryals7007]

Lawler is a artist that helped him a lot with eye and hand timing

[@davidgooch6445]

So many great wrestlers either started in Memphis, or came thru the territory. No-one can compare to the late great Lance Russell. Lance could make any match more exciting. These old videos bring back lots of memories.

[@dieseljunky8505]

This is so much better then the crap today. This is true old school rasslin

[@scenariomckinney]

Monday night at the MidSouth Coliseum was the greatest!! I grew up on it,and that's why I can't take today's "wrestling" seriously.

[@christophercasey6775]

That was Raw before "Raw"

[@ifimnothereandimnottherewh2576]

So true have not watched wrestling on TV close to 15 years only watch the old stuff on KZbin, when wrestlers were better actors then hollywood could ever dream of having they could make you believe they hated each other, then after the show they come out joking with each other until they saw the fans then they start to punch each other to keep up kayfab,

[@JayDogTitan]

Good olé fashion old school rasslin! This is really good stuff!

[@AldenRDavis]

Norvell Austin later teamed with Koko B. Ware and became the popular tag-team, the P.Y.T. Express back in 1984 in the Memphis territory.

[@isaacbraxton1731]

Also part of the Orginal Mid-Night Express with Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose.

[@harvjr8662]

I remember the PYTs dropping Lawler throat-first on a chair in a big Memphis brawl

[@AldenRDavis]

The PYT's even went up against the New Fabulous Ones (Tommy Rich and Eddie Gilbert).

[@isaacbraxton1731]

@@AldenRDavis Yes...i think the match took place in Tupelo Ms.

[@isaacbraxton1731]

@feelings Are Not Arguments Sputnik was who Norvell teamed with in early 70's. Broke the color barrier. Fav sayings was black is beautiful & white is wonderful. The Original Midnight Express was early 80's.

[@dongossett7355]

Grew up in Memphis area and went every Monday night matches.. that was when wrestling was true.. best 2 out of 3 matches.. 30 minutes time limits.. Lawyer's 1 hour time limit matches. Those were True warriors going at each other.. The Big Names Jerry brought through Memphis.. And the athlete that started there.. Wow what a time it was.. Today's Wrestling can't hold a candle to these young legends..the list to long to list and their names and partners historical to the sport.

[@chrisgrudge6964]

King is the GOAT. Shame more people don’t know how good he was.

[@shawnflanagan4995]

prime lawler in memphis in front of the m-s coliseum crowd is about as good as it gets all things considered.

[@shaunclifton5281]

I always got a kick out of how Monday nights at the MidSouth Coliseum would Always keep ringing the hell out of the bell when all hell broke loose.

[@SteveHolsten]

The little older black lady @1:18 was there every Monday night for years. Memphis CWA & the Coliseum Management gave her a free lifetime ringside seat sometime in the '80s. They had her on TV one Saturday morning. I thought it was alright of them! This was a good face run for Lawler. The heels had turned on him for whatever reason and then Tojo saved him one Saturday morning during a beatdown. I just didn't care much for a heel Lawler!

[@htmn2001]

That’s awesome u remember all this I grew up on wrestling like we have it now but the older I get the more I wanna check out territory wrestling just something about how brutal it looks is almost hard to believe they weren’t actually beating the shit out of each other

[@tylermccune7092]

This is the earliest Condrey that I’ve seen, man he was small

[@RayNDeere]

Phil was part of two great teams. The Sherman Tanks with Al Greene and later with Condry as the Bicentennial Kings

[@kevinpayton2664]

He and The Spoiler were a great team and they were Southern Tag Champions. During the early days of the Rock-'n'-Roll Express, Phil and The Spoiler would brutalize them.

[@amatherly81608]

Damn Lawler looks like he's really laying those punches in! Anyone here after the Steve Austin podcast?

[@85futureshock]

Memphis was pretty much ECW's violent southern father and CZW's grandfather.

[@FerretJohn]

Yes and No, Memphis was violent (so was most other territories back in the day) but they were Violence with Purpose. When wrestlers went to war and shed blood it was for a reason, when ECW and CZW did it it was because the day ended with a Y

[@davidwilliamson5911]

Different people have ownership of the Memphis originals--not just Lawler.This is a great brawl--thanks!!

[@n9wff]

Bellringer keeps its chiming while another guy appears to grab a cigarette and go on break. Just another day...

[@montgomeryps]

I like this cause you can see a lot better picture of the fans see if I can find myself and other people I knew.

[@jaymatsui7318]

So much excitement and Russel sounds like he's either bored or announcing a chess match. Don't know what people saw in him.

[@shawnflanagan4995]

that was really good.

[@johnhorton4089]

Memories

[@BankPool69]

At six minutes in, Lawler looks at that chain like Gollum and the ring, "my precious".

[@bill38804]

Love the sound of the Popping ring.

[@tazboi81]

I remember my grandmother's blood pressure would go up at the Coliseum lmbo! I can hear her screaming at the ref because the opposite team is cheating against Lawler! We would try to calm her down but she wasn't hearing us lol.

[@AnonyMoose2012]

THIS!!! Fuck! I'm sitting here after every hit going: "SHIT . . . FUCK . . .STOP . . . DAMN . . . " this is brutal!!! I can see why fans back then thought this shit was real and heels had death threats! Damn man!

[@70sTVchannel]

I hear ya!! That was why I believed it back then. HA!

[@shaunclifton5281]

Smooth, very smooth blade job by Dennis.

[@johnnybstuddd4482]

Yes, it looks like about 3:07, very smooth.

[@robertcornelius3514]

Sad news about the King's son. The King on top for so many years, and then to loose your son to drugs and alcohol.

[@redmanr5522]

Did Jerry Lawler ever face Dr. D. David Schultz? I bet Dr. D would put "King" in his place. I'd like to see that. Lawler has a king size ego.

[@MrShanester117]

Now that I know about blading I can always see it when it happens

[@shawnflanagan4995]

that's the fault of whomever is filming/taping the match. the guy who isn't blading is supposed to do something (stand on the ropes, yell at at fans, etc.) to draw the fans' attention to him, allowing the guy who's cutting himself to do it on the down low (or as much of the down low is possible in an arena) while the cameras get as far away from the blader as possible. then when the camera goes back to him.......voila! he's cut. "magic".

[@contrabandjoe7974]

I can't tell if the venue is Memphis or Louisville.... Looks like Louisville Gardens. I may have been at this match. In the 1970's, ringside seats were like $8 bucks

[@kevinpayton2664]

It's the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis.

[@reedhryals7007]

The black lady they show standing up. Was ring side ever Monday night they gave her a life time ticket

[@gl6996]

Jerry Lawler arranged for that black lady to have lifetime tickets because whenever Lawler's opponents would fall in her section at ringside, she would stick them with a pearl head pin. They kept kicking her out and banned her. Lawler heard about her being his #1 fan and told them she can be at the Coliseum every Monday night for free! Only in Memphis, my home ✊🏾❤️

[@Donathon-xt2nl]

When rasslin was rasslin....I miss it

[@brianlee972]

1:44 is that a young Percy Pringle in the Turkey shirt

[@donaldwilcox1085]

Brian Garland no

[@emobassist]

2:20 the old lady screaming he tagged him. They all think it's real I love it

[@shawnflanagan4995]

she was a regular in these days. i've never made fun of fans like her (not that you are) because they are the kinds of fans who will pay to come back time after time after time, and tell their friends to as well. leople with that much passion are the last fans that you want to run off by goofing on them, which lots of today's fans do with as much passion as she had for these matches

[@reedhryals7007]

My all time favorite is Lawler lou Thesz and the moondogs

[@tritchie6272]

The crowd was into that.

[@ztjam01]

Question does anyone know the history of this feud??? I thought at 1 time both Hickerson and Condrey were partners with Jerry Lawler

[@SuperMarioJamesSMJ]

Blood is the essence of Wrestling...without it there is no shock...it separates the naysayers and the armchair athletes from the performers

[@lvw100]

Anyone notice Jimmy Hart on the front row.

[@leestaples8269]

I did! And that's before he went to work for the promotion right?

[@MisterBeauJanGels]

@@leestaples8269 Based on where he's standing, he wasn't there as a paid attendee. Given that Hart and Jerry Calhoun are both in this clip, if this really was from 1977, it must have been the start of Lawler bringing in his personal friends to work in the promotion.

[@hilohaole4003]

Down goes referee Jerry Calhoun . Pounding away on hickerson and condry.

[@angelacallaway2195]

dang Jerry you tore that ass up good

[@reedhryals7007]

Big Phil was a nice man

[@reedhryals7007]

Anyone watching in 2021?

[@TimCousar]

2022 here!

[@reedhryals7007]

Me to

[@nassermj7671]

Crowd involvement was unreal back then. The fisted elderly?

[@mikes.7654]

Weak crowd - must have been a slow night. Lots of empty seats.

[@ronaldshank7589]

About the 5:25-5:30 mark, or something like that, watching Jerry Lawler saw that chain back and forth on Phil Hickerson's head...that reminds me of a chainsaw! Phil DEFINITELY lost a lot of blood on that one! Dennis Condrey didn't look too good, either.

[@tedoverholt156]

Rasslin back in the day

[@shawnoandrew]

I like the old stuff but where's the wrestling moves? Punches galore! LOL

[@AaronWilliams-km2fg]

Man you know most people today all they know is Becky lynch. But this is real blood.

[@blackatheistmillionaire1636]

Wow.Was this real??? Sure looked like it.AH ,the good ol days.🙄

[@samuelparisi8763]

At around 4:30 what did that like 12 year old Hillary? He hollared you had you fight then I couldn't understand.

[@sirric5157]

🍻🥃🍻🥃🍻

[@mikethompson7436]

Wow thought it was Bobby Eaton b4 the roids

[@nelsonporter8387]

Hickerson never would have made it off the 1st match in WWF or WCW.

[@shawnflanagan4995]

which is a shame as, for a big guy, he could go. buddy rose was the same way.

[@davidherman8244]

Yea what happened the wwe needs to take notes and get back to there roots

[@oshokejoseph1177]

Grossly incompetent referee. Lawler had being a great wrestler all through.

[@GreggF65]

Not really he wasn’t a very good wrestler he didn’t do much of the ring, Jerry the king what a joke