Tag: Jerry Lawler

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Notable Memphians Dish on Their Must-Have Holiday Meals, Drinks

(Credit: Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash)

Since this is the season to indulge, Memphis notables (and one former Memphian) were asked, “What is an essential something you must eat or drink at this time of year or it won’t feel like the holidays?”

Unapologetic founder James “IMAKEMADBEATS” Dukes: “Probably my dad’s peach cobbler. His peach cobbler is pretty famous. It’s the attention to detail in the crust. He’ll add pineapple to it [the filling]. He just has a very unique approach to peach cobbler. During the holidays, people will legit ask it to be sent to other cities. If people are swinging through town and happen to be there, they will request it.”

Paula & Raiford’s Disco owner Paula Raiford: 
“I have to have the homemade pound cake. My best friend’s [Tiffany Conrad] cousin (Angela Gaines makes it). It is dee-lish. One, it is homemade. She doesn’t bake as much as she used to. She always does it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. You know you’re going to get it and it makes it taste better because you know you’re going to get it for Christmas. You don’t get it year round.”

Grammy-winning engineer/producer Matt Ross-Spang:
“I eat it all year round, but the first thing that comes to mind is gravy. I just love it so much. You put it on everything: the turkey, the dressing, the ham, the rolls, the green beans.”

Memphis Whistle executive chef Kyle Gairhan:
“Latkes and stuffing. I’m Jewish. Those are the two things I think of during the holidays. Stuffing starts around Thanksgiving. And latkes for Hanukkah. [Made from] sourdough, onions, celery, butter.”

Former city Mayor AC Wharton:
“Eggnog. [With] Southern Comfort. In my hometown, there was no alcohol, so my mother made boiled custard. But there was a bootlegger who lived next door to us. And the only time Daddy spiked his boiled custard was at Christmas. He slipped across the fence to the neighbor to get a little nip in his boiled custard, which made it eggnog. The difference between boiled custard is just that. No spices and certainly no alcohol. But you could get a dispensation on Christmas to put a half teaspoon of bootleg stuff in it. And that made it eggnog. But only my daddy could do that. Now that I’m grown, I can have eggnog. When I was a kid, it was boiled custard.”

Performer Al Kapone:
“My mom’s baked spaghetti. My mom’s baked spaghetti is just amazing. It’s always festive. Number one, she bakes it. Number two, she puts these cheddar cheese chunks in it. I don’t know what all the other ingredients she puts in, but the distinctive sharp cheddar cheese chunks, when you go in and get you a helping of spaghetti, you get those nice, melted sharp cheddar cheese chunks in every  bite. It lights you up like a Christmas tree. That’s how good it is. My mom’s spaghetti is a staple for any holiday. When she cooks that, I’m excited. I’m in a festive mood.”

Dave’s Bagels owner/founder Dave Scott:
“No-bake cookies. One hundred percent. My wife [makes them]. It started with my mother. My mother’s been making them for years, my whole life. You’ve probably had them before. They’re chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies. Blend it all together in a little pot. Drop off little drops of that while it’s hot on the wax paper and it cools into a cookie. Whenever I see those around I know the holidays are close.”

Wrestler Jerry Lawler:
“It’s just been a long-time tradition of mine. When I tell people this, they say, ‘Oh, my gosh. Are you kidding me?’ It’s the old tried-and-true Claxton fruitcake. I have to have the Claxton. This year, back before Thanksgiving, they had them at Sam’s Club. Big packs of three of them. I’ve gone through one. I’ve got two brand-new ones to finish off before Christmas. I think the thing about the Claxton is there really is no ‘cake.’ It’s just all fruit. I don’t know what they’ve done to the fruit to make it almost like a solid piece of custard. Very little cake. Just all sugary fruit. People hate fruitcake. I don’t know what the deal is. Johnny Carson used to tell this joke on his show: There’s only one fruitcake in the world and it gets re-gifted every year to different people. It never gets eaten. It just gets regifted.”

Wrestler Jimmy Hart, professional wrestler/former Memphian now living in Tampa, Florida:
“I don’t drink, but just eggnog. I think it’s according to where you live. Hot chocolate if you’re up north. I think eggnog. You only see it during Christmas time, don’t you? If it’s Christmas time, it’s eggnog with or without liquor.”

Note: On New Year’s Eve, Hart and Lawler will reunite to sing — yes, sing, not wrestle — at King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille on Beale Street. “We’re going to do about an hour-long set,” Lawler says. “We’re going to sing in the New Year.”

Chef/owner of Alcenia’s restaurant, B. J. Chester-Tamayo: “Christmas, Thanksgiving, or Easter, you must have chicken and dressing. In the Chester household no ifs, ands, or buts. As long as I have lived, I’ve had chicken and dressing. Except maybe once when she was in the hospital, I had my mom’s. Out of 67 years of my life, if it wasn’t her chicken and dressing she made, it was her recipe.”

How was the chicken and dressing she bought?
“It was absolutely terrible.”

Grammy-winning record producer Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell: “I smoke a turkey every year and I have been for 10 years or probably longer. Turkey. It just has to happen.”

And what does Mitchell like on his turkey?
“Oh, bourbon. Four Roses bourbon, please.”

Rendezvous restaurant owner John Vergos:
“Except for this year since my mother isn’t doing it, we have to have spanakopita. Spinach pie. I think that she’s recognized among the Greeks in Memphis as making the best spanakopita. She doesn’t write it [the recipe] down. You have to watch her. She’s fine. We’re just doing it at my sister’s and we’re just not going to have it this year. We had it Thanksgiving and we’re not having it Christmas.”

So, how does Vergos feel about that?
“It’s just not Christmas.”

Categories
Rassle Me Sports

Ranking WWE’s Memphis Cage Matches

(Credit: WWE)

When Monday Night Raw returns to Memphis this week for the first time since 2019, WWE champion Big E will be stepping into a steel cage for a non-title showdown with Kevin Owens.

The two will face off again with the title up for grabs as part of a triple threat match at WWE’s new New Year’s Day event, which is not to be confused with New Day. The latter is the faction Big E is a part of and will never be in a triple threat match with according to my conversation with Kofi Kingson, which you can listen to right here.

Usually a rare occurrence in wrestling, cage matches often find their way onto the card when WWE comes to the Bluff City.

As a matter of fact, this is KO’s second time competing in a steel cage on an episode of Raw originating from FedExForum.

Let’s rank all the WWE cage matches in Memphis (so far):

5) Roman Reigns vs. Universal champion Kevin Owens

 Raw, September 19, 2016 at FedExForum

While I’ll acknowledge “The Tribal Chief” won, the highlight came after the bell when Seth Rollins ran to the ring and did a splash from the top of the cage.

4) Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss for the SmackDown Women’s Championship

SmackDown LIVE, January 17, 2017 at FedExForum

An historic first-ever cage match for the women’s title on SmackDown lived up to the hype until La Luchadora interfered and revealed her true identity. 

3)  Jerry “The King” Lawler vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart for the WWF Championship

USWA/WWF House Show, February 17, 1996 at the Mid-South Coliseum

Even though it wasn’t known at the time, this Saturday matinee in Memphis ended up being the final match ever in the almost three-year-long feud between Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler.

Leading up to the show, “The Hitman” falsely claimed in an interview that he had never lost a cage match in his career, despite the fact that “The King” pinned him in the same building (different cage) in 1993 with some unintentional help from Giant Gonzalez.

2) CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship

Raw, September 15, 2008 at FedExForum

 “The Best in the World” and “Le Champion” treated fans to a dynamite of a match with a rampaging finish.

1) “Stone Cold” Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, February 14, 1999 at The Pyramid

The first and only one-on-one match in the epic Austin-McMahon rivalry featured major stakes on the line (a WWF title shot at WrestleMania XV) and a big show-stealing surprise.

Kevin Cerrito has covered pro wrestling in the Memphis media for over a decade and is the host of 901 Wrestling. Follow him on Twitter @cerrito and subscribe to his newsletter at cerrito.substack.com.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

A Gibson’s Donuts Storybook

A photograph of a doughnut love from Britton DeWeese's storybook. (Credit: Britton DeWeese)

Thanks to the birth of his third child, Britton DeWeese gave birth to his first children’s book, The Donut Shop That Never Sleeps.

“Basically, when my wife got put in the hospital when she was pregnant with our third kid who is three now, that’s when it started,” said DeWeese, 42, manager/owner at Gibson’s Donuts. 

Britton continued to lose sleep after his son, Liam, came home. “I was up all hours of the night. If the baby woke up at 2, 3 a.m. I’d get him a bottle, go on to work.”

Sometimes if he couldn’t go back to sleep, DeWeese would go on to work. “I’d get there three hours early and sit in my car and make up a rhyme.”

He wrote “little, short 15-second raps” on Instagram. His creative process was about “being delirious and not sleeping. About being stressed out and going to work at 3 in the morning and yadayadayada for a year.

“I like instrumental music. I’d be listening to some kind of instrumental music on the way to work and something would come to me. It was all done kind of spur of the moment. The 15-minute drive from my house to the doughnut shop is when I did it.

“It all has to do with me being delirious. I’ve always rapped in my head, but never out loud or on Instagram.”

DeWeese shared some of his recorded raps at work. People said, “That’s hilarious. You have to do more.”

Joe Webb, who works at Gibson’s, said, “Dude, you should totally turn your raps into a children’s book.”

DeWeese’s response? “Yeah. Whatever.”

“Well, they kept teasing me about turning my raps into a children’s book. On a road trip coming home from Florida I thought, ‘I could turn this into a children’s book and give it to my dad for a Christmas gift.’ It never was supposed to be for sale. I never intended to print them and sell them at the doughnut shop.”

The thought kept nagging at him after he got home. “When my family all fell asleep, I played them through a speaker. I listened to all my raps. I said ‘This could be page one.’ That’s how I figured out I could actually turn it into a book.”

The short raps fit perfectly into a storybook format. “Each 15 second turned into a page or two pages.”

He originally printed the book on Shutterfly.

His dad, Gibson’s owner Don DeWeese, opened his gift on Christmas morning. “When he opened it, he goes, ‘My gosh. We are going to sell so many of these at the doughnut shop.”

Britton DeWeese, author of “The Donut Shop That Never Sleeps” (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Describing the book, Britton says, “It’s just about the doughnut shop. There’s no lesson or moral to the story. It’s basically like a LamaLama kind of book. Quick. Short. Rhyme. If someone asked, I’d say, ‘It’s not like a Berenstein book.’

“I want to say there’s 20-ish pages. Every page is a rap. All kind of about the doughnut shop.”

That Christmas morning, Britton knew he was going to have to make some changes in his book. “I kind of threw it together on Shutterfly.”

When his dad started showing the book around to his customers, wrestler Jerry Lawler said, “I want to be in it,’ Britton says. 

So, Britton wrote a rap for Lawler: “They triple rise their glaze to perfect golden rings endorsed by celebrities including the King.”

Jerry Lawler is included in Britton DeWeese’s storybook (Credit: Britton DeWeese)

And one of his raps is for the guy who is writing this story: “If you try one, your mind will blow.”

He told the writer, “Your hair always looks like you stuck a finger in a light socket. I wanted to figure out how to get that ‘mind blow’ picture.’”

Britton also illustrated the book. “Most of the photos in the book are photos I had already taken. When I decided to turn it into a book, I thought, ‘Who’s going to illustrate it?’ Then it started getting stressful. I didn’t want to find an illustrator. It all started getting overwhelming to me.”

His wife, Kate, suggested he use photos he took at Gibson’s. “I have a million shots. I have this app called Art Card. It turns your photos into paintings, sketches. I turned all my photos into oil paintings.”

Getting back to that writer with the hair. Britton basically said “Eureka” when he walked into Gibson’s one night. Britton wanted to portray someone “with their brain exploding” for his rap about someone’s mind blowing after trying a Gibson’s doughnut. “Oh, my gosh, I saw you and said, ‘Michael. Come here and take a picture real quick.”

He thought, “Oh, his hair is all messy and everything. This is perfect.’ You were having a good Michael Donahue hair day. Yes, this is perfect. Like when you bit into the doughnut your hair stood up like a trampoline. I love it.”

As for Lawler’s photo, Britton says, “It’s him out back holding a crown and a doughnut. My dad goes to lunch with him once or twice a week. They’re good buddies.”

Now that the book is done, does Britton plan to make an album featuring his storybook raps? “That never crossed my mind. I thought about doing a rap video for YouTube. Kind of like a Beastie Boys. I’m from the ‘80s. When I rap it’s old school Beastie Boys-type rapping. We have joked — all my employees — about making an old school Beastie Boys video shot with the fish eye lens. If the book blows up enough, I might make a YouTube video with the raps.”

Britton will autograph the books, which are $10. “If someone wants one personalized, I can do one here. I’m here 40 hours a week, five days a week. Basically, I’m here a lot. They would come in the morning while I’m here.”

Gibson’s Donuts is at 760 Mt. Moriah Road; (901) 682-8200

Categories
Politics Politics Feature

Out of the Past: Joe Cooper Mulls a Re-emergence

CREDIT: Jackson Baker

Joe Cooper is a name from the political past: He called this past week to suggest that he was thinking seriously of running for the Shelby County Commission next year. Most of us, myself included, had lost track of Cooper, who was a squire on the old Shelby County Court back in the 1970s, and once considered a player.

That was before a run of bad luck and/or bad conduct that would see him bereft of his first wife and his office and, temporarily, of his freedom. At that time, Cooper received the first of two felony convictions, this one for acquiring bank loans circuitously, in the names of influential friends. That mischance, arguably, may have owed something to simple politics. Cooper, then a nominal Republican when the GOP controlled the Justice Department, had ostentatiously tried to do some impolitic public brokering on behalf of Democrats.

Jackson Baker

Joe Cooper in 2012

Though he thereafter attempted to regain his equilibrium in politics (this time as a Democrat) and as a businessman, Cooper never quite got back on his feet, though he maintained enough connections and savoir faire to be an advisor and back-room wheeler-dealer on behalf of other public figures.

If you needed an autographed photo of Grover Cleveland by 3 p.m. tomorrow, Cooper could get it for you. He proved useful in an administrative position here and there, and for years arranged an annual Thanksgiving turkey giveaway on Beale Street for the homeless and indigent.

As the late state senator and Juvenile Court Judge Curtis Person Jr., one of several prominent Memphians who had a soft spot for Cooper, used to say, “Joe has a good heart.” In recent years, he partnered with Jerry “the King” Lawler in several valid commercial ventures.

But there were lapses. Cooper got nailed by the FBI in a money-laundering scheme and ended up having to shill for a federal sting against city politicians in order to reduce his own time in a new conviction. As he said in 2012, when he was mulling over a commission race: “I know I’ve got some baggage, but I also know how to get things done.” If he follows through this time around, Cooper would likely be seeking the East Memphis commission seat now held by Republican member Brandon Morrison.

• In an online post last week, I noted that Shelby County Commissioner David Bradford of Collierville has the habit, which has been contagious to other members, of voting “yes” instead of the venerable “aye” in answering roll calls.

This week comes Bradford’s explanation of the practice, which is worth repeating:

“I was wondering if anyone had picked up on my ‘yeses,'” he wrote. “It was a conscious choice to use ‘yes’ instead of ‘aye,’ and honestly I thought I might get reprimanded by the parliamentarian the first time I used it. I’ve strived to stay with the ‘yeses’ throughout my term. I wish I could say my ‘yeses’ were some sort of stand against 16th century [parliamentary precedent], but, alas, they are not. 

“The reason I chose ‘yes’ over ‘aye’ is three-fold:

“1) About 20 percent of it is that I prefer the less formal. I think using ‘aye’ makes the whole system seem more complex, when the simple ‘yes’ conveys the same meaning. I hope less formal and less complex provides a system that is more approachable and understandable to all.

“2) About 75 percent has to do with clear communication. The buttons on our screens that we use to vote don’t say ‘aye.’ They say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ So the engineer in me that likes everything to be orderly, drives me to say what’s on the screen before me. 

“3) That last 5 percent is just to see who’s listening and who catches on. Bravo to you, sir!”

Categories
Music Music Blog

Remembering Jim Blake, Trailblazer of the ’70s Memphis Music Underground

CREDIT: Pat Rainer

Pat Rainer

Jim Blake

Barbarian Records was a beacon of hope in the chaotic music scene of the ’70s in Memphis, when the idealism of the ’60s opened minds and ears to sounds decidedly more freakish, a precursor to what would later be called punk. The label was launched in 1974 by the owner of Yellow Submarine Records, Jim Blake, who passed away yesterday at the Regional One Medical Center while recovering from complications related to a pelvic injury sustained last Friday. He was 75. 

Blake was at the center of a scene that included Jim Dickinson, Sid Selvidge, Lee Baker, Jimmy Crossthwait, Alex Chilton, Ardent’s John Fry, Knox Phillips, William Eggleston, and Tav Falco, among others. By his side through much of the decade was Pat Rainer, who exhibited her photographs from the era two years ago at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.

Yesterday I spoke with Rainer, who now lives in California, about Blake’s importance to the scene and his legendary archive of recorded works by the likes of Dickinson, Lesa Aldridge, the Klitz, and wrestler Jerry Lawler, complemented by his formidable library of LPs, comics and books by others. 

Memphis Flyer: What happened? Was Jim Blake in ill health?

Pat Rainer: He fell while he was going into his house Friday evening, and a neighbor got an ambulance to take him to a hospital in Wynne, Arkansas. And people there figured out he had a fractured pelvis. The next morning they helicoptered him over to [Regional One], and he’d been there since Saturday. But then this afternoon he became unresponsive. They couldn’t revive him.

All because of a fractured pelvis?

You know, he had had heart bypass surgery in the fall of last year. And he had done pretty well since then. But in the past month or so, he’d been complaining about having problems with his balance, and having vertigo. On Friday, he was trying to carry a bunch of stuff in his house and he fell. I assume he was carrying comic books or records. Or both. I mean, it’s pretty poetic if that’s what he was carrying, but for all I know he was carrying groceries.

  courtesy Mesmery Blake

Jim Blake and daughter Mesmery

This was at his home near Wynne, Arkansas?

Yes. Jim’s mother moved to Arkansas because her family was there. She was from Cherry Valley. Jim moved there when he left L.A. in the late 80s to take care of his mom when she was in failing health. Then his older brother bought a place there later.

You may have worked with Jim Blake longer than anyone in Memphis from that time.

I’ve known Blake since ’68 maybe? ’67 or ’68. I worked for him at Atlantis, which opened in ’68. I don’t know what you know about Atlantis, but it was a trip. That was the predecessor to the Yellow Submarine record shop. It was a house on Poplar, an old brick bungalow. And every room was devoted to a different kind of retail store. There was a record store, a comics store, Mike Ladd had a guitar shop, and there was, of course, a head shop. And somebody built a big light organ and hooked it up to a stereo, and we had all these headphone posts in there. You could sit in there and put the headphones on and watch the light show.

courtesy Pat Rainer

Pat Rainer at Graceland the day after Elvis died

He published an Atlantis newspaper, and he promoted a concert with Spirit at the auditorium, and then he did another one with Donovan. Atlantis preceded Yellow Submarine. In the interim, we had a falling out for a minute because I left him and went to work at Poplar Tunes. How dare I leave him! That’s the story of my life with him. Periods of being estranged because you didn’t do what Jim thought you ought to do, because that’s just the way it was. Then I went back to work for him and Nancy (his ex-wife) at Yellow Submarine. That was when he had what was first called Tennessee Roc newspaper, and then after that it was the Strawberry Fields newspaper.

He had pretty strong opinions. Kind of a firebrand, it seems?

Yeah. We were very passionate about music. That was our main thing. And he did what he could do to spread the word about stuff we heard and thought was important. Everything from David Bowie to Lou Reed to Rod Stewart. With the help of our friend Grover, he got Bowie to do a live interview on FM 100 with Jon Scott, and that really did break Bowie in America. We were into Bowie, let me tell ya. I loved Bowie, but Blake and Grover were cuckoo for coco puffs over him!

So Barbarian Records began while you were working at Yellow Submarine, when Blake decided to put out a record by Jerry Lawler, the wrestler?

Jim Dickinson really gave Blake the confidence and the idea that he could take Lawler into a studio and he could make a record. Dickinson said, “You know, you could make a record on Lawler and sell them at the matches,” and you could see the light go off over Jim’s head. He and I used to take Lawler’s records to the Coliseum and sell ’em in the stands, just walk up and down the aisle and sell them. When Lawler was a bad guy, they would buy ’em and break ’em! And when he became a good guy, they would take ’em and try and get ’em autographed.

I think working with Lawler meant the most to him. But he was really thrilled to work with my friend Randy Romano, who we called Sabu La Teuse. He was a gay white man who sounded like a young Black woman. And I think just being in the studio was what he loved, you know? All the musicians that would come work for him, it was just a blast.
Pat Rainer

Jim Blake smokes a joint while musicians prepare for a recording session, 1970s.

In addition to the handful of records he put out in the ’70s, he had a lot of unreleased recordings, didn’t he?

Yes, and I’d been working with him really hard for the past four or five years to get him to get those tapes out, so we could reissue all the Barbarian stuff on Omnivore Recordings. And he would always start the conversation with, “But I’ve got all these unfinished tracks on Alex Chilton and Sabu and Dickinson!” I’m going, “Jim, can we reissue the stuff that’s already been released? That”s been mixed and mastered? Then we can look at other stuff.” But there was always some reason why he couldn’t get to it.

Just the mindset of thinking he would go in and tweak something from 40 years ago, it’s mind-boggling.

Uh, yeah, like, “I’ve just gotta finish that track, get that one guitar overdub.” [laughs]
courtesy Mesmery Blake

Jim and Mesmery Blake

Robert Gordon went over there and helped him get the door open to the storage trailer where he had all the Barbarian masters. His and Nancy’s daughter Mesmery and I have been trying to get out there and get into it. Then he had to have that heart surgery. And then the pandemic. Robert sent me some shots he took, of piles and piles of stuff in his trailer. It looks very familiar to me. I lived through that for so many years with him. It started off small, and then when he relocated from his small house over there by Memphis State, he moved to a bigger home out there in Raleigh. And he built wall to wall record shelves, where he had to walk through there like a maze. You had to walk sideways. After that, he and I kind of fell out again, so I haven’t seen any of it over there in Arkansas.

It sounds like an amazing library, not just of Barbarian material, but in general.

He collected records and comics and never got rid of any of ’em. He collected books and posters and artwork.

Did he live alone out by Cherry Valley?

Yeah. He’s been living alone out there for a while. He has a cousin that lives down the road. His brother passed away a while ago. For years and years, we’ve called Mesmery the Barbarian Heiress. She’s his only daughter. Jim said when he first looked at her he was mesmerized, so she’s named Mesmery.  She moved to Oregon to work in the wine industry and she’s done very well for herself there.

Of all the stuff he worked on, what meant the most to him?

I think anything he worked on with Dickinson. Dickinson was his mentor, like he was mine.

Did Jim Blake do much into the ’80s?

He moved out to LA in the early 80’s to work with Jon Scott, who was doing independent record promotion. Jim and Jon put out a tip sheet for radio called “Scott’s Tissue” with news about new music that went to radio programmers around the country. They also worked with a band called DFX2. They got them signed to MCA and had a record come out that was quite good.

Then he kinda transitioned, and he was working for Jerry Lawler for quite some time. He was driving to Memphis from Cherry Valley three or four days a week, to work for Lawler. Even recently. In fact, Lawler fixed up a place for him to stay at his house, after he got out of the hospital from having that heart surgery. You know, when Jerry was just a kid, Blake would pay him for his artwork. Jerry would draw stuff for our newspapers; he painted the front of the Yellow Submarine with a scene from a comic book. Jim always tried to encourage Jerry. We used to call him the human Xerox machine. Lawler could look at anything and reproduce it. And making those records, Jim was really ahead of his time doing that.

A memorial service in celebration of Jim Blake’s life will be held in Memphis in the near future, according to Mesmery Blake.

Categories
News The Fly-By

MEMernet: College GameDay, Christmas Music — Already

Football Town

Memphis internet bled Tiger blue this weekend. Someone in your feed posted something like this from Reddit user u/Chandler_Weber.

Kings of Gameday

Jerry the King Lawler and ESPN’s Lee Corso joked during the network’s College GameDay broadcast from Beale Street Saturday. GameDay posted this picture to Twitter with the caption, “From one king to another … thank you, Memphis!”

‘Tis the Season

FM 98.9 The Bridge switched to Christmas music on Halloween day. The Memphis subreddit was equal parts gloom and glee on the decision.

But Reddit user u/fennourtine said, “If u mad about it, go write a couple albums about turkey and cornucopias and shit for them to play.”

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Rivalries, Rebuilding, Rehab, and Rasslin’

CREDIT: Michael Butler Jr.

I was a guest on Kevin Cerrito’s sports-radio show, Cerrito Live, on Sports 56 last weekend, to discuss, of all things, the Memphis Grizzlies and their Wrestling Night promotions. Every NBA team has themed nights to add some pizzazz to their home games, and Wrestling Night is the home team’s exclusive version of this. It was a great event when it was initially presented back in 2015. The night featured Jerry “The King” Lawler and Ric Flair, and was capped off by the Grizzlies beating a rival Oklahoma City Thunder team with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka.
Michael Butler Jr.

901 Wrestling

During my radio interview, we talked about how the Grizzlies Wrestling Night went from being an amazing annual event to one that the Grizzlies in-game operations team has run into the ground — resting on past accomplishments and probably serving up too much of a good thing. The Grizzlies had six Wrestling Nights this season, often featuring embarrassingly aging former wrestlers from the 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, this gaffe by the team’s event staff mirrors some of the actions of the organization on the basketball side, as well.

I also attended a local wrestling show that Saturday night, from a promotion called 901 Wrestling. Its owner, Christopher Thompson, has been hosting outstanding shows at the Rec Room on Broad Ave recently, and I was able to bring Grizzlies beat writer Omari Sankofa from The Athletic out with me to experience and learn how deep wrestling is rooted in a certain subculture of the city. He grasped the parallels and passion of it and saw how it adds to what he has already observed about the city since moving here last fall from Detroit to cover the Grizzlies. In Memphis, we love our hoops — and we love our wrestling.

Wrestling and basketball have always played off of each other well in Memphis, due to the fact that both sports have a element of good vs. bad, heroes vs. villains, and intense rivalries with individuals that you may hate when they are on the court or in the ring but still find entertaining. This is what made great Grizzlies rivalries against the Thunder and Clippers so good, because we savored the classic battles between Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley against the likes of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Deandre Jordan, Russell Westbrook, and Kevin Durant.

After the Grizzlies latest 113-96 loss to the Clippers on Sunday night, it sunk in for me just how much the once-entertaining Clippers rivalry is now dead. Both teams have new rosters and new directions and Conley is the lone member from either side’s glory days. Something else that stood out was how the Clippers were able to lose Paul, Griffin, and Jordan over the last year and have still managed to find themselves in the Western Conference playoffs, even after dealing Tobias Harris, their star player from earlier this season. The Grizzlies’ former rival embraced their rebuild, took the bumps, and added respectable but non-star free agents, while keeping a proven head coach to lead the retooled roster back to the playoffs. In 2017, Doc Rivers was demoted from his position as director of basketball operations to focus on coaching, and he got his team back in the playoffs ahead of schedule.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Grizzlies currently sit tied for the sixth-worst record in the NBA. They have a potential superstar-level talent in Jaren Jackson Jr. but a ton of uncertainty in the front office going forward. There is no obvious sense of direction, outside of what now looks to be failed attempt to convey the draft pick owed to Boston. Jonas Valanciunas, who has had a monster campaign since being traded to the Grizzlies for Marc Gasol, is now out for the season after an ankle injury that he suffered against the Clippers. This adds to a long list of recent injuries, including Jackson, Kyle Anderson, Dillon Brooks, Avery Bradley, CJ Miles, and likely Joakim Noah as players that are out for the season.

The Grizzlies are heading into what will truly be a rebuilding offseason for the franchise, as Mike Conley is also likely to be traded as early as draft night, this summer. It comes with a ton of uncertainty because of the organization’s frustratingly unclear front-office structure, which includes long-time general manager (and scapegoat) Chris Wallace and whoever else seems to be pulling strings and making moves at any time. Can the fans trust an organization that has botched so many major decisions? There is no quick remedy to get the Grizzlies back to being a Western Conference competitor, but just as with their Wrestling Nights, I hope that the team’s leadership realizes that just doing more of the same thing probably isn’t going to work.

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Rassle Me Sports

5 Facts About Dana White’s Pro Wrestling Debut in Memphis

CREDIT: Dreadhead Kev

Dreadhead Kev

UFC president Dana White ringside on Beale Street.

Last weekend in front of Jerry “The King” Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille on Beale Street, UFC president Dana White was involved in a professional wrestling match for the first time ever. White’s debut in the squared circle was another historic wrestling moment in city know for its wrestling history. 

Here are five facts about the UFC boss’s “Beale Street Brawl”:

1) White was in the corner of Derrick King and Matt Serra in a tag match featuring one wrester and one MMA fighter on each team and one WWE Hall of Famer as a special enforcer outside the ring.

2) White entered the ring towards the end of the match and played an important role in the finish before getting attacked from behind by Maria Starr.

5 Facts About Dana White’s Pro Wrestling Debut in Memphis (5)

3) All of the action was filmed for the reality show Dana White: Lookin’ for a Fight.

[slideshow-1] 4) White picked Memphis over Mania.

5 Facts About Dana White’s Pro Wrestling Debut in Memphis

5) Mr. Belding was there.

5 Facts About Dana White’s Pro Wrestling Debut in Memphis (2)

5 Facts About Dana White’s Pro Wrestling Debut in Memphis (3)

Listen to Kevin Cerrito talk about pro wrestling on the radio every Saturday from 11-noon CT on Sports 56/87.7 FM in Memphis. Subscribe to Cerrito Live on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, tunein, PlayerFM or Sticher. Find out about his upcoming wrestling trivia events at cerritotrivia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cerrito.

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Rassle Me Sports

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers

I’m not sure how your city celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week, but in Memphis, our teachers dress up like pro wrestlers and win championship belts.

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers

Last Wednesday on the 30th anniversary of Jerry Lawler defeating Curt Henning to capture his first world heavyweight title, Shelby County teachers were encouraged to come to work in outfits inspired by “the golden days of body slams & spandex at the Mid-South Coliseum.”

Not surprisingly, the King was well represented in classrooms all over Memphis:

Jerry The King Lawler SCS style. #901sFinest

A post shared by Dana (@dchiozza) on

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (9)

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (11)

Overton High School even featured a rematch from the 1996 King of the Ring:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (10)

Lawler’s long-time foe Jimmy Hart was also a part of the action, alongside who we can only assume was Hulk Hogan in a mask:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (7)

Since she was well rested from sitting out the Greatest Royal Rumble, Sasha Banks was able to make an appearance as well (Sorry, Crump. There is a new Boss in town):

Mrs. Smith as WWE wrestler Sasha Banks! @scsk12unified #901sfinest

A post shared by HRMS_Wildcats💙💛 (@hrmswildcats) on

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (8)

Vending machines in teachers’ lounges were running low on Slim Jims:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (4)

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (2)

This teacher built a ring in her classroom:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (5)

But once we got to the main event, there was only one champion:

Memphis Teachers Dress As Pro Wrestlers (3)

Listen to Kevin Cerrito talk about pro wrestling on the radio every Saturday from 11-noon CT on Sports 56/87.7 FM in Memphis. Subscribe to Cerrito Live on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, tunein, PlayerFM or Sticher. Find out about his upcoming wrestling trivia events at cerritotrivia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cerrito.

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Rassle Me Sports

Meddlesome Brewing releases Jerry ‘The King’ Lager

Watch out Budweiser, the “King of Wrestling” is coming for your throne as the “King of Beers.” This week, Memphis-based Meddlesome Brewing Company is rolling out its newest offering: Jerry “The King” Lager.

“A while back I was contacted by someone from the brewery who explained to me they make beers with names that are familiar with Memphis,” Jerry Lawler said. “One was 201 Hoplar and they had the idea to do a Jerry ‘The King’ Lager. I thought it sounded fun, so I gave them the go ahead to use my name.”

Lawler, who prides himself on never having a sip of alcohol in his entire life, now has a beer named in his honor to go along with his bar located on the drunkest street in town. When asked if he would end his 68 years of sobriety to taste the beer named in his honor, the King said “I’ve never tasted beer, wine, or whiskey in my life and I’m not going to start just because one’s named after me.”

(I did get a chance to sample Jerry “The King” Lager last Saturday live on the radio. Listen here for my taste test.)

Available for a limited time, Jerry “The King” Lager will make its debut at Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille during a Monday Night Raw watch party featuring a meet and greet with WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley.

Starting Wednesday, the lager will be on tap at the brewery’s taproom, which is conveniently located for wrestling fans wanting to spend a day in Cordova. According to Google Maps, Meddlesome Brewing is just a two-minute drive to the King’s other restaurant- Jerry Lawler Memphis BBQ Company. You can’t buy Meddlesome beers in stores yet; however the taproom will offer the beer “to go” in 32-ounce cans and 64-ounce growlers.

Meddlesome is not the first Memphis-area brewery to embrace the Bluff City’s relationship with pro wrestling. Memphis Made Brewing’s taproom has a Royal Rumble pinball machine and often serves as the host venue for my regular Rasslin’ Trivia Nights. Wiseacre Brewing has made some short-lived wrestling-themed adult beverages (a taproom-only release of Sandy Ravage’s The Cream and an experimental keg of Cocoa B. Ware Brown Ale), and they spotlighted Memphis wrestling as the theme of their annual mural outside their brewery in 2015.



For those local brewmasters looking for a Memphis rasslin’ inspired name for your next beer, I present to you this list (insert Chris Jericho joke here) free of charge:

  • “SuperStout” Dundee
  • Double J Double IPA
  • Dave Brown Ale
  • Mr. Coffee Stout
  • USWAle
  • Banana Nose Wheat Ale
  • “Stout of the South” Jimmy Malt
  • Plowboy Porter
  • Jackie FarGolden Ale
  • Mid-South ColiSasion

Listen to Kevin Cerrito talk about pro wrestling on the radio every Saturday from 11-noon CT on Sports 56/87.7 FM in Memphis. Subscribe to Cerrito Live on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, tunein, PlayerFM or Sticher. Follow him on Twitter @cerrito.