In May 1987, Memphis wrestling legend and future WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry The King Lawler filed a lawsuit against the WWF for trademark infringement. Lawler had been known as The King since 1974, when he defeated his mentor Jackie Fargo for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship its an abbreviation of King Of Wrestling, but theres an obvious callback to Elvis Presley (the other King in Memphis) there too which has allowed Lawler to retain the nickname/title for forty years. In 1986, Harley Race had won the second King Of The Ring tournament in WWF. The company was running a policy of avoiding mention of any other wrestling promotions in its gradual national expansion, and had hit on the tournament as a way of presenting Races impressive pro wrestling pedigree without actually mentioning his accomplishments. When WWF began to promote a show in Memphis, Lawlers home territory, as featuring The King, Lawler decided to take a stand: he felt that he had sufficient standing with the local wrestling audience that this was a transparent attempt to muddle his fans into thinking that he was appearing for the WWF, a promotion hed never worked for at that point and that, in Tennessee, he was directly competing with. This seems absolutely fair enough to us, and it only really qualifies as a ridiculous lawsuit because, incredibly Lawler won, when every other local promoter was falling by the wayside. The WWF was prevented from running Harley Race with his King gimmick when touring through Lawlers territory. Lawler himself is convinced that his gumption in standing up to McMahon was a big factor in his being hired several years later by the WWF, and in his longevity with the company since then: Vince likes people with a set as big as his, essentially. Theyd also parlay the real life litigation into a series of storyline feuds when Lawler arrived in WWF, with Bret Harts King Of The Ring coronation ceremony being hijacked by the real King in 1993, leading to a two year feud between Lawler and the Hart family.
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