10 Times Wrestling Opened The Forbidden Door

6. McMemphis

Tony Khan Vince McMahon
WWE

Times were tight and that word for whatever reason conjures the image of Jerry Lawler, whom Vince McMahon attempted to sign in 1992. The last of the territory holdouts, Lawler was a huge star in Memphis, and the WWF desperately needed one. The boom was over. Hulk Hogan was on the way out, and he had dented his value the prior year with the alienating jingoism that was WrestleMania VII season.

McMahon needed a new top heel to work Bret Hart, and Lawler was an inspired choice. He was the 'King' of wrestling, but Hart in June 1993 seized the throne with a superb trilogy of strategic masterclasses. After an electrifying heat angle, Hart excelled in yet another genre at SummerSlam: a super-heated brawl crackling with tension.

Lawler bargained with McMahon. He wanted his Memphis scene to benefit where so many others were made to eat sh*t. Vince let them eat cake in a stunning development in which he presided over Memphis as the real authority in wrestling. A proto-Mr. McMahon infiltrated the territory years before he outed himself as the owner of the WWF in normal canon, and it was fantastic: sinister without the overtly hammy characteristics with which he became the most entertaining non-wrestler character not named Bobby Heenan ever, he walked through a Forbidden Door, all right.

Wrestling apocrypha has it that the old "little kings" would rather see him dead than collaborate with him.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!