17 Wrestlers Who Took Forever To Get To WrestleMania (and Why)
1. Jerry Lawler
Already well-established in Memphis and around the world, the King arrived in the WWF in late 1992 as an announcer. At the 1993 Royal Rumble, Lawler made his in-ring debut, and at King of the Ring of that year, he began his first feud by cheap-shotting Bret Hart. King’s momentum was halted by allegations in late 1993 that kept him off TV until Wrestlemania 10, where he returned to commentary.
Lawler would commentate every Wrestlemania thereafter until 2001 when, in the midst of a feud with Right to Censor, Lawler left the company in protest of his wife’s firing. In his absence, Tazz & the APA wrestled RTC. King had returned by the end of the year to commentate the next ten Wrestlemanias, but it took a feud with fellow announcer Michael Cole to actually bring Lawler into the ring at the PPV.
After sitting out Wrestlemanias 9-26, the longest wait in WWE history, Lawler finally entered the ring (and to his classic theme song, not the terrible MIDI tune that WWE had rolled out in the weeks prior) and proceeded to beat Michael Cole… then lose by reverse decision.
No one ever said Wrestlemania was easy.