Who Were the Stars of Classic Memphis Wrestling?

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with watching wrestling on television. My ritual revolved around watching Memphis Wrestling. I even remember a couple of occasions when the stars of Memphis Wrestling came to the Owensboro Sportscenter for some live events. My family bought tickets. We sat in the stands and cheered for our favorites and booed their opponents.

Those stars are folks my childhood friends and I still remember- Jerry 'The King' Lawler, Bill Dundee, Tojo Yamamoto (one of my favorites), Jeff Jarrett, Jimmy Valiant, Dutch Mantell, 'Hot Stuff' Eddie Gilbert, The Fabulous Ones, Koko Ware, and Jimmy Hart- the flamboyant and loud 'manager' who regularly found himself dragged into the ring or clocked by the wrestlers who hated him. Exhibit A!

If you want to check out some classic footage from Memphis Wrestling, there's a YouTube channel called Memphis Wrestling Video Vault and they have some amazing retro clips from the series.

It's funny. As addicted to wrestling that I was as a kid, my love for the sport didn't really carry over into adulthood. Maybe it's because these guys- and their incredible announcers Lance Russell & Dave Brown and their legendary referee Jerry Calhoun- just set the bar so high. Honestly, I remember meeting Jerry 'The King' Lawler once when he was shopping at Towne Square Mall in Owensboro. He stopped by the Disc Jockey store where I worked. I thought that was the coolest thing ever. I got to shake the hand of a guy I had watched on TV for most of my childhood.

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If you were a fan of Memphis Wrestling like I was (and still am), you can share and enjoy memories on Facebook. Classic Memphis Wrestling has an official Facebook page and, to date, has over 92,000 followers. To visit the page, CLICK HERE!