The following is a report from the USA Championship Wrestling event that was held in Metropolis, Illinois, an event which WWE Hall Of Famer Jerry Lawler worked.
The report comes courtesy of Jeff Wyatt and ProWrestling.net.
“Jerry “The King” Lawler wrestled in the main event of a USA Championship Wrestling free card at the 37th annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis. Lawler has come to the festival several times which is a weekend event that brings in super hero celebrities each year including Caity Lotz (Canary from Arrow) and Candice Patton (Iris West from the Flash) this year.
Lawler did meet and greets most of the day and brought his own Batmobile (Adam west era). I met him and he was extremely nice. He autographed a picture and I got my picture with him. I told him I remembered driving to Evansville to see him wrestle Bret Hart back years ago. He remembered the event, asked me if it was a title match (it was) and he remembered it was right before Bret left (a month before). I asked if he liked being on Smackdown to which he said “he loved it.” He told me they were moving to USA network and possibly going live, possibly on Friday nights. He was extremely nice and thanked me for being a fan all these years.
Now, onto the main event. The ring was set up in an alley, which was actually a very cool visual. There were 2 matches before the main event. I’d estimate there being 100-150 people for the wrestling. In keeping with the Superman theme, Lawler’s opponent was The Joker (dressed as Heath Ledger’s Joker with long green hair and his makeup design), who was a big guy, maybe 6’4, 250.
Lawler wore tights with a picture of Adam West as Batman on one leg and Burt Ward’s Robin on the other. Very cool. There was a lot of old school stalling as The Joker kept showing the crowd a small chain which made the kids tell Lawler “he has a chain” which made the ref check while The Joker hid it in his pocket, around the top turnbuckle, and in his mouth away from the ref.
Joker finally used the chain to choke Lawler out several times. Lawler was backdropped, clotheslined,and hip-tossed. The most impressive thing was Lawler was thrown outside the ring and Joker hit a Randy Savage double ax-handle on Lawler on the concrete (no mat). Joker missed a move at which point Lawler fired up with comeback. Finally, he lowered the strap and hit the second rope fist drop for the pin. Joker tried to hit Lawler with the chain afterwards but it was blocked. Lawler wrapped the chain around his fist and punched The Joker to send the Superman celebration crowd home happy.
Lawler was a lot of fun and we had a great time. They have another free card tonight and I assume The Joker gets a second chance at Lawler tonight.”
