[MUSIC PLAYING]
TRIPLE H: Hey, Jerry.
How's it going? JERRY LAWLER: Good.
How are you?
I'm doing good.
Hey, thanks for taking the time to get on this and for us
to chat today.
You know, we have this project we're working on,
and we're trying to recapture our past
that has been lost to time, and find
those pieces of that history.
And I'd love to have you be a part of this kind of quest
that we're on and help us find some of your legacy.
JERRY LAWLER: Yeah.
I, probably more than anybody that I know, am a collector--
TRIPLE H: Yes.
--of memorabilia.
And not just wrestling, but things from my childhood.
And I would love to spend the time to go
out and look for this stuff. That'd be great.
Yeah.
And I think there are things in particular, with you,
that we're looking for.
The "King of the Ring" stuff that you
wore when you came here and you attacked
Bret for the first time.
Oh, yeah.
Was my first appearance there in the WWE.
You know, when he won the "King of the Ring," I of course
felt like I should be the only King in the WWE.
And you know, you have the robe, and the whole crown
and outfit that I was wearing there.
WWE doesn't have anything sort of very iconic Jerry Lawler
in the archives now.
So that robe and crown, we need to have that in the archives.
That might not be too hard to find because I have saved that.
It's in my attic at this very moment.
Wow.
But I'm not sure if I really want to part
with that at the moment.
Well, I tell you what-- why don't you take a look
and see if you do have it, and then we
can talk about it from there.
AJ FRANCIS: But the reason that I came all the way to Memphis
to see the King of Memphis, the road and crown
you wore in 1993 at the "King of the Ring."
OK.
This way.
AJ FRANCIS: The crown and robe from "King of the Ring" '93
are so important because that was
how the WWE audience was introduced
to Jerry "the King" Lawler.
That was his debut.
He showed the world what people in Memphis
had already known for years, that the King was
one of the best performers in this industry.
JERRY LAWLER: Oh, boy.
I don't know where to start in here.
You got just so much in here, man.
JERRY LAWLER: All kinds of stuff everywhere.
Oh, look at this--
there you go.
Oh-ho.
Look at the King.
It comes with a headset and everything.
Everything.
Oh my gosh, look at this.
I'd always have notes prepared for the matches
and that sort of thing.
And one time, Stone Cold Steve Austin's match was going on,
and all of a sudden they come fighting over to the desk--
He's coming out!
Oh, look out!
[SCREAMING]
And Triple H grabs Steve, rams his head into the desk,
and Steve was like covered in blood head to toe.
Austin bleeding like a hog!
I look down, and there's my sheet covered in Stone
Cold Steve Austin's blood.
Wow.
And there it is.
AJ FRANCIS: Look at that.
JERRY LAWLER: So really, that's his DNA
and everything right there.
You got even your one-liners on here?
Got my one-liners for that show on there.
What did I say about McMahon?
AJ FRANCIS: Mr. McMahon said, "whoever
says money can't buy happiness don't know where to shop."
[LAUGHTER]
There you go.
The phrase I hear more often than not is, King,
you were the voice of my childhood.
But a lot of people don't realize I didn't
like doing the commentary.
That part was not ever as much fun as wrestling.
That's a piece of history right, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
JERRY LAWLER: All right, let's see.
Here's-- well, you know what?
Here we go.
AJ FRANCIS: Look at that robe.
JERRY LAWLER: Without a doubt, I think my biggest rivalry that
probably meant the most, and that most people talk about,
was with Bret "the Hitman" Hart.
ANNOUNCER: Open wide, Mr. Lawler!
Kiss my royal foot!
[CHEERING]
In '93, that was my first year in the WWE,
I'd been wrestling as the King of Wrestling since '74.
AJ FRANCIS: Mm-hm.
Yeah.
So when I came up to WWE, they are having a "King
of the Ring" tournament.
Somebody would get crowned the King, and then for a year,
they would get to be called the "King of the Ring."
So it was just a natural that I would
be jealous of anybody else calling themselves the King.
So it worked out that Bret "the Hitman" Hart
won the "King of the Ring" tournament.
I went up and confronted him, and I got to crown him.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JERRY LAWLER: This thing is huge.
AJ FRANCIS: I could tell you one thing-- this warehouse,
you could spend 10 days in here and still not see everything.
Look at all this stuff.
JERRY LAWLER: Oh, wow.
AJ FRANCIS: Isn't that cool?
JERRY LAWLER: I mean, I'm excited.
AJ FRANCIS: Oh, there's way more than this.
JERRY LAWLER: Oh, look-- there's the big W.
AJ FRANCIS: Uh-huh.
Boom!
[LAUGHTER]
JERRY LAWLER: Oh, my gosh!
The mouth of the South.
JIMMY HART: Oh-ho, ho, ho.
Oh my gosh.
Man.
We were talking about you.
AJ, what a surprise, huh?
JIMMY HART: I know, right?
Jimmy Hart.
I love you, King.
I love you man.
You look great.
You look beautiful.
Look at you.
Look good.
This is awesome.
[LAUGHTER]
This is great. Look, Ben Brown.
We wanted to surprise you.
BEN BROWN: Jerry, how are you, sir?
I'm-- I'm-- I'm-- I'm great.
I'm speechless.
[LAUGHTER]
I'm not often speechless, but I am right now.
JIMMY HART: This is great.
This is like-- we got to give this to you, but I just--
I'm so excited to see you.
I love you.
This is great.
I wouldn't be in this business if it wasn't for this man
here, which I've said a million times before.
Surprising Jerry with Jimmy kind
of puts Jerry on his heels a little bit.
And having Jimmy there to help us negotiate with Jerry
and to really encourage him, we need that crown and robe.
And we need to reclaim that history,
and we need to display it.
I think it's going to really help.
You remember these?
That's it.
There you go.
AJ FRANCIS: The crushed crown when you stepped on,
ruined Bret Hart's coronation.
Which I just found out today from Jerry,
this is Jerry's crown that he brought for the scene.
No kidding?
AJ FRANCIS: And I literally always wondered why the crown
didn't match the robe.
Now that you're saying that, completely makes perfect sense
that that came from you. - Yeah.
That's how it worked.
AJ FRANCIS: Do you see the robe?
That's all right.
That's his colors.
That's pretty cool.
BEN BROWN: Yeah, purple.
I mean, that's the first "King of the Ring" pay-per-view.
AJ FRANCIS: Jimmy, you said you had some cool pictures
to show us and stuff? JIMMY HART: Oh yeah.
Come here, let me show you.
Look, this is before we went into the ring,
with me and Andy.
And guess who gave me that outfit?
JERRY LAWLER: Uh--
You!
Of course.
That was your outfit.
Jimmy has held on to a lot of his own stuff.
He brought in a few items that he had found from his time
with Andy Kaufman.
So we got the Andy Kaufman elbow pad.
Elbow pad.
All those kind of ephemeral pieces
that help you to paint the rest of the picture,
it's hugely important.
AJ FRANCIS: We got the Andy Kaufman Elvis
glasses from the fun shop.
Yeah.
And piece de resistance, the Andy Kaufman neck brace.
This is the culmination of a lot of hours.
[LAUGHTER]
BEN BROWN: Wow.
AJ FRANCIS: How does that look?
JERRY LAWLER: That is awesome.
I think that we should display the robe
and crown right alongside Andy Kaufman and Bret "the Hitman"
Hart.
So I'm going to offer you $7,000.
Um-- hm.
I couldn't let it go for that little.
King, what are you thinking, man?
I know that it's a part of your history.
What was I thinking?
Considerably more than that.
Other than some thrones and stuff like that, I mean, Jerry
"the King" Lawler in the archives for, you know,
an eventual museum Hall of Fame, don't have anything from you.
That's why this is a really big deal for me
to try to figure out, you know, how to make
it how to make a deal with you.
I can offer $10,000.
You know the fans would love to see this.
Yeah.
And if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here.
OK.
All right. There you go.
Beautiful. - Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Beautiful.
AJ FRANCIS: Aw, thank you.
Thank you, Jerry.
Thank you.
And the collection wouldn't be complete
if you didn't work with me here, and I really,
truly, do thank you for that.
I really do.
This, the whole quest for memorabilia,
I've always thought that they need
to have a brick and mortar, real-life Hall of Fame.
They need to have a WWE Museum.
I've always said it's hard to kill a memory.
And people trying to find this lost memorabilia,
it's part of history.
Oh, good-- I'm going to be taller than Bret.
You see how the fans love to see this memorabilia.
It brings back so many great memories
when they see something that, oh my gosh,
I was there that night when that happened.
So I think it's great.