Booking Memphis Wrestling with Jerry Jarrett

This week we return to straight wrestling talk with Jerry Jarrett giving us a master's course in pro wrestling booking. He talks all about the fundamentals that built Memphis wrestling. What did someone like Jerry Lawler know about wrestling that other didn't that has allowed him to be so successful for so long. The things needed out of great faces, heels, promos, and feuds. The psychology of a tag team match vs a singles one. And so much more! If you have any interest in the behind the scenes part of wrestling, this is for you.

We have had a lot of feedback from listeners on how they enjoy hearing Jerry Jarrett talk life philosophy based on his incredible life. We thought we would devote one episode to that, as we talk the state of America, how bipartisan politics are tearing us apart, the effects of technology on us and our youth, where our country is heading, and much more! Listen if you enjoy Jerry's philosophies. We will be back to wrestling next week!

In this episode we welcome back our friend Kris Zeller to the show. Kris is an expert on old-school wrestling and his favorite territory was Memphis - you can hear him every week on the renowned Between the Sheets podcast. He, Sean, and Jerry Jarrett have a great chat about all things Memphis. Hear some fascinating details on the fall of the AWA and Jerry's attempts to purchase it, the philosophies of Memphis wrestling that had success in other areas, the final days of the territory, and much more!

In this episode, Jerry Jarrett pays an emotional tribute to his father-in-law, business associate, and friend, the legendary Eddie Marlin.

This week we do a grab bag Q&A with Jerry Jarrett and cover a wide variety of topics. Including - why Jerry Lawler never got an NWA title run and the politics involved, the behind the scenes dealings involved with the 1984 talent trade with Mid-South Wrestling, JYD being tarred and feathered on Memphis TV, tensions with Harley Race and Ric Flair, and much more from Memphis history.

This week we welcome our friend Scott Bowden of the Kentucky Fried Rasslin podcast at KFRPod.com. Scott grew up on Memphis wrestling and was so passionate about it that he talked his way into eventually managing Jerry "The King" Lawler! Since the Memphis territory closed, Scott has done a fantastic job documenting the promotion's history. He and Jerry Jarrett have a great discussion on Scott's time working the territory, the things he learned about the business, taking us back in time to hear what it was like to grow up on Memphis wrestling, and what made the promotion so special to be talked about so much to this day.

Relax and listen to two absolute wrestling geniuses, Jerry Jarrett and "Superstar" Bill Dundee, as they tell stories from their 40 year relationship and the glory days of Memphis wrestling. Hear about how Bill adapted to life in the Tennessee territory coming from Australia, how he got over so quickly, him and Jerry discussing the crazy art of the scaffold match, of course the Lawler feud that saw Bill's wife get her head shaved, the two as a booking team together,, the Tupelo Concession Stand brawl, the art of the promo, and much more!

This week we give a long overdue tribute to the one and only "Superstar" Bill Dundee. Bill was such an integral part of what made Memphis successful, and Jerry Jarrett tells you exactly why. From his ability to wrestle technically with Tony Charles or have wild brawls like the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl, to be an underdog babyface or hated monster heel, or to help book the territory behind the scenes, he was so important to Memphis's greatness. Hear Jerry Jarrett tell you exactly what Bill Dundee meant to him.

This week we have a long overdue tribute to the career of Jerry "The King" Lawler, with an in-depth look from Jerry Jarrett at the decades they spent together. From his first big push feuding with Jackie Fargo, to the Letterman show with Kaufman, his feuds against so many including Bockwinkel, Dundee, Hart, Terry Funk, and so many more, it's all covered here by the man who orchestrated so much of it.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are not going to be able to upload a regular episode today, but we have a bonus episode instead. We have Randy Hales in the co-host chair ready to answer a series of questions from rabid Memphis fans. Hear about his push of PG-13 and why they drew so well, the USWA vs SMW angle, Gordon Solie sitting in Dave's chair for several weeks in 1984, Jackie Fargo vs Al Greene, and much more!

We celebrate episode #50 in grand style by welcoming on a man who did so much to shape the state of modern pro wrestling - Cary Silkin. Cary owned ROH for 7 years and has been an ambassador for the last 8, and gave a platform to young talent like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and so many others. He and Jerry have a great chat about their careers promoting wrestling, why its such a hard business to succeed in, what makes Vince McMahon tick, AEW's chances, and much more!

This week we present a bonus episode on our feed, as friend of the show Scott Mason conducts an interview with Marc Lowrance about the glory days of Dallas wrestling. -What Marc is up to these days -How his life in wrestling prepare him for his current occupation -The history of the Sportatorium  -Marc's first Sportatorium experience and if he felt any of the famous "magic" of the building -What it was like taping TV at the building -How audiences reacted to larger than life personalities like Ric Flair, Andre the Giant, Bruiser Brody, and Jerry Lawler -The night Iceman King Parsons beat Harley Race for the NWA championship only to have the decision reversed -Michael Hayes comes back to WCCW, puts on a concert, and stunningly winds up aligning with the Von Erichs -The Eric Embry babyface turn that ignited the last great angle in World Class -How the Chris Adams vs Steve Austin feud got red hot with the Sportatorium as part of the backdrop -Marc's favorite personal stories that occurred in the building -How the vibe of the arena changed after Jerry Jarrett began running the show - A hilarious story about a message given to Marc by a four-year old boy to relay to "The General" Skandor Akbar, and much much more! 

We bring back a popular concept this week, as we welcome great fans of the podcast and Memphis wrestling onto the show to ask Jerry Jarrett any questions they can think of. Whether it's going into detail on the infamous Snowman angle, scripted promos in modern wrestling, great stories on Dutch Mantell, the psychology behind optimal timing for babyface and heel turns, how Jerry Jarrett at a young age acquired his ability to run so many profitable businesses, thoughts how AEW is doing so far and what they need to do going forward, a comparison of the strengths of Jackie Fargo and Jerry Lawler and much more!

By popular demand, we follow up our last episode with a second look at Tojo Yamamoto with topics that we did not get to last week. Jerry talks about headlining the first Mid-South Coliseum show, feuds with Don and Al Green and Jerry Lawler and Jim White, watching Tojo as a fan, backstage pranks, going to Hawaii with Tojo to meet Tojo's family, the art of why their tag team worked and drew money, and much more.

This week, we present an emotional tribute from Jerry Jarrett to his old dear friend, Tojo Yamamoto. Tojo was one of the people who helped Jerry most in his career, befriending him while he was still a teenager helping at shows, training him, mentoring him, teaming with him while they did record business, and also just being a close trusted friend. Hear all about Tojo the person, and Tojo as a major star in Tennessee for so many years.

In this episode Jerry Jarrett looks back fondly on the glory days of his time in the NWA, specifically the early 70s. Hear personal stories on such massive figures as Vince McMahon Sr, Sam Muchnick, Eddie Graham, Salvador Lutteroth and more. Also, an interesting look into a time where a code of loyalty existed in the business world that doesn't seem to exist today.

We welcome back Scott Mason from TurnOnTheJets.com, who in addition to football podcasting is a huge fan of the territories and is particularly fascinated with Dallas. He spends an hour asking Jerry Jarrett about all the details from his time running the Dallas territory. Hear the raw good and bad of dealing with the Von Erichs, stories on major players like Skandar Akbar, Chris Adams, Percy Pringle, Eric Embry, Mark Lowrance, Iceman King Parsons, Mick Foley, Gary Young, John Tatum, and many more!

This may be our favorite episode as we welcome the beloved patriarch of the Memphis Wrestling family - Mr. Eddie Marlin! We have him, Jerry Jarrett, and Randy Hales on the line, as they talk about their decades in the territory together. Hear about what Eddie has meant to Jerry as a father-in-law, main event wrestler, and so much more. Hear why he's responsible for Randy having a career in the industry. Also, his team with Tommy Gilbert, working with stars like Jerry Lawler and Jackie Fargo the many beatings he took on Memphis TV, and more, it's a great show.

We welcome Liam Byrne from ProWrestlingOnly.com to talk 1984 Memphis and American wrestling in general that year with Jerry Jarrett! Hear about his thoughts as he heard about Hogan beating the Iron Sheik for the WWE Title, Black Saturday, and also Memphis events like the Lawler-Bockwinkel feud, the return of stars like Joe LeDuc and Norvell Austin, Hillbilly Jim's run, the New Fabs, whether Lawler was ever considered for an AWA title run, and much more!

We welcome Memphis wrestling superfan Pat Trammell onto the show to talk with Jerry on a wide range of topics. In addition to his wrestling fandom, Pat in real life is a major commercial banker who is able to bring a new perspective to the show. Hear why pro wrestling was so important to Southern culture in the 70s and 80s, great Tojo and Terry Funk stories, deep booking philosophy discussion, more on Jerry's time in Dallas, the most natural talents Jerry has ever seen, and what Jerry sees for the future of the industry. Its a deep talk, please join us!

We are fired up this week to welcome Wildfire Tommy Rich! Hear hi and Jerry tell all sorts of stories about his career, from him breaking in by doing yard work for Jerry, Jerry sending to him to Georgia to help Jim Barnett and TBS, his wild success in Georgia, the New Fabs, hiding under the ring to interfere in the Idol/Lawler cage match that saw the King's head shaved, their scaffold match with Lawler and Dundee, and so much more!

We celebrate our 40th episode by bringing together over a century of wrestling experience in Jerry Jarrett and our guest Les Thatcher. They have a fascinating discussion on wrestling history, including attempting to clear up confusion over a major event from Jerry's career that happened 50 years ago! They discuss Les's time in Tennessee as well as his multiple other achievements since debuting 58 years ago.

This week Jerry Jarrett takes us deeper into his time working next to Vince McMahon in 1993-1994 WWE, and his thoughts on several of the various talents he worked with. Hear why he loves Scott Hall but threatened to fire him after a match with Jeff Jarrett as MSG, booking the Bret Hart vs Owen Hart feud, his pride in pushing for 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Jannetty to become the tag champs, and all other great names from the era like Randy Savage, Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Howard Finkel, Doink, Lex Luger, Jerry Lawler, and many more.

We are so happy to have legendary Memphis referee Jerry Calhoun join us this week! An integral part of Memphis TV for more than a decade, this is an episode that fans of classic Memphis will love as he has all sorts of stories about the glory days. Hear about him breaking Jerry Lawler's leg and knocking him out of the territory for a year, being in the ring for the Lawler vs Idol match with Tommy Rich under the ring, pranks and ribs on the road, shoots in the ring, violent fans, and much more on all the classic Memphis names!

This week we take a deep look into exactly what Jerry Jarrett has been working on for the last several months - The Jarrett Parsons Wrestling TV Roku Channel! Jerry and Sean welcome Dave and Adam Parsons onto the show, as they all put the channel together. Hear about the background of the channel and how it was formed, what's currently available, and big plans for the future. Jerry says this is the most excited he's been about a project in 40 years, so get insight into why he is so passionate about the project.

This week is one of our most fascinating shows, as we bring together generations with OTT Wrestling owner Joe Cabray and Jerry Jarrett having a great discussion on 2019 pro wrestling. Based out of Ireland, Joe leads perhaps the hottest independent organization in the world right now, with a cutting edge product. Jerry has seen some of his work and is a big fan, and it's so interesting to hear these two men 40 years apart in age have so many of the same beliefs on successful pro wrestling. 

This week we take advantage of Jerry Jarrett's unique perspective as a young NWA member going back to the 70's to get his perspective on all the big names of the era. From Bruno Sammartino, to Sam Mushnick, Stu Hart, Danny Hodge, Wahoo McDaniel, Roy Shire, Mark Lewin, Haystack Calhoun, Freddie Blassie, and so many more.

This week we welcome great wrestling podcaster and Memphis fan Kris Zellner onto the show. He gets the chance to pick Jerry Jarrett's brain for an hour, talking about Memphis's expansion into different areas, the Poffos, music videos, Ole Anderson, and much more vintage Memphis content.

In this episode we bring back one of our most popular formats, the Quick Hits gimmick as Sean throws a variety of random names at Jerry Jarrett from Memphis history and he responds with the first story that comes to his mind. This time, we limited it to just to managers, talking about nearly all of them that came through Memphis and helped make the territory as special as it was. This is our tribute to all of those managers who tortured Lance, got heat, took beatings, and helped make Memphis successful!

This week we're thrilled to welcome Memphis Wrestling Author and Historian Tim Dills to the show. Tim has written several books on Memphis wrestling that can be found on Amazon, as well as tremendous pieces on the territory for Kayfabe Memories. He brings his tremendous historical knowledge to get great insight out of Jerry Jarrett on a variety of topics - from Roy Welch stories, to whether Jerry was ever tempted to book any other territories, to what can be learned from Memphis and applied to modern wrestling. Please join us for this great interview.

This week we take a look at the fascinating long-time relationship between Jerry Jarrett and Randy Savage. We start with the days of the promotional wars with the Poffo family running opposition to Jerry's promotion with ICW, Randy shockingly coming to work an inter-promotional feud with the Memphis territory, them then becoming friends during that time, great stories on time spent together in the WWF in the 90s, and their friendship afterwards.

To celebrate our 30th episode, Jerry Jarrett goes into great detail on one of his signature accomplishments  - the Lawler vs. Dundee feud from 1977 that culminated in both Bill Dundee getting his head shaved, as well as his wife! For 11 straight weeks in the summer of 1977, Lawler and Dundee faced each other in a series of wild stipulation matches. It drew 94.708 people to the Mid-South Coliseum over those 11 weeks, a record that will almost assuredly never be passed. Now hear Jerry Jarrett go into great depth on this historic run.

We start 2019 by welcoming back long-time Memphis veteran Randy Hales! We discuss classic Memphis and Power Pro Wrestling. Hear a never-told story about the time he had to use Kurt Angle's shoot credentials to keep peace during a live TV shoot, rare stories on Daniel Bryan, Jim Cornette's last run as an on-screen manager, and much more!

This week we revisit the topic of one of our most popular episodes - Vince McMahon. We go in depth on Jerry's time working in WWE with him, the details of the creation of the Mr. McMahon heel character and how Jerry produced his very first promos, Vince coming down to the Mid-South Coliseum to get physical with Jerry Lawler, the nervousness in WWE as WCW became more aggressive in the mid-90s, and some thoughts on the present day state of the industry. It's insight into Vince that you won't hear anywhere else.

This week we continue our look at 1977, which is one of the more pivotal and significant years in the history of Memphis wrestling. Hear the story of how Jerry Jarrett built his company after his split with Nick Gulas, getting a new roster, TV show, and arena. Hear stories about a 15 year old Terry Gordy working the territory, a very young and green Junkyard Dog, Dusty Rhodes coming in to wrestle Lawler, Bill Dundee being prepared for historic run against the King, sending Tommy Rich to Atlanta for a huge run with Jim Barnett, and so much more from this massive year.

This week we cover the first few months of 1977 in detail. This was a period where the Memphis territory was on fire and everything appeared to be great, until it all fell apart. Hear a great Mongolian Stomper story, Rocky Johnson working the territory with a young Rock watching backstage, the influence Jerry Jarrett's mother had in turning Bill Dundee babyface, Harley Race coming in as an NWA champion, Tojo being legitimately attacked by another wrestler, the McGuire twins, Bob Armstrong, and much more!

We are honored this week to have two of Memphis Wrestling's Mount Rushmore figures together having a conversation - listen to Jerry Jarrett and Bill Dundee as they tell stories from their decades long history together. Hear great Memphis stories, why Jerry pushed Dundee as a headliner right from the start, a lot on the Lawler feud and Bill's wife getting her hair shaved, plenty of details on the "trade" in 1984 that sent Dundee to Mid-South for Watts, and stories of the two recently visiting the WMC-5 studio in Memphis!

This week, we break down a variety of wrestlers who went through Memphis at a young age and went on to become big names in the industry. We go through a large list of names, including Undertaker, Sid, Kane, Bam Bam Bigelow, and many others. Hear some great stories, like how Jerry had a phone conversation with a young Kane's mom that may have helped save Kane's career!

This week we let you in an a very honest, emotional conversation between Jerry Jarrett and long-time Memphis mainstay and then WWE Hall of Famer - Koko B. Ware. The first half of the interview is very personal, detailing their history together. The second half focuses on Koko's wrestling career, his runs in Memphis and Mid-South, flying to New York and meeting Vince McMahon and pitching the idea of having an actual bird with him at ringside, wrestling at WrestleMania 3, and going into the WWE Hall of Fame. Join us for this authentic chat between two longtime friends!

This week we invite two hardcore old-school Memphis wrestling fans on the show to ask Jerry Jarrett any question they can think of. Our guests hosts are Travis Heckel of @memphiswrasslin1 on Twitter and Rick Crane of 70s-tv.com. We talk about a Lawler promo that almost got wrestling thrown off the channel, the LeDuc blood oath and LeDuc's memorable toss of Lawler over the top rope onto a table. We also discuss the appeal of the Road Warriors and whether talent was afraid to work with them, whether Lance and Dave ever got nervous about all of the bodies being thrown in their direction during TV, and way too many other things to mention!

On this episode we have a lot of fun strolling down memory lane and going over some of the more memorable ribs and pranks that Jerry Jarrett saw during his decades in the Memphis territory. Hear some hilarious stories usually reserved for "the boys". There is plenty of Jackie Fargo in this one!

This week we welcome Joel Gertner onto the show to discuss the Memphis/ECW parallels that he lived through while working for ECW. We discuss what makes a great heel manager and how they separate themselves from the rest. We also talk about Joel and Jerry's interactions with Paul Heyman, Joel's influences, we discuss ECW's ability to generate true heat from a "smart" crowd, and much more!

For the first time ever, Jerry Jarrett and Eric Embry tell all about their part in the resurrection and fall of the Dallas territory in the late 80's. Hear Eric describe how dire the situation in Dallas was before Jerry was brought in, the work they did together they did to revive the business, Eric Embry as a hugely over anti-hero babyface, and then Von Erich jealousy that brought about their downfall. Tons of never heard stories, this is wrestling history that you will want to hear!

Before the Monday night wars, before the Vince McMahon war on the territories, the biggest war in wrestling was happening in the Atlanta territory in the 70s.  A massive promotional war erupted when Ann Gunkel split away from the NWA and ran opposition, and Jerry Jarrett ended up in the middle of it as the NWA's booker. Hear him tell the story of what really happened when he was brought in to book during this period, leading to the NWA winning the war and the first ever Omni show. Hear tons of stories on Jim Barnett, the creation of Mr. Wrestling II, Lou Thesz turning the tide of the war as a top face, Gordon Solie, and much more.

Memphis historian and prolific wrestling author Mark James joins us on this episode to talk about his memories of the glory days of Memphis! He and Jerry Jarrett talk about the fascinating dual personalities of Jimmy Valiant on and off camera, an infamous riot at the Mid-South Coliseum after a show, Jimmy Hart saving the territory, why tapes of old Memphis TV were not saved, and many other topics. We very much recommend finding Mark's work at MarkJamesBooks.com. 

Our guest this week is Jeanie Clarke. She and Jerry catch up to talk about the famous USWA Dallas feud where she teamed with future husband Steve Austin against ex-husband Chris Adams and his then wife Toni Adams. Talk about reality in wrestling! Jeanie is full of great insights and stories about that feud and the rest of her career, as well as being married to Steve Austin when he was perhaps the hottest star in the history of the business. Follow her on Twitter at @ClarkeJeanie and buy her book, "Through the Shattered Glass", at Amazon.com!

Memphis production genius Mike Shields joins us to talk about numerous innovations and contributions to pro wrestling from his career. We discuss wrestling's first ever music video, shooting the Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl, the first ever Hulk Hogan promotional video, and being responsible for Eric Bischoff getting his position running WCW. This is priceless wrestling history, Mike has never done an interview before, but agreed to join Jerry Jarrett to talk about their history together.

A great episode this week as we discuss the very beginnings of the career of Hulk Hogan, perhaps the greatest draw in pro wrestling history, and some of the lesser known contributions that Jerry Jarrett made to the start of his career. To help us out, we're proud to have on former great Memphis heel manager and Memphis wrestling expert - Scott Bowden! Listen to his podcast, Kentucky Fried Wrestling, at KFRpod.com!

We're proud to have Memphis wrestling mainstay Randy Hales as our very first ever guest on the show. This episode is at times hilarious and at times very emotional. Hear why Jerry Jarrett and Randy didn't talk for 25 years, and why they've reconnected in the last month and are good friends once again. And plenty of classic behind the scenes Memphis wrestling stories as well!

This week we do another Booking 101-inspired show, with fascinating insight into the creative process that made Memphis the special territory that it was. The conversation goes into Jerry's time mentoring Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantell and the success they had on their own, what he learned from Eddie Graham, a discussion of what makes a real money-drawing heel, and why Jimmy Hart was so successful and integral to the territory for so many years. If you're a Memphis fan, you will want to hear this discussion to understand why exactly it was so great.

We bring back a concept from a very popular show that we did previously - Memphis Quick Hits! Sean fires names from Memphis history at Jerry Jarrett, and Jerry responds with the first thoughts or stories that come to his mind. Hear his views on people like Jimmy Hart, Jim Cornette, the Freebirds, Eric Embry, Robert Fuller, Buddy Wayne, Terry Taylor, and many more!