Again, Lawler never won that title outright. After the expansion of the WWF in 1984, Lawler’s shots at the various world champions dried up some as the territories and the agreements between those who honored the bounds set forth began to become a thing of the past.

In late 1986 though, it was announced that AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel would return to the area to defend the title in early 1987. It was determined since Jerry Lawler was reigning Southern champion he was in line to receive the shot at Bockwinkel. Lawler had held the Southern title since September 1986 and had turned back all comers since then.

The announcement brought about some ill rumblings though.  Lawler and longtime rival Tommy Rich had patched their differences to battle Fire, Flame and Torch. Rich, a former NWA champion, said one of the reasons he had returned to the area was because the promotion had promised him a shot at the world title and that the promotion had suddenly backed away from that promise to give the shot to Lawler.

Lawler despite being driven by his desire to become AWA champion felt Rich had a point. Lawler agreed to wrestle Rich with the AWA title shot going to the winner of the match. On the last Memphis card of 1986, Lawler and Rich met. Prior to the match though another familiar face added his two cents.

Austin Idol, who had wrestled earlier on the card, grabbed the Mid-South Coliseum microphone and tried to cut a deal. Idol, friends with Lawler since 1983 and Lawler’s often-used tag partner in big matches, said the promotion had led him to believe he was to be part of the world title situation in some form with Lawler and Rich that night. Since he was not part of the situation he believed that the winner of the Lawler-Rich match should then face him in a match with the world title shot in the balance. Idol’s pleas went unanswered. Lawler won the match against Rich when referee Jerry Calhoun stopped the match as Rich was bleeding above his right eye. Despite the arguments of Idol and Rich, Lawler would get his shot at Nick Bockwinkel.

In separate taped interviews Rich and Idol complained about their treatment. Rich said Lawler would see him again somewhere down the line. Idol claimed the promotion and then Lawler had cheated him. Lawler would get his shot at the AWA title but Tommy Rich and Austin Idol seemed to be waiting in the wings to get at him.

The next week prior to Lawler’s match against Nick Bockwinkel, Idol tried to work another deal by asking Bockwinkel to step aside to let him and Lawler wrestle. Idol then said Bockwinkel could return after that match to face the winner. When Idol’s wheeling-dealing fell on deaf ears he ambushed Lawler. Despite Idol’s attack Lawler would go to a sixty-minute draw against Bockwinkel. The die was cast though for a feud featuring Lawler against Idol.

Lawler also felt that Rich was running his mouth too much so Lawler agreed to wrestle Rich first in a singles match then Idol in a singles match on a Memphis card. In separate interviews leading up to the card, Idol empathized with Rich feeling as if Rich was another in a long line of friends, including himself, that Lawler had discarded. Rich meanwhile was still smarting about losing the AWA title shot by a technicality and grumbling about how he felt referee Jerry Calhoun specifically, and the promotion in general, was biased toward Lawler, concerns Rich had raised when he turned heel in 1980 while Lawler was recuperating from a broken leg.

The Lawler-Rich match was won by Rich when Lawler tossed a fireball onto Rich. As Rich writhed in pain outside the ring, Idol snuck into the ring and leveled Lawler beginning their match without a rest period for Lawler. The Lawler-Idol match was won by Lawler when Rich returned to help Idol doubleteam Lawler. Lawler then fell near a ring corner. Then in one of the most recognizable moments in Memphis wrestling history, Idol and Rich went to the floor and each grabbed one of Lawler’s legs then the two pulled Lawler   groin-first into the ringpost. Idol then insultingly added an open hand slap to Lawler. As Idol and Rich gloated, Lawler was carted off on a stretcher. Idol and Rich would be fined for their actions.

The next few weeks saw Idol and Rich brag about sending Lawler into an early retirement. Idol would gain a shot at AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel. In a bit of foreshadowing, Bockwinkel admitted he was no Lawler fan but that he respected his old foe and was appalled at the actions of Idol and Rich. Bockwinkel retained the title against Idol. A week later, Idol won a tournament, necessitated by Lawler’s injury, to name a new Southern champion by downing Soul Train Jones with some assistance from Rich. The following week Jones and The Snowman with manager Kenny Dees fell to the team of Idol & Rich. As Idol & Rich prepared to post Snowman crotch-first into the ringpost, Jerry Lawler emerged from the dressing room to stop them.

Lawler was back and looking for revenge. Admitting that facing Idol & Rich in separate singles matches at the beginning of the feud was a mistake, Lawler had chosen an unusual partner to help him in his war with Idol & Rich. AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel had agreed to team with Lawler. Lawler’s return saw he and Bockwinkel bust up Rich’s arm. The rematch the following week saw Lawler and Bockwinkel battle Idol and a mystery partner, revealed at match time to be Lord Humongous (a young Sid Eudy). Lawler & Bockwinkel won the match but a price was paid as Lawler accidentally hit Bockwinkel. Nick walked away after the match leaving Idol & Humongous to beat down Lawler.

The following week Rich was back but Lawler had to find another partner. Idol & Rich then had a wild match against Lawler & Bam Bam Bigelow winning by disqualification. Lawler painted Bigelow as a man who liked to pound on people and who wasn’t quite all-together. The next few weeks saw some of the wildest action in the feud as Bigelow, Lawler, Rich and Idol tore arenas apart in various matches with various weapons. With the behemoth Bigelow running wild, fans would scurry out of his way as he often chased Idol & Rich into the crowd. Bigelow would grab anything he could get his hands on such as a chair, the ring bell or the railings around ringside to use as a weapon. It was the stuff that sent fans away shaking their heads in disbelief at what was taking place. What was taking place was the hottest feud in the U.S. at the time.

It lead to a night in Memphis when Lawler & Bigelow got some payback when they were able to post Rich in the same manner Rich & Idol had posted Lawler in January. While revenge may have been sweet it also came with a price. Idol & Rich had been fined for their actions against Lawler so Lawler & Bigelow were fined for their actions against Rich. Bigelow though refused to pay the fine and was suspended.

With Bigelow and Rich out of the way, the feud boiled down to Lawler and Idol for a few weeks. Newcomer manager Paul E. Dangerously, initially brought into the area in March as a manager to Lord Humongous was added to the mix in April as well. Dangerously was longtime fan and wrestling magazine contributor Paul Heyman. During his Memphis stay he was usually referred to as Paul Dangerly.

The intensity of the feud really came to the forefront at this point. Lawler revealed on TV one week that Austin Idol had wrestled under a different name early in his career before a plane crash injured him which revealed to many longtime fans Idol’s early ring identity of Mike McCord. The promotion set a video to the song “The Famous Final Scene” (just as they did at the conclusion of the Lawler-Jimmy Hart feud in 1985). The feud even survived one week when inclement weather forced the cancellation of the Memphis card.

Lawler and Idol met in various matches with special stipulations. One week they wrestled with no referee in the ring. The next week the two met with lumberjacks surrounding the ring. The following week they battled in a chain match. Lawler outsmarted Idol in the chain match. As the referee hooked Idol’s wrist to the chain, Lawler hooked his end to the ring ropes leaving Idol vulnerable. Lawler then pulled out a chain of his own and clobbered Idol which led to Lawler winning the match and regaining the Southern title. The month or so of matches between the two was leading in one direction…a cage match with lots at stake.

The April 23 card in Memphis was headlined with an Idol-Lawler match. The stipulations had Lawler putting up the Southern title and his hair against Idol’s hair. Idol and Dangerously were so confident of victory they also promised to refund the price of admission to everyone if Idol lost the match. The match was to be held inside a cage, regarded by fans as the last match in a feud’s life, since the cage prohibited interference from others, thus the man who walked away the winner was the better man. Fans then understood that with such stipulations somehow some way something major would go down at the Coliseum. What that something was they couldn’t figure out. Would Lawler lose his hair, an idea that seemed unlikely, or would the promotion refund one of the biggest gates of the year, billed by the promotion as being in the $50,000 range, an idea that bordered on insanity? (the actual gate was around $42,000 that night) It was a riddle that nearly filled the Coliseum.

The cage used for the match was specially sized. Most cages used for cage matches are assembled to the ring. This cage fit around the entire ringside area. It allowed Idol and Lawler to wrestle on the arena floor. It would also allow for something totally unexpected. As the match progressed, referee Jerry Calhoun was knocked down. Idol then piledrove Calhoun. A sinister plot was unfolding. Lawler gained a visionary pin (a pin the fans see and recognize as a pin that would end the match but a pin the referee doesn’t see because of a distraction or because of a bump). With Calhoun down though the match continued. Dangerously, on the outside of the cage, tossed powder into Lawler’s eyes. Idol would then get a visionary pin on Lawler. Eventually, Lawler would recover and piledrive Idol. Standing at the cage door, Dangerously knelt down and began screaming. Tommy Rich, absent for the last month, suddenly appeared inside the cage then inside the ring. Rich had hid under the ring since the early afternoon and made his return after several weeks absence. Now Lawler was the vulnerable one. Rich piledrove Lawler and then with Idol gave Lawler a return trip to the ringpost crotch first. Idol then positioned a groggy Calhoun to make a count, covered Lawler and got the win. The loss meant Lawler not only lost the Southern title but also lost his hair.

Lawler had been in a number of hair matches over the years, most notably several against Bill Dundee, including one which saw not only Bill lose his hair but also his wife, Beverly, lose her hair. Lawler had never lost such a match. The hair match has a rich history in area rings. Outside the series of Lawler-Dundee hair matches the most notable occurred in 1972 when Jackie Fargo, the area’s top star before Lawler, battled Al Greene in Memphis with similar stipulations as the Lawler-Idol match. Fargo put up his hair against Greene who put up his brother Don’s U.S. Junior heavyweight title. If Greene lost, he, his brother Don and their manager Sir Clements would also leave the U.S. for a year. Unbelievably to area fans, Fargo lost that night and had his head shaved totally bald in the middle of the ring. After Fargo left the ring that night, fans pressed against the ring and grasped for pieces of Fargo’s locks. Now fifteen years later, Fargo’s successor, Lawler had unbelievably lost a hair match.

Idol, Rich and Dangerously remained inside the cage for a long time after the match as fans were on the verge of rioting at the thought that Idol, who had been tricked by Lawler a week earlier in the chain match had outsmarted Lawler this week. Of course the fact that the trick also meant Lawler, their hero, would have his head shaved only made the crowd angrier. Inside the cage a raucous Rich taunted fans as Idol and Dangerously strutted. Outside the cage the fans were furious. At least one fan tried to scale the cage to get at Idol, Rich and Dangerously. Fights broke out in the audience. Idol, Rich and Dangerously then placed Lawler into a chair in the middle of the ring and eventually a barber shaved Lawler’s head down to very short crewcut. As the barber ran the shears over Lawler’s head, Dangerously held a clear plastic bag underneath to catch the falling hair. Eventually, the terrible trio made a mad dash for the dressing room surrounded by security and police who had to shove back a number of still irate fans. A dressing room interview after the match saw Idol, Rich and Dangerously revel in their success that night.

With Idol & Rich having humiliated and reinjured Lawler, friends rallied to Lawler’s cause. Bill Dundee returned after nearly a year away working for the Crockett promotion. He was slated to team with the un-suspended Bam Bam Bigelow but Bigelow backed out of the appearance as he was on the verge of signing a WWF contract. As a replacement Dundee paired with the returning Rocky Johnson. After the match, Downtown Bruno, Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka joined the melee and began cutting Dundee’s hair with a pair of scissors. Suddenly, a man wearing a mask and bearing a striking physical resemblance to Jerry Lawler rushed out to help Dundee. He threw a fireball at Dangerously and then caught Bruno and cut his hair. Then the masked man disappeared.

A few weeks later on TV a cocky Tommy Rich was set to wrestle a match. Before the match started though Rich decided to sign some autographs. A woman approached Rich and asked for an autograph. As Rich obliged, the woman attacked Rich revealing Jerry Lawler in drag. Lawler was back again and had set his sights on getting even with the man who cost him the cage match and his hair, Tommy Rich.

While Lawler and Rich battled in a series of matches, Dundee battled Idol. In time, the four met in tag matches as well. In early June, Lawler got some revenge when he downed Idol for the Southern title. That match though was setting up a future foe for Lawler as special referee Brickhouse Brown attacked Lawler during the match. Lawler survived Brown’s assault and pinned Idol as referee Jerry Calhoun rushed to the ring to make the count. Things though weren’t through between Lawler & Dundee and Idol, Rich & Dangerously. It led to a scaffold match when Lawler & Dundee won sending Rich crashing to the mat off the scaffold. Rich and Dangerously unfortunately had a falling out with the promotion and left. Idol would then use Brickhouse Brown as a tag partner as the feud, seven months long, lost steam with Rich’s absence. Idol would leave the area as well the following week not completely giving fans the payoff they should have received as logically Idol should have lost his hair in a cage at the end of the feud. The promotion though rolled Lawler into a feud which often had racial overtones against Brown next. Lawler would battle Brown and his cronies Don Bass and Carl Fergie into the fall.

Much of the year though saw one of the last old school territorial style feuds breath new life into the Jarrett promotion for a time. Strong interviews from Lawler, Idol, Rich (a much more effective and believable interview as a heel) and Dangerously got across to fans each week that the issues between the participants were about more than the Southern title or a world title shot, it was serious and it was personal. The feud’s intensity fueled by interviews added an extra importance on the TV show as fans tuned in from week to week to keep track with what was happening between the participants. Absences at key points in the feud by Lawler and Rich added realism to the feud as their absences were the results of the brutal and harsh nature of the feud. Lawler’s partnership with Nick Bockwinkel, which ended with Bockwinkel turning on Lawler, left an issue for Lawler to settle later in the summer. The use of Bam Bam Bigelow as a crazed monster no doubt helped his stock rise higher in the business as he signed with the WWF and seemed destined for stardom. The feud also introduced many fans to Paul Heyman who would in time play a major factor in the business as a manager and then in how professional wrestling evolved in the 1990s and beyond. It also lead to the return of Bill Dundee to the area to renew his partnership with Lawler. The feud also served to prove that with the right ingredients, which included quality talent, common sense booking and the use of history between the wrestlers involved, the smaller promotions could still do quite well in a business that had changed dramatically. Idol’s sneering venom-filled interviews and outrageous tactics made him the top heel in the business for a time while Rich’s crazed interviews and reckless actions was the finest work he had done in years. Lawler’s steady presence in the midst of it all showed that he could still pack them in when the chips were down. It was the stuff wrestlers and promoters live for and the stuff fans remember years removed from that time and miss.

January, February and March 1987

Jerry Lawler began the year as Southern champion but he was injured at the hands of Tommy Rich and Austin Idol.  Idol then went on to win a February tournament to claim the championship by downing Soul Train Jones (Mike Jones, a/k/a Virgil/Vincent).

Jeff Jarrett & Billy Travis took the Southern tag titles from The Rock n Roll RPMs: Mike Davis & Tommy Lane.  The RPMs rebounded to regain the titles.  Jarrett then teamed with Pat Tanaka to gain the titles.  Jarrett & Tanaka then lost the titles to the oversized combination of Big Bubba & Goliath with manager Downtown Bruno.

The Great Kabuki had been the last recognized Mid-America champion winning the title in November 1986. Kabuki left the area though and the title fell vacant until May.

Big Bubba began the year as International champion. His reign ended at the hands of Soul Train Jones.

Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka held the International tag titles at the year’s start. The Sheepherders: Luke Williams & Butch Miller with Jonathan Boyd serving as their manager then won the titles before dropping them back to Diamond & Tanaka. Akio Sato & Tarzan Goto then won the belts. Their reign was stopped by the combination of Superfly Jimmy Snuka & J.T. Southern.

Jerry Blackwell captured the CWA Super Heavyweight title briefly in January by winning a one-night tournament over Goliath and Big Bubba. The title was active for a few weeks in late 1986 as Goliath and Stan Frazier, as Giant Hillbilly, held the title. The title then was inactive for a time until Blackwell’s brief run with it.

Working in the area at this time were Tommy Rich, Boy Tony, Tracy Smothers, Mark Starr, AWA tag champions The Midnight Rockers: Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels, Emily Arthur, Tony Burton, The Fabulous Ones: Steve Keirn & Stan Lane, Luna & Lock, Debbie Combs, Candi Divine, AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel, King Cobra, Mr. Rising Sun (Akio Sato), The Hunter (Dale Veasy), Memphis Vice: Jerry Bryant & Lou Winston, Roy Lee Welch, Alan West, Tojo Yamamoto, Don Bass, Lord Humongous, Bam Bam Bigelow, Brickhouse Brown, Mr. Helo & Mr. Shima, BT Express (Billy Travis),  Freezer Thompson and more.

An early March stopover by the Crockett promotion in Memphis featured Dusty Rhodes main event against area legend Bill Dundee. Dundee had left the Jarrett promotion in the summer of 1986 for the Crockett promotion. Another area legend Dutch Mantel worked the undercard of that show. Despite the presence of Dundee and Mantel and other Memphis veterans such as Rick Rude and The Rock n Roll Express: Robert Gibson & Ricky Morton, Crockett’s efforts in Memphis paled in comparison to the cards Jarrett was running which were headlined by the Lawler-Idol & Rich feud.

Bill Watts’ UWF also ran shows in Memphis from time to time. The Watts’ cards were filled with Memphis vets such as Eddie Gilbert, Sting, The Fabulous Freebirds: Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts, Terry Taylor, One Man Gang and others. Watts’ promotion though would be sold to Jim Crockett around April although for a time after the sale the two promotions were kept separate. The WWF also continued to run cards in the area from time to time. Other groups such as POWW and GLOW jumped on wrestling’s popularity and ran in certain cities in the territory from time to time also. Jarrett’s promotion held on though despite the wide variety of product in the market. Jarrett’s TV show held in with excellent ratings as most markets the show aired in were flooded with plenty of TV wrestling product. The Memphis-based TV show was one of the few studio shows left and was produced live every week and week-in, week-out provided viewers with humor and drama in a compelling fashion. The house show business was just surviving. While it remained fairly strong at times all the exposure of other TV wrestling shows and occasional house shows by other groups, who had branched their business end out to include video and merchandising to supplement their flow of income, the base of the house show business in the area for Jarrett, which was the lifeblood of the group, was eroding.

Jarrett & The AWA

In 1978 promoter Jerry Jarrett began an relationship with the American Wrestling Association. Jarrett’s promotion, and his predecessors, Nick Gulas and Roy Welch, had been longtime National Wrestling Alliance members. Area titles were referred to as recognized by the NWA although in reality the NWA officially recognized very few titles. Area and regional titles, recognized by the various territories, were, in reality, as official as the Top Ten rankings in the monthly Apter magazines. They were, in essence, company titles not necessarily ignored by the NWA but also not necessarily official either. Shortly after the association began with the AWA, Jarrett began calling his promotion’s titles AWA titles (AWA Southern, etc.). Jarrett though did remain a dues paying member of the NWA. (When Jarrett gained control of the Mid-America title in 1980 it remained billed as an NWA title during the 80s).

The association with the AWA seemed to serve a purpose for Jarrett’s promotion. That purpose was to provide Jerry Lawler with quality competition on his quest to win a world title. The NWA champions rarely made visits in the Jarrett territory before the AWA days anyway. With a number of promotions gaining more power in the late 70s and thus getting more dates on the NWA champion it became even harder for the Memphis promotion to bring in the NWA champion.

While the AWA territory covered a lot of area (upper Mid-West and into the Rockies and Northern California by the early 1980s) it rarely by this point ran weekly cards in regular cities like many of the territories such as the Jarrett territory. Because of this AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel began accepting open dates in other territories on days when he wasn’t scheduled to wrestle in the AWA circuit. Bockwinkel, as AWA champion, ventured into the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida and Texas to risk his championship. In 1978, the Jarrett promotion would be added to that list.

Besides providing Jerry Lawler with occasional world title matches the association Jarrett shared with the AWA allowed fans to be treated to appearances by other AWA stars over the years such as Ray Stevens, Billy Robinson, Paul Ellering, Jerry Blackwell, Baron Von Raschke, Ken Patera, The Road Warriors, Jimmy Snuka, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, The Midnight Rockers: Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels and more. Some came to the area for just an appearance while others, such as Robinson, Ellering and Patera had lengthier and more productive stays. Robinson held the CWA title in 1980 and had three separate Southern tag title runs with Ken Lucas. Ellering had a run with the Southern title in 1980 as well as a go with the Southern tag titles then with Sheik Ali Hassan. Patera, who popped in the area with Jerry Blackwell when the duo held the AWA tag titles, also held the area’s International title in 1983 feuding with both Jerry Lawler and Austin Idol for the title. Conversely, in 1983, at the height of Lawler’s feud with Andy Kaufman, Lawler worked some matches in AWA cities.

With the Memphis promotion hitting a stride in the late 1970s and into the mid 1980s Bockwinkel, as AWA champion, made plenty of appearances in the area. Bockwinkel, technically one of the best in the business ever, then carved out an on-again-off-again feud with Lawler over the AWA championship over the years. While Bockwinkel also defended the title against other stars in the area, Lawler was the area’s top attraction and was usually Bockwinkel’s reason for stopping in the area.

In the early 1980s the AWA was also hitting a groove. With Bockwinkel as a credible articulate champion the promotion also built upon it’s fan base by featuring the talents of such stars as Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Adrian Adonis, Jerry Blackwell, Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne, Ken Patera, as well as legends such as The Crusher, Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke and Verne Gagne. The AWA also featured the services of Hulk Hogan.

Hogan truly came to a national spotlight at the end of 1979 and into 1980 (after spending most of the summer of 1979 in Jarrett’s promotion billed as Terry the Hulk Boulder) when he began wrestling in the WWF as a heel managed by Freddie Blassie. Hogan’s blonde hair and muscular physique resting on his large frame combined with his charisma opened a lot of eyes in the business. In time Hogan wound up wrestling in the AWA and often made trips to work for Antonio Inoki’s New Japan group. While he entered the AWA as a heel managed by Johnny Valiant, it quickly became apparent that the fans liked Hogan too much for him to remain such. Hogan, who had also made a splash as Thunderlips in the movie Rocky III, was turned into a face and began knocking off competition that would eventually lead him to face the AWA champion Bockwinkel.

While Bockwinkel was much more talented in-ring, Hogan’s charisma and appearance was too much to match in the eyes of the fans. It was only a matter of time fans believed that Hogan could defeat Bockwinkel for the title. That time would never come though and the AWA, the country’s hottest promotion for a time in the early 1980s, largely because of the appeal of Hogan, would never be the same again.

While the logic underlying professional wrestling would seem to indicate that ultimately the fans get what they want AWA fans would never see Hogan as AWA champion. Verne Gagne, the owner of the AWA, apparently did not believe Hogan would make a credible champion.  Feeling the world title should be around the waist of a legitimate wrestler and not around the waist of a showman, Hogan would never win the AWA title. The fans who craved a Hogan title run would be disappointed. The logic that follows such a disappointment would indicate that fans would be turned off by the move and abandon the promotion which is what happened. Hogan left the AWA, signed with the WWF and went on to become the biggest star in the wrestling business in the 1980s and 1990s. The WWF then began rolling over the territories and signing away the stars of the remaining territories including many in the AWA. Gagne, with his lack of vision for the future, sealed his promotion’s fate by buying into the belief that the business was not a business but a legitimate sport.

With the AWA reeling, title shots by the AWA champions grew sparse in the Memphis territory by the mid 1980s. Although the AWA had secured a slot on cable’s ESPN the group seemed to veer away from working with other surviving promotions after the Pro Wrestling USA project which began in 1984 with the cooperation of surviving promotions including the AWA and Jarrett but ultimately became an AWA project which eventually failed. The Memphis promotion plugged along in that time, even cooperating for a time on some cards with the Jim Crockett promotion, which featured the NWA champion although the Jarrett promotion retained their AWA status. Stan Hansen, who had a near year-long run as AWA champion did not defend the title in the Memphis promotion. His predecessor, Rick Martel did make a few shots in the area during his year and a half title run although shortly after Martel’s victory the Memphis promotion brought Bockwinkel in and claimed he was AWA champion apparently leery that Martel, who had no history in the area would not draw in the circuit. Otto Wanz and Jumbo Tsuruta, two other AWA champions, albeit short-lived, of the time frame did not work the Memphis area either.

The world title picture had been a mess for the AWA after Hogan left the promotion. Some felt as if Bockwinkel was too old to remain champion, although he was more talented than many who were headlining cards elsewhere. Others felt that the choice of Martel was suspect as well since he was talented but rather colorless, a quality top line wrestlers such as Hogan, NWA champion Ric Flair and The Road Warriors provided. The choice of the raw-boned Hansen was brilliant many thought since Hansen was a major international star. The move though backfired eventually when Hansen was expected to drop the belt back to Bockwinkel. Hansen, whose income mostly came from wrestling in Japan and not for the AWA or in the U.S., wasn’t thrilled with that notion and how it would affect him overseas. He refused to lose the title and took it with him to Japan. Bockwinkel was then awarded the belt back.

While all this was going on, the talent supporting AWA cards also began to suffer. With the WWF snapping up AWA talent such as Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Mad Dog Vachon, David Shultz, Bobby Heenan, Jim Brunzell and announcer Mean Gene Okerlund, the AWA had to find replacements. For a time the AWA did well holding on to and securing the talents of  Masa Saito, Bruiser Brody, The Road Warriors and manager Paul Ellering, The Fabulous Ones: Steve Keirn & Stan Lane, Jimmy Garvin, The Fabulous Freebirds: Buddy Roberts, Terry Gordy & Michael Hayes and more. The promotion though could not hang onto most of this talent. With other promotions vying for quality talent the replacements who filled in the gaps when the WWF’s first talent raid took place left for a variety of reasons as well including better opportunities in other promotions and sometimes because of low payoffs by Gagne. Gagne then had to replace those replacements. Without a thriving territorial system in place the replacements were few and far between and many of the ones who made it that far lacked in experience.

1987 though arrived and Southern champion Jerry Lawler was set to wrestle AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel again in Memphis. The title match was actually a diversion to kick the Lawler feud with Austin Idol and Tommy rich into gear. Bockwinkel though would be prominent in that feud and the AWA would become prominent in the life of the Jarrett promotion once again during the year ahead.

During 1987 Bockwinkel dropped the AWA title to Curt Hennig, the son of AWA legend Larry the Ax Hennig. Effectively this ended the Lawler-Bockwinkel AWA title feud that had simmered for most of a decade although Lawler would have to defeat Bockwinkel in July in Memphis to earn the shot at Hennig. Hennig debuted as champion in the area in August, part of an “AWA Super Tour” which also featured an AWA tag championship match with champions Boris Zhukov & Soldat Ustinov and a few other AWA stars.  Hennig would pop in from time to time and would end up playing a significant role in Memphis wrestling history in 1988.

In 1987 though it wasn’t the AWA world title that made news in the Jarrett promotion. It was the AWA tag titles. The lineage of the AWA tag titles read like a who’s who of AWA, and wrestling, history. Teams such as The Crusher & Dick the Bruiser, Ray Stevens & Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson, Mad Dog Vachon & Butcher Vachon, Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell, Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura, The Road Warriors, Harley Race & Larry Hennig all were champions at one point in time. Others such as Dick Steinborn, Pat O’Connor, Wilbur Snyder, Verne Gagne, Leo Nomellini, Billy Robinson, Gene Kiniski, Red Bastein and countless others at one time or another held a claim on the tag titles.

By 1987 though the AWA’s better days in the tag team ranks seemed long gone. A bright spot for the promotion had been a young fast team called The Midnight Rockers, consisting of Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels, who had held the titles for a time in 1987. They though jumped to the WWF. Almost as quickly though the WWF let them go since the pair had been a little too rowdy on the road shortly after arriving. The tag team that replaced Jannetty & Michaels as champions was the “Russian” combo of Boris Zhukov & Soldat Ustinov. Zhukov, while champion, would jump to the WWF. Veteran Doug Somers then replaced Zhukov in the team. Somers and Ustinov then came to Memphis for a title defense.

The team they were facing was the on-again, off-again combo of Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee. The two had patched up their differences once again. With fans believing the two together were unbeatable the fans in Memphis got their payoff as Lawler & Dundee captured the AWA titles in October. The title change was also acknowledged on AWA TV.

The following week Lawler & Dundee defended the tag titles against the combination of Hector Guerrero & the masked Dr. Diablo (also known as Dr. D). In true Memphis style, Lawler & Dundee’s title reign ended (the Memphis promotion was notorious for constant title changes). The title change though was only acknowledged in the Jarrett promotion (and likely frowned upon by Verne Gagne). The following week, Lawler & Dundee recaptured the belts. At the end of October though the pair lost the titles to The Original Midnight Express: Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose with manager Paul E. Dangerously at a Whitewater, Wisconsin AWA TV taping.

The AWA and the Jarrett promotion were working together more than they had in a number of years. Lawler & Dundee had held the tag titles. Jeff Jarrett was named AWA Rookie of the Year during the year as well. Also, some of the young talent the two promotions had nurtured over the past year or so began visiting the other promotion. Jon Paul, The Nasty Boys: Brian Knobs & Jerry Sags, Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka (dubbed Badd Company, when they hit the AWA they were eventually paired with manager Diamond Dallas Page) and others wrestled in both circuits during the year. The Midnight Rockers would also stop over a few times in Memphis and end up again in the AWA for a time as well.

It became clearer as the two promotions, bruised and battered, continued to survive the impact of the expansion of the WWF and the Crockett promotion which had bought Bill Watts’ promotion during the year, that the cooperation between the two benefited both groups. It provided both groups with new wrestlers fans had never or rarely seen previously. A few other groups were also hanging on by the end of 1987 including the Texas-based World Class promotion and the Alabama-based Continental promotion. The cooperation would be a sign of things to come as it would lead to more cooperation between the two and in 1988 cooperation with World Class and Continental. That cooperation began taking a decidedly Memphis flavor.

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