The rivalry between Bret Hitman Hart and Jerry The King Lawler was one of the New Generation’s most memorable feuds. Bret Hitman Hart had recently come off a successful first WWF Heavyweight Championship run. He took on all challengers.
He was defeated at WrestleMania XI by Yokozuna, who, a mere minutes later, was defeated by Hulk Hogan. Hogan defended his WWF title that June against Yokozuna at the first-ever King of the Ring.
The 500-pound sensation defeated the Hulkster and became the WWF Champion. That same night, Bret “Hitman” Hart gave the fans three excellent matches en route to becoming the King of the Ring.
Hart avenged his title loss and positioned himself as the best wrestler in the WWF. To the Hitman, it was not about the crown but about respect.
The Rivalry Between Bret Hitman Hart and Jerry The King Lawler
In 1993, the WWF was experiencing an influx of stars from other territories. One in particular was a territory in Tennessee called the USWA.
The USWA was a southern hotbed of talent. Some notables included Jeff Jarrett, Dr Tom Prichard, Jim Cornette, and the USWA’s main guy, Jerry the King Lawler.
That’s right, that Jerry Lawler. To the Mid-South, believe it or not, Jerry Lawler was a hero. He was a multiple-time heavyweight champion.
Most famously, he had a feud with a comedian named Andy Kaufman that crossed into mainstream media. Today, Jerry “The King” Lawler is a mainstay among the iconic voices calling the action on Monday Night Raw.
Along with Jim Ross, the duo made everything in the Attitude Era seem like can’t-miss action. A WWE Hall of Famer who made the word “puppies” seem like normal conversation.
Jerry Lawler joined the WWF in 1993. Immediately, he began to host a weekly show on WWF Superstars called The King’s Court. There, he would humiliate superstars and fans.
In the WWE, Lawler was a heel. The fans loved to hate the King. One of Lawler’s big things was that he was the only King of wrestling.
After Bret Hart won the 1993 King of the Ring Tournament, Lawler attacked the Hitman from behind. He claimed Bret Hart was a pretender to the crown. The Hitman really did not care about being called King; he just wanted to be The Best.
Lawler also began to make fun of the Hart Family. Specifically Bret’s parents, Stu and Helen Hart. He also attacked Bret’s younger brother, Owen Hart.
He knew if he pissed off the Hitman enough, he might just survive. Lawler would take weekly jabs on commentary about Stu and Helen’s age.
He also went so far as to, on Monday Night Raw, as Bret was excellently executing his opponent in the ring, go to the balcony when the Harts were in attendance and make fun of them face-to-face.
By the time Bret made his way up there, the cowardly king ran away. Bret revealed later that in reality, his family loved being “in on it. “They thought it was good TV and honestly, that Lawler was hilarious. It was when they had the most fun.
I personally think this was a distraction from Bret Hart in the title picture while they figured out if Lex Luger would work as a baby face champion.
However, working with Lawler must have been fun, too. Most people don’t know that this feud played out in USWA as well, but since this was Lawler’s home, he was the hero, and Hart was the heel.
It’s very interesting to see this dichotomy if you only watched WWF programming. The rivalry was a cross-promotion invasion in which WWE invaded Memphis. Vince McMahon even made appearances. Bret, Owen, and Macho Man Randy Savage were part of this angle.
In August, Bret Hart finally got a match with Jerry Lawler at SummerSlam ’93. This time, the Hitman was going to make the King pay for his crimes.
Unfortunately, Lawler enlisted the help of Doink the Clown. The King claimed he could not wrestle and appeared to be using crutches. On his way to the ring, Doink threw a bucket of water on Bruce Hart.
Till then, it was always confetti. Bruce Hart did not know this was coming. Bruce Prichard, WWE Executive, said that it might have been a prank that Bret and Owen were playing on their brother.
This change in the card only infuriated the Hitman more as he easily defeated the psychotic clown. Lawler attacked Bret while he had Doink in the Sharpshooter.
However, this was short-lived as Jerry Lawler was forced to wrestle the Hitman. Hart excellently executed the ‘Burger King’. He got Lawler in the Sharpshooter.
As Lawler screamed, I quit. Bret Hart was declared the winner. However, The Hitman wasn’t looking for the win. He wanted Lawler to pay.
The Hitman refused to let go of the sharpshooter even after a group of officials tried to get him off the king. The referee had no choice but to reverse the decision.
Lawler won, but he did not walk out under his own power. As they wheeled Lawler out, he held up his finger, still saying he’s the king.
In an interview in 2000, Bret said that when Lawler hit him with the crutch, he almost took his head off. He said he got hit hard.
As a reciept, when it came time for the Sharpshooter spot, he really sat down on it. He said Lawler crawled back to the dressing room for real.
The Hitman and the King continued their feud throughout the fall. Lawler continued to antagonize the entire Hart Family.
In November, it reached a boiling point at the Survivor Series when the Hart Family was scheduled to meet Jerry Lawler and his knights. After weeks of irritation from the Burger King, the Hart Family never actually got their Revenge.
In real life, Jerry Lawler had a fallout with the WWF and left the company. This put a giant black eye on the finish of the storyline. Shawn Michaels ended up taking the spot of Lawler at the PPV.
The problem was that at the time, Heartbreak Kid had only been an in-ring rivalry till this point. Not to worry, HBK knows how to piss people off fast.
On Rio’s Roundup, an interview show, Michaels staged a mock invasion of the Hart Family’s home. Now, Shawn Michaels was Public Enemy Number 1.
The Match was billed as The Family Feud Match. The Hart Family, including Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Bruce Hart, and Keith Hart, vs. Shawn Michaels and the Knights.
The Harts won, but Owen was eliminated after Bret was accidentally knocked off the ring during the match. This is where the tension between the two brothers began.
The Hitman would have a long feud with his brother over most of 1994. The Hitman also became WWF Champion, defeating Yokozuna at WrestleMania X.
When Lawler returned, he continued to antagonize the Hitman from the commentary table. On an episode of Monday Night Raw in 1995, Bret Hart cost The King a battle royal win after he tried to outsmart everyone by hopping around on one foot.
The Hitman saw what Lawler was trying to do and knocked Lawler to the ground. Embarrassed, Jerry Lawler began to call Bret Hart a racist.
Today, both Superstars agree that it was not the best angle. That year, Bret Hart won wrestler of the year. Lawler tried to say that the Japanese vote was not counted. This was to manipulate Hakushi, whom Lawler had enlisted as a henchman.
The Inclusion of Hakushi
Hakushi believed Lawler’s lies and began targeting the Hitman himself. At the first In Your House on Mother’s Day, May 14, 1995, Bret Hart wrestled Hakushi.
If he could beat the Kamikaze, then he would finally get his hands on Jerry Lawler. Being that it was Mother’s Day, Bret dedicated the night to his mom, Helen Hart.
The match against Hakushi was unbelievable. The two complemented each other very well. Due to Bret’s time in Japan, he respected the way Japanese wrestlers work.
Hakushi looked incredible. However, Hart did defeat Hakushi. This rivalry should have definitely gone on longer.
After that win, the Hitman set his sights on The Burger King. Lawler had also earlier dedicated the match to his ” mother”.
However, true to his sense of humor, his mother was like 25 years old. Bret Hart even said later he thought that was brilliant.
Unfortunately, Hart was defeated with help from Hakushi and his manager Shinja. After the match, Hakushi splashed the Hitman for good measure.
This led to the infamous Kiss My Foot Match at the 1995 King of the Ring. The loser would have to kiss the other guy’s foot.
For weeks, Lawler talked about how gross his foot was. He said he had bunions, calluses, and corns. He claimed the foot was eating through the sock.
He walked through horse stalls barefoot. On Something to Wrestle, Bruce Prichard stated that these vignettes were filmed at medieval times.
It doesn’t take an expert to figure out where this is going. The match started out with the Hitman wanting revenge on Lawler, but after a few piledrivers, the Hitman was in some trouble.
Lawler went to take that boot off. Michael Hayes at commentary said, ” When he takes that boot off, I’m running.” The King’s foot definitely looked nasty.
Lawler used the boot to hit Bret, but Hart came back with a whopper of a right to the Burger King. Lawler found himself about to be excellently executed when Hakushi and Shinja made their way to the ring.
Lawler held the Hitman as Hakushi went for a shot, Hart got out of the way, and Lawler was hit instead. At the finish of the match,
Hakushi went for an axe handle on Bret, but again that backfired and knocked the King on his royal butt. Lawler was now royally screwed. Hart locked on the Sharpshooter and won.
Per the stipulation, Lawler would now have to kiss Bret Hart’s foot. The king found himself with a bitter taste of defeat.
However, Hart was not done; he took Lawler’s disgusting, yellow, moldy foot and shoved it down the king’s throat. Lawler was gagging.
It was definitely the feel-good moment in that rivalry. It was an old-time heel-type match. Less was more. Lawler helped sell the moment by using a bunch of saltines, making it look like he was hurling.
The king got what he deserved. The fans went home happy. Lawler was actually happy. The Hitman was happy to go back to his title hunt.
Lawler’s in need of dental work from Isaac Yankem, DDS
Jerry Lawler said he had to visit the Dentist to get the taste of his foot out of his mouth. Of course, this was all storyline. Anyway, his dentist was named Issac Yankem, DDS. The Dude was huge with rotting teeth.
Lawler sent Isaac Yankem after Bret Hart. This resulted in a match at Summerslam that is one of Hart’s forgotten matches.
The Hitman then competed against the maniacal dentist in a steel cage on Monday Night Raw. During the match, if Lawler interfered, he would be put in a shark cage and raised to the ceiling.
During the match, The King claimed he was “the key to victory”. This was because he tried to lock the cage, allowing Yankeem to win.
However, the King’s plans were foiled when the WWE President, Gorilla Monsoon, put Lawler in the small cage and raised it to the top of the arena.
Lawler kept screaming that he was afraid of heights. Again, to sell the moment more, Lawler began to get a nosebleed from the height.
With the King behind bars, the Hitman won the match, escaping the cage. This put an end to Isaac Yankem DDS. It is heavily rumored that the dentist went mad and committed arson, but that is just a rumor.
Jerry Lawler continued to “hate” the Hitman from behind the microphone. The two would cross paths again at the 1997 Royal Rumble.
By this time, Hart was on another level and not one to play games. He was in a feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. At the 1997 Royal Rumble, Hart and Austin were in the ring battling it out when the King’s number was called. He literally got in the ring, then left as the Hitman eliminated him with one punch.
Both Bret Hart and Jerry Lawler are accomplished artists, and that rivalry extended to the locker room. At WrestleMania Access, they would frequently compete in drawing contests for the fans’ amusement.
Years later, Lawler said he believed he and Hart had this natural chemistry. He said that he hopes it helped Bret. It helped me evolve my character.
Stu and Helen were so great to go along with that. Bret was great to work with. You knew you were going to have a good match with Bret. “
Bret Hart echoed the same sentiment.
“I was happy with my matches. All three matches were good. Jerry was fun to work with. However, it always felt like it was a distraction from a title program. He had a ton of heat. He was always entertaining. I enjoyed working with Lawler.”
