Jerry Lawlers Menagerie of Monsters. In the days of The Territories, when one promotion would dominate a local region, each promotion carefully crafted its own identity and ethos.
For example, Western Canada (Stampede Wrestling) and the American Midwest (AWA) tended to push wrestlers with impressive technical acumen, while Dallas (WCCW) and Detroit (Big Time Wrestling) focused on the brawling style and what would come to be known as Hardcore or Deathmatch wrestling.
In Memphis, they adopted a different approach, crafting some of the most outlandish gimmicks to ever grace the squared circle.
Today we’ll look at why the legacy of the Continental/United States Wrestling Association is their marvelous menagerie of monsters.
Jerry Lawlers Menagerie of Monsters
When Jerry Lawler toppled his trainer and mentor Jackie Fargo in 1974 and became “The King of Wrestling,” he quickly became the top draw in the Tennessee territory.
Just three years later, NWA Mid-America co-owners Jerry Jarrett and Nick Gulas would have a falling out, leading Jarrett to split off and form the Continental Wrestling Association.
In short order, Jerry Lawler would go about becoming co-owner of the new promotion, and as co-owner, Lawler had quite a bit of creative input.
Being a longtime fan of comic books, science fiction, and horror movies, Lawler would incorporate all of his pop culture obsessions into his promotion. Thus, the Memphis territory would forever be remembered for its monster gimmicks.
The Universal Classics
Appropriately enough, the first monsters to menace the Memphis wrestling ring during Lawler’s run were those based on the classic Universal monster lineup.
In 1974, right after Lawler’s feud with Jackie Fargo, he would be menaced by The Mummy. Now, plenty of wrestlers have donned the bandages to play The Mummy over the years, from Benjy Ramirez in the 60’s up through Ron Reese in the 90s (even though he was billed as The Yeti.) The Mummy of the mid-70s was Memphis area mainstay Ron Wright, though his run as The Mummy would be short-lived.
From November 18th to December 3rd of 1974, The Mummy would have a grand total of 6 matches, failing to capture the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship and the NWA Mid-America Southern Tag Team Titles from Jerry Lawler and Tojo Yamamoto.
Wright would bow out of the gimmick after losing back-to-back hair vs mask matches against Lawler in Memphis, followed by Jerry Jarrett in Louisville.
Jerry Lawler would try to bring his love of Sci-Fi and Pro Wrestling together again in 1977, this time by introducing a character with a bit more substance.
Frankenstein’s Monster came to life for the first time in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus. However, most of us are familiar with James Whale’s 1931 film adaptation with Boris Karloff as The Monster.
In ’77, Lawler’s friend Jim Blake would don a mask based on Karloff’s portrayal of The Monster to become Dr. Frank. The debut of Dr.Frank was somewhat of an inauspicious one. The day of the taping, a bomb threat was issued against the studio where CWA taped.
Thus, Dr. Frank was introduced to an empty house when he was freed from an oversize crate. Dr. Frank would wrestle sparingly through 1977, having noteworthy matches with Tommy Gilbert, and a one-off six-man tag match with Buddy Diamond and a returning The Mummy against Jerry Bryant and The Gibson Brothers.
Dr Frank would quietly disappear after losing to a then up-and-coming Paul Orndorff in a “Loser Leaves Memphis” match on April 18th of 1977.
Lord Humongous
In 1981, Mad Max 2 (or The Road Warrior in North America) would grace theater screens, and leave an indelible mark on the pro wrestling business.
For one, it served as the inspiration for Hawk and Animal to change from leather-clad bikers to spike-clad post-apocalyptic warlords.
However, it also led to a number of other ill-advised knockoffs. In this case, we look to the CWA’s own Lord Humongous.
Modeled on the primary antagonist of Mad Max 2, Lord Humongous would debut in 1984 as part of Jimmy Hart’s ‘First Family’, an assortment of wrestlers assembled by Hart to menace the CWA’s top babyface, Jerry Lawler.
In the movie, Lord Humongus was an intensely muscular man wearing leather scraps and a hockey mask to hide the horrible burns on his face.
The CWA’s Lord Humongous also sported a hockey mask, allowing multiple men to portray the monster heel over his surprisingly long run.
Initially played by Jeff Van Camp, the mask would pass through many wrestlers like Bull Buchanon and Sycho Sid prior to their runs in the big leagues.
Of the many gimmicks in this article, Lord Humongous may be the longest running, with wrestlers donning the straps and mask well after the collapse of the CWA and multiple successor promotions.
Lawler would even try to recapture some of the magic in 1993 with the debut of Doomsday, but we’ll talk about him later on.
The Phantom of The Opera
By 1985, Jimmy Hart had left the CWA for the greener pastures of the WWF, taking the concept for The First Family with him. This left Hart’s primary charge “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert alone in his feud with Lawler.
However, Gilbert wouldn’t be alone for long, as in February of 1985, Lawler would again dive into his love of the classic Universal horror movies to bring us The Phantom of The Opera.
In late February of 1985, Gilbert would arrive at the CWA studio, bringing with him a large crate. Much like what they did with Frankenstein’s Monster a decade prior, Gilbert claimed the crate contained his new partner in the war against Jerry Lawler.
Gilbert opened the crate to reveal “Nightmare” Danny Davis in a Phantom of The Opera costume. However, unlike Dr.Frank, The Phantom of The Opera only wrestled one match in the CWA, teaming with Tommy Gilbert (as Mr.Wrestling) in a losing effort against Joe Lightfoot and Tojo Yamamoto.
The following week, The Phantom quietly disappeared from the company. While the gimmick didn’t last very long, The Phantom was seen lurking in the shadows of the CWA studio, arguably laying some of the groundwork for what Sting would do 12 years later in WCW.
Where does the menagerie of monster’s take us tomorrow? Tune in and prepared to be tormented in the process!
