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In the territories, Memphis Wrestling was huge. The Mid-South Coliseum was electric every night the talent hit the ring. That was huge in part to Jerry “The King” Lawler. Another portion of that goes to TV and movie star Andy Kaufman.
Andy Kaufman Becomes An Intergender Wrestler
After the successes of the show Taxi, Kaufman wanted to branch out into skit comedy type acts. One of these acts was declaring himself the “Intergender Wrestling Champion.” During these “matches”, Kaufman would sometimes wrestle as many as 10 women for a shot at the $1,000 purse being offered. Andy would entice the crowd by exploiting negative stereotypes towards women.
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The successes of these events made Kaufman want more. At one point he even reached out to WWE, and Vince McMahon Sr., but WWE wanted nothing to do with this and walked away.
Andy Kaufman Starts Wrestling In Memphis
After the WWE deal fell through, Kaufman got word that Jerry Jarrett and the Memphis territory were very interested, although the Jarretts were more interested in the money that Kaufman would draw than the actual match. The original plan was for a one-off, but that wouldn’t be the case.
External: Jerry Lawler on Andy Kaufman
During his debut, Kaufman did the normal act wrestling women. The crowd was so invested that Lawler and Jarrett decided to make a return the next week. This time, however, after four or five women, a female wrestler named Foxy entered the match. She proceeded to give Kaufman the match of his life. Andy would get the win, but we would get the first taste of Lawler vs Kaufman that night.
Jerry Lawler Gets Involved With Andy Kaufman's Antics
After the second show night Kaufman was in Memphis, Lawler ultimately laid claim that with a little training and a few pointers, Foxy could get the victory. Kaufman being the showman and the confidant heel he was, accepted and upped the ante with a $5,000 purse, saying that if she wins, he’ll marry her.
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Kaufman and Foxy would both cut promos leading up to the match, with Foxy giving us the famous line, “I wouldn’t marry Andy Kaufman if he was the last man on Earth.” The night of their rematch, Kaufman would win, but after this victory he would begin acting erratic and rubbing Foxy’s face in the mat. This is where Lawler stepped in, and once his hands touched Kaufman, Andy lost it and began screaming to sue.
Jerry Lawler And Andy Kaufman Become The First Worked Shoot
After the second Foxy match, and the threat to sue, Kaufman would begin cutting promos on Jerry Lawler. He acted like a mad man, involving his friends as characters in his story. No one from Memphis knew for sure what was going on, so they bought in. What started as a work, then became a shoot, had come full circle back into a work.
Once Lawler and Kaufman agreed to the match, everything was done in secret. Kaufman would come to Lawler’s hotel rooms, and they would practice taking simple bumps for the match, like the suplex and the piledriver. Once the night hit it was a sold-out Coliseum for the King versus Kaufman.
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Andy would oversell and run around the ring. Lawler would “break character” on the mic and ask, “Did you come down here to wrestle or act like an ass.” The venue erupted, and the match was on. The finish was Lawler’s signature piledriver, but due to state athletic commissions that was an illegal move and Kaufman got the win by DQ. Lawler would appease the crowd a little further by giving another piledriver to nail his point home.
Kaufman laid silent in the ring. Overselling the move, he even offered to pay the money for an ambulance to be called. Kaufman would then spend three days in the hospital with little to no contact with Memphis Wrestling. No one knew what was happening or who would be paying the hospital bills, and now even national news media was picking up the story. So, it was back to a shoot. They didn’t know for sure if Kaufman was actually hurt.
David Letterman Gets Involved In The Lawler And Kaufman Feud
Andy Kaufman would eventually call Jerry Lawler and ask him to come on the Letterman show with him. During the process of planning the show, Kaufman asked for Lawler to hit him on screen, taking this all back to a work. They decide no to the punch, but yes to doing the show together.
During the taping, Lawler and Kaufman went back and forth, and going back to a shoot, unplanned or expected by anyone, Lawler decked Kaufman, knocking him off the stage and into the floor. Kaufman would then throw a cup of water on Lawler and tore into him with a curse laden promo. Everything hit the air and the night of the show was and still is the episode that made Letterman “famous.”
External: Jerry Lawler Slaps Andy Kaufman | Letterman
After the Letterman show, no charges were pressed, and no feelings were hurt. The entire thing had gone from a work to a shoot and back again so many times, by the end of it, it was just simply known after as a “worked-shoot.” Kaufman would even continue to be a staple on Memphis TV for a short time after the feud with Lawler.
