Scott Bowden presents Kentucky Fried Rasslin

Eat your heart out, Elvis: The cover art for Lawler's second album was also featured on T-shirts that sold by the thousands.

When Vince McMahon expanded his circus tent in 1984, he not only began revolutionizing the way wrestling was presented on TV but also how it was marketed. In many ways, Vince Jr. merely copied the promotions in Japan, which had toy and record deals for its stars years before Vinnie started crossing those tacit, traditional territorial boundaries in the United States with his vision of sports entertainment.  

Before Vince, most wrestling stars in the had no idea how to market themselves beyond selling tickets; however, there were some notable exception in the late ’70s and early ’80s–stars like Jerry Lawler, Dusty Rhodes and Hulk Hogan, who were visionaries in that sense, as they produced their own T-shirts and other merchandise in addition to the usual photos for sale at the gimmick (souvenir) table. By 1977, Lawler had several T-shirts, single records, albums and plastic cups with his likeness for sale not only at arenas but at stores like Lanksy’s (men’s clothing) and Pop Tunes (local chain of record stores). 

During the fourth part of our interview, Dutch Mantell explained that part of the reason the boys didn’t recognize just how over they were was because they were constantly moving on to the next town: “At one time, the wrestlers were the most over celebrities of any kind in Memphis–and we didn’t even know it. We didn’t even know how over we were because we were always on the road. Lawler was good at that, too, with his shirts and records, but most of us didn’t see it.” (For more on the music “career” of Lawler, click here: Jerry Lawler.)

Like rock groups such as KISS, Vince understood how lucrative merchandise could be, with this added revenue stream potentially meeting, or in some cases exceeding, the live gate. Vince didn’t just sell wrestling tickets. He sold tickets to an event–and he realized that most fans wanted to go home with a souvenir to commemorate the occasion and just how starved a lot of younger marks were for quality merchandise…such as T-shirts, posters, lunchboxes, school notebooks…and action figures.

Star Wars: This Lawler artwork appeared on a T-shirt sold at Jarrett's all-star card on June 25, 1984.

After years of transforming my “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” figs into likenesses of my favorite wrestling stars when I was a kid, I was delighted to see WWF’s action figures line from LJN debut in 1984. Standing anywhere from 9 to 12 inches tall and awkwardly made of a sturdy rubber material (unlike traditional plastic parts that you could adjust, remove and interchange), the first series was comprised of nine figures, with the inaugural series including “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Iron Sheik, Junkyard Dog and the Hulkster.

The quality of the figures have come a long way since then. Just check out the latest Legends line from Mattel, now available in stores, which includes several former Memphis wrestling stars like Rick Rude, Terry Funk and Kamala.

While the LJN figures of old have sentimental–and monetary (for hard-to-find mints)–value, Mattel has taken WWE figures to an art form, building on the foundation established by Jakks Pacific over the last decade. As you can see, Funk, Kamala and Rude have been upgraded from their 80s versions below.

Hack-ptooey, I spit on your likeness, LJN: The Mattel Sheik in all its glory. (Hacksaw Duggan, dimebag and eightball sold separately.)