Scott Bowden presents Kentucky Fried Rasslin

Never one to brag, “The Universal Heartthrob,” Austin Idol humbly salutes the fans for their support in this clip from Georgia Championship Wrestling, circa 1980. Years before the Hulkster shamelessly ripped him off, IdolMania was indeed running wild nationwide–the modest one didn’t even bother to include Boise, Idaho; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Bangor, Maine; Oil Trough, Texas; Clearwater, Florida;  Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico; French Lick, Indiana; Climax, Michigan; the Missouri Boothill; Needmore, Texas; and beautful Hooker, Oklahoma. (I love how Gordon Solie gradually becomes agitated with Idol–even sunglasses can’t hide his anguish. Incidentally, Gordon’s cool shades were not foreshadowing a heel turn; I believe this interview was conducted shortly after eye surgery.)

For those of you misguided marks out there who thought Dusty Rhodes had the magic of genuine Stardust all those years, you must feel really foolish to discover its true origins. Clearly, the Idol was the highest paid professional athlete at the time–after all, it costs a fortune to import real Stardust from Las Vegas.

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At last year’s NWA Wrestling Legends Fanfest, Jim Cornette stressed during his Q & A session that WWE didn’t introduce humor to wrestling, maintaining that Jerry Jarrett’s Memphis promotion successfully balanced comedy and serious issues to produce one of the most entertaining wrestling shows in the country. While WWE thinks they’re pushing the envelope with their so-called “humor” and that they’re breaking new ground by injecting funny situations into wrestling, nobody was funnier than Jerry Lawler as a heel in the ’70s, yet the fans still hated his guts, likewise with Jimmy Hart in the early ’80s. And then you had Lance Russell as the straight man between Lawler and Hart during their feud, which Cornette compares to “…Howard Cosell standing between Ali and Frazier.”

Russell’s facial expressions and reactions to the heels’ outrageous claims were indeed priceless, as this clip from 1976 illustrates (but first a word from Mid-South Poison Control):

Like Russell, Georgia Championship Wrestling’s Gordon Solie also had a way of injecting a little subtle humor with his classic deadpan looks when a baddie like the Masked Superstar (Bill Eadie) boasted and bragged. In the clip below, Solie’s flabbergasted reaction to Superstar’s list of top contenders (which includes a few WTBS jobbers) illustrates the sly comedy that is rare in wrestling today. (Incidentally, Eadie’s voice and methodical delivery sound like that of a twisted-yet-intelligent madman, almost like a serial killer…perfect for a mysterious, masked heel.)

Incidentally, for those who think Cornette was merely one of the funniest promo guys ever, check out his serious side when he discusses retirement plans for Dusty Rhodes…strong stuff from the master.

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What's more manly than being macho? MANCHO: "Handsome" Jimmy with WAKY (790 AM) DJ Bob Moody.

On Sept. 19, 1977, “Handsome” Jimmy Valiant came rollin’ into Mempho, TWA. Initially, he was introduced as the new heel superstar to take the place of Jerry Lawler, who had recently “retired” to pursue music and art opportunities (which seems laughable in hindsight, especially the former). Valiant won a tournament to win Lawler’s vacated Southern title and feuded with the King upon his return a few weeks later. Lawler and Valiant traded the Southern title several times well into the New Year, in every gimmick match possible, culminating with a bout that could only end with a five-count (shades of King Kong Bundy’s future gimmick). That Lawler victory drew 8,125 fans to the Mid-South Coliseum.

By that point, the feud had gone as far it could go–for the time being. Promoter Jerry Jarrett had noticed that the fans had often responded with cheers to Valiant’s promos, despite his arrogance and dirty deeds. Valiant was indeed ahead of his time. Although Jesse Ventura gets a lot of recognition for being among the first to spice up his promos with pop-culture references, Valiant was the first one I ever noticed to do so, often referring to his buddies Burt Reynolds and Sally Field (who were red hot coming off “The Smokey and the Bandit” film) and girlfriends Farrah Fawcett and Cheryl Tiegs. In the same vein as Dusty Rhodes’ obvious babyface potential while working as a heel in Florida, Valiant was primed to be cheered because of his rap with the people.

Shortly after defeating Terry Sawyer with a sunset flip at the WMC-TV Studios on Saturday, April 1, 1978 (the same day that Jimmy Hart made his Memphis TV studio debut as buddy of the King), Lawler conducts a post-match interview with Lance Russell to announce his upcoming promotional appearances around the Mid-South area. Usually, such a spot would be reserved for later in the broadcast; however, the story goes that Lawler wants to say a few words really quickly because he has to leave the studio immediately to make one of those scheduled meet-and-greet gigs in Arkansas before the matches in Jonesboro that night. This, of course, left the dressing-room door open for heel “Handsome” Jimmy to turn babyface after Bill Dundee is attacked later that day by heels Sonny King and Joe LeDuc. (During the beatdown, Russell exclaims, “Lawler’s already gone! We need some help out here!”) As a last resort, heel Valiant struts out acting like he’s going to participate in the beating, pausing to flex and preen for the camera, before slugging King and LeDuc. Back in the kayfabe days (and before Vince Russo had killed such a swerve), most fans weren’t savvy enough to see this coming a mile away.

Valiant remainded a babyface for approximately the next six months (a lifetime in Memphis wrestling), eventually mentoring and teaming with Lawler’s cousin, rookie Wayne Ferris (the future Honky Tonk Man). I’m not sure how much he improved in the ring, but Ferris quickly picked up Valiant’s beauty secrets, with his dark hair becoming platinum blonde seemingly overnight. On the same show his infamous “Son of a Gypsy” video aired on Nov. 11, 1978, Valiant gradually turns heel over the 90 minutes, along with Ferris, setting up the bleached-blonde bastards for a program with Lawler and Dundee. Before things get ugly (with Valiant telling Dundee to play with the short people, referencing Randy Newman’s popular “Short People”), Handsome compares Lawler’s “hillbilly” music to that of the legendary Ernest Tubb.

Good friends...better enemies: I purchased this photo for $1 at the 1978 Mid-South Fair. (Guess Lawler didn't get the memo to look away from the camera.)

The storyline is that “Handsome” Jimmy’s ego is out of control, demanding to be cut in on the main event with the King and Superstar, who politely rebuff him before Lawler finally snaps and offers his opinion on Valiant’s sexual preferences. (That’s certainly the first time 7-year-old Scott Bowden had heard that word on TV.)

Valiant was pretty damn popular, so the heel turn really came out of nowhere and was somewhat inexplicable as the revolutionary music video only got him that much more over with the fans. (I can tell you that all my friends and I were singing “Son of a Gypsy” in the weeks that followed–we all loved that video–and local station FM 100 was bombarded with calls to play it.) Some have speculated that perhaps Valiant was getting a little too popular in the eyes of Lawler and Dundee (who were tight with Jarrett and helped him book the territory), so he was turned heel. (Michael Hayes claims that Lawler put the kibosh on the Freebirds’ babyface turn when he saw the fans go crazy and rise to their feet when they came out to their Skynard anthem.) But in all likelihood, Valiant was turned heel to spark attendance, which had begun to drop to between 3,500 and 4,500 at the Coliseum in the weeks prior. But despite being well-executed by everyone involved, Valiant’s switch back to the dark side didn’t work (attendance at the Coliseum continued to fall), and the program between the two teams was quickly dropped. Perhaps it was because the fans didn’t want to hate “Handsome” Jimmy, that charismatic son of a gypsy.

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