Scott Bowden presents Kentucky Fried Rasslin

Jerry Lawler takes a powder.

Like all the great wrestling managers, I was trained in the art of outside interference, mastering such techniques as distracting the referee, striking opponents with my Cole Haan shoe, and tossing medicated powder into the eyes of unsuspecting grapplers–all to give my champions an edge.

Although it appears easy on TV, powder can be tricky, as you want to blind your foe with a direct hit to both eyes, making them easy prey.

I was fortunate than most managers entering the sport, as I was a tremendous baseball pitcher at Germantown High School, so I had success with the powder in my managerial debut…leading to the fastest pinfall loss ever in Jerry Lawler’s career.

Ironically enough, however, by the time I became the King’s manager in 1996, my interference backfired in this Lawler bout with Koko B. Ware, leading to the second piledriver I suffered in my career. The moral of this story, kids: Please don’t try this at home.

In Memphis, the fireworks usually started before the 4th of July. (Clipping courtesy of memphiswrestlinghistory.com.)

Although not in the same league as the annual Cow Palace tradition in San Francisco, Memphis had great success in the ’80s with the “Two-Ring, Triple-Chance” battle royal gimmick. On these nights, two rings were set up, with each man eliminated from the first ring going to the second ring. The last man standing in ring one would face the survivor of ring two for a one-on-one showdown to determine the winner.

On July 2, 1984, the promotion jazzed up the concept and dubbed it “Slamm-A-Bamma-Ramma,” featuring such contestants as Jerry Lawler, Randy Savage, Tommy Rich, Eddie Gilbert, Austin Idol, Lanny Poffo, Jim Neidhart and “Ravishing” Rick Rude (who was coming into his own as a headlining heel). A week after drawing a crowd of  approximately 10,000 for the June 25th card headlined by the Road Warriors vs. Lawler and Idol for the National tag titles, the unique two-ring gimmick drew a healthy crowd of nearly 7,000 fans to the Mid-South Coliseum.

The end came down to the King (shocking, I know) and the Ravishing One, culminating with a battle-royal finish unlike any other and turning up the heat quite literally on the Lawler vs. Rude feud.

Parents are strongly cautioned–some of this material may be unsuitable for audiences under the age of 13.

Longtime Memphis tag-team (and thorns in my side) PG-13 make their Monday Night RAW debut in 1995, eventually becoming short-lived associates of the Nation of Domination. Watching J.C. Ice (Jamie Dundee) and Wolfie D in action on this night no doubt inspired a young fan in West Newbury, Massachusetts. (Seriously, Jamie. and Wolfie should be getting royalty checks from John Cena.)