King of the Road: Hawk no-sells a Lawler piledriver on the King’s home court
Road Warrior Hawk no-sells a Jerry Lawler piledriver in Memphis.
On the Wrestling Classics message board (highly recommended old-school wrestling forum), a poster recently asked the community: “So who are the kings of no-selling offense? The guys who deliberately no sell in the right places to emphasize their toughness-not the ones who forget to sell because they’re not very good” (e.g., Kevin Von Erich).
Quite possibly the best example of this can be found at the 54-second mark of this video.
By the way, this was Jerry Lawler‘s idea for Hawk to no-sell the piledriver in Memphis. Lawler’s flinching reaction when Hawk taunts him after quickly getting back on his feet is classic as well. It was rare to see anyone kick out after a King-sized piledriver (I think Bill Dundee and Nick Bockwinkel were the exceptions and that was only after a ref bump) in his heyday, let alone pop back up like this. The Warriors were already over huge in Memphis, but this spot cemented Hawk’s status as a monster. This must have been a no-disqualification bout, as the piledriver was an automatic DQ in Memphis. (This “rule” helped get the hold over as being extremely dangerous. After all, if all the brawling and mayhem that usually went on in Memphis rings largely went unpunished without a DQ then in the minds of Memphis fans it was believed that the piledriver must just about kill a man.) Hawk was always thankful to Lawler for this spot and frequently brought it up in front of the boys.
By the way, if you’re wondering who the hell thought it would be a good idea for the Road Warriors to cut a song, the answer should be obvious: Jimmy Hart, who also wrote the lyrics.
FORGET HBK: JOIN THE KFR “KLIQUE”:
File under Jerry Lawler.
Digg
I bet Eddie the Cruisers will be there.
I really like those matches with Lawler/Idol and the Fabs against the Roadies. They had the feeling of dream matches
I had that video on one of Verne Gagne’s horribly produced videos from the 80’s. Never a huge fan of the no sell, but when used correctly it could be effective, and if anyone could pull it off it was Hawk. He had those huge neck muscles that he used to pop out of that spiked neck collar of his. I remember when those guys came through Georgia and just beat guys down…they were the ultimate back in those days… Man, I sure miss the old school…
I saw the Roadies a few of times in person, one was when the NWA/Crockett and AWA/Gagne started “Pro Wrestling USA” and the Warriors were in a feud with the Koloffs. The Russians came to the ring first, then “Iron Man” hits and instead of their usual ‘slide under the bottom rope and throw the two other guys out’ deal, they stayed on the floor and traded insults with the Russians. I think Ivan Koloff then spat on Hawk (or came close) who then proceeded to pick up the ring steps and try to throw them from the floor over his head into the ring at Uncle Ivan. The steps hit the top rope and came back at Hawk’s head, who then with a mere forearm shiv knocked them away from himself to the floor, which lead to the Warriors then doing the slide under the bottom rope deal—it was amazing seeing strength like that, Hawk knocked those stairs away like they were dandruff on his shoulder.
It’s weird how fans today complain about the way the warriors no sold like that. they don’t seem to understand the fact that they made most of their money based on the fact that they were unstoppable monsters. Had they sold like normal wrestlers did, that mystique would have been gone and they would likely have not become the legends they are now.
Though I am a bigger fan of them in the early 90s when they showed they could also wrestler pretty well, but there’s no denying how amazing they were in the 80s.
Certainly one of the best, if not the very best, teams of all time.
In Memphis, the Warriors always sold big time for Lawler whenever the King pulled his strap and made his comeback-like Popeye and his spinach. That said, I know for a fact the Warriors ate the Brisco brothers’ lunch and demolished Mr. Wrestling I and II in Georgia but that was more of the booking of Ole Anderson, who knew the only way to get these big green stiffs over was to have them destroy the aging legends…it was by design to hide their shortcomings. However, I will say that eventually the Warriors became solid if not spectacular workers who were capable of having good matches.
The warriors were awesome.Funny how some fans will speak about no sell in the old days but have no problem with Brock Lesner or Goldberg squashing superstars left and right.Jerry Lawler had some great ideas about getting the crowd to pop too.It’s funny how many story lines and gimmicks we see today aren’t accredited to the guys who invented them.Hard core matches? Lawler and the moondogs were beating each other bloody long before ECW or “Hard Core” champions were around.Heel turns,Dusty Finishes and plots involving every conceivable angle are old school born and bred.