For years, Jerry Lawler has been widely regarded as the King of Memphis in the world of professional wrestling. Now, he wants to "step down" and become the mayor of Memphis in real life.
Mayor Jerry Lawler
While the rest of the company was off on a different side of the planet, long time WWE announcer Jerry Lawler decided to stick around and make a major announcement.
Early this morning, Jerry Lawler went on to a radio show and announced that he was going to be running for mayor of Memphis later this year. The election is scheduled to take place in October.
The former USWA Heavyweight Champion is hoping to replace Willie Herenton, the mayor who appears to have become one of the biggest villains in the city of Memphis.
Not the First Time
Just so you know, this is not the first time that Jerry Lawler has ran for mayor. In fact, this isn't the first time that he's gone to battle against Willie Herenton either.
In 1999, Jerry Lawler ran for mayor of Memphis. He finished third in the voting, with nearly 12% of the votes. However, he lost out to Willie Herenton, who was running for re-election.
Of course, that was before Willie Herenton had this much "heat" (to borrow a phrase from the world of professional wrestling).
His Stance
Even though Jerry Lawler is running for a political office, he still claims that he's not a politician. He refuses to label himself as something that he holds a high disregard towards.
The 59 year old Memphis native stresses that he is only running for office because he wants to make the city a better place for its citizens to call home.
Aside from the typical focus that every single politician claims is important (education, safer streets, fiscal responsibility, etc), Jerry Lawler also stated that he wanted to focus on drawing more businesses into the city.
It will be a huge challenge for Jerry Lawler to deliver on the promises that he has given.
Black Eye
It's going to be an even bigger challenge for Jerry Lawler to hide the skeletons in his closet.
For one, Jerry Lawler hasn't exactly avoided the police radar in his lifetime.
Jerry Lawler was accused of rape and sodomy by a 15 year old girl. While it was proven to be a scam, Jerry Lawler's reputation took quite a hit. The 39 year veteran of the wrestling business was also arrested for an incident in which he assaulted a police officer.
If it wasn't enough that he has some black marks of his own, Jerry Lawler is going to have to deal with the troubles that his two sons (one of whom is former WWE star Grandmaster Sexay) have been getting into as of late.
Anyone that runs against Jerry Lawler is going to have plenty of ammo if they want to run a smear campaign.
What About WWE?
In case you're wondering, if Jerry Lawler does manage to win the mayor job, then his WWE career will be over. He will be forced to vacate his spot as the color commentator on Raw.
He might still make some special guest appearances, but don't expect to see him be available every Monday night (and the occasional Sunday nights for pay per views).
Closing Thoughts
This is going to be an interesting situation to keep an eye on. Jerry Lawler might even leave the company before the election so that he can focus on putting on as strong of a campaign as possible. |
