Review for It's Good To Be King: The Jerry Lawler Story

Jerry 'The King' Lawler is one of the greats of the wrestling business. This is something which is sometimes overlooked. He was never a WWE main eventer, never held a title in the company and is not one of the people many have in their Top Tens. However, this documentary 'It's Good To Be King' along with the multiple matches may change your mind.

This set looks at Lawler's career, from the guy who would draw cartoons of the wrestlers, to his time in Memphis, his infamous feud with Andy Kaufman and of course his time in the WWE. At times, this could almost have been a look at the Memphis territory itself and Lawler was certainly a focal point of that for many years with many sell outs which showed just how popular he was in Memphis. So popular that years later when he campaigned to be Mayor he came third!?

Though he was famous in the wrestling circles, it was his work with comedian Andy Kaufman that put Lawler on the map. It is ironic that the idea was first suggested to WWE's then owner Vince McMahon Sr who rejected the use of celebrities in the business. Later when Lawler and Kaufman had their iconic fight on the David Letterman show Vince McMahon comments how he was a little jealous that they hadn't done it.

When he came to the WWE, it was originally as a talent having matches with the likes of Bret Hart and Roddy Piper, but he soon went on to become one of the commentators a role which he still has to this day. It was his chemistry with Vince McMahon and later with Jim Ross that made his shrieking of 'Puppies' so wonderful. He was later inducted, rightfully so, into the Hall of Fame and the entire induction is included here too.

The two disks are brimming with extras and though some suffer from age-quality problems, there are some great matches here with the likes of Ric Flair, Kerry Von Erich, Curt Hennig, Roddy Piper, Bret Hart and even The Miz who he faces in his first and only WWE Championship match. One of the more unique matches on here is a tag team match he has against a wrestler known as The Prototype, but we may know him by another name: Mr John Cena.

Also included is an excellent match against Tommy Dreamer from ECW. It is a shame that not much of his cross-over feud with ECW and Paul Heyman was included as that was a great example of just how Heelishly obnoxious Lawler could be.

Jerry Lawler: It's Good To Be King is a great set and one that old skool fans of wrestling will enjoy. If you are not a fan of Lawler, but do like watching some classic matches, when wrestling was seen as real, then you may like this.