Jerry Lawler

Is it me, or has this week been the first week in ages where there has been no news item about Jerry Lawler leaving the WWF? I said at the time, I wouldn't write about those events, because everyone else probably would. Many of my fellow Internet hacks did a fine job, but as the time has passed, I thought that now would be the time to give my views on what has happened in recent weeks.

I have never been a big fan of Lawler the wrestler. But I was a huge fan of Lawler the announcer. Lawler and Jim Ross made a great broadcast team. Lawler was the perfect funny man to JR's straight man act. In my opinion, they were even better than the Vince McMahon-Jesse Ventura team of over a decade ago.

But all of this came to a swift and drastic end when Stacey got fired, and Jerry walked with her. We've all heard the rumours as to why she left. But this piece isn't about those rumours, it's about how Jerry and Stacey have handled themselves in the aftermath.

It seems that there wasn't a day gone by when you would hear news of Jerry and Stacey appearing on a radio or TV show, complaining about how they had been ill-treated. To begin with, this was okay. You could understand their frustrations with their former employers.

But then the days of complaining became a week, and then several weeks. It seemed that whenever you read an e-mail newsletter or checked out a news section on a wrestling website, you would see at least one story of Jerry and Stacey whining and bitching about something, constantly insulting all things WWF.

Just last week, we had Jerry's own cousin, Wayne Ferris, Honkytonk Man to the rest of the world, publicly criticising Jerry for his comments, saying that Jerry had spoken publicly about this matter for far too long.

Now this is something of a stretch for me - I've always hated the Honkytonk Man gimmick, but I actually agree with the old grease ball. Jerry and Stacey are carrying this too far now. After all, how long has it been since they left the WWF? Must be nearly two months now!

The funny thing is, they say they would like to return to the WWF! Well, constantly criticising your past/prospective employer in public isn't exactly the right way to go about things now, is it?

The latest rumour is that Jerry is going to join the WCW announce team. Before WWFE brought WCW, I would have believed this. In the days of Ted Turner, this would have been a great way of giving old Uncle Vince the finger. But now that old Uncle Vince has WCW, this really doesn't seem likely to me.

So if I was Jerry and Stacey's advisor, or agent, or something like that, I would advise them to do one thing - SHUT THE HELL UP! Am I the only one who thinks that they aren't really helping their case anymore? Am I the only one who has lost some sympathy with them?

Another piece of advice here, to those people who started Internet petitions, to get Jerry and Stacey back with the WWF - don't bother. The longer this thing goes on, the less likely you're going to see Jerry back on Raw and Smackdown.

Before I go, I would like to offer one comment on Jerry and Stacey's official website. You see, like many hot-blooded males, I was, ahem, "intrigued" by certain pictures. However, I was surprised that I wasn't offered a trial membership, and that I didn't need my credit card to look at these pictures!

If anyone reading this also gets one of those top-shelf magazines, dedicated to reader's wives and girlfriends, don't be surprised if you see Stacey from Memphis, pics sent in by Jerry, sometime soon!