Dinner with the King Recap – Heel Vince McMahon in Memphis Wrestling, Paige Situation, Will McMahon Ever Retire? More!

This brought out a new side of McMahon, and his feud with Jerry Lawler would solidify him as a monster heel during his appearances in Memphis. Lawler believes that this was the true beginning of the ‘Mr. McMahon character’ which we would grow to love and/or hate in WWE during the attitude era a few years later.

Lawler doesn’t think we would have ever seen the ‘Mr.McMahon character during the attitude era, if McMahon had not previously experimented with the ideas and the character itself during his time in Memphis.

Bret and Owen Hart were involved in this cross-promotional storyline as well and on one particular night, Bret faced off against Lawler in a steel cage match. Bret was booed heavily by the Memphis crowd who were cheering on Lawler, and Bret later revealed to Lawler that he had a lot of fun during that angle because that was a unique situation for him.

Lawler believes the success of this angle led to McMahon realizing that Memphis Wrestling could be of continued use to him. McMahon would utilize this relationship for the next several years, sending various WWE talents to Memphis for certain shows where they could continue to get regular work and gain more exposure.