Lawler feels like he was the first wrestler to involve Russell in backstage skits and comedic interviews where he’d crack jokes at Russell’s expense, particularly about the size of his nose. From then on he was followed by Jimmy Hart and Jim Cornette who took a similar comedic route while doing interviews with Russell. Hart even went as far as to cut a record entitled, “Lance Russell’s Nose”.
Lawler informs that Russell kept to himself a lot, but he secretly liked being admired by the fans and he loved meeting and talking with them. Lawler says that Russell always seemed surprised by the amount of people who loved and respected his life’s work.
He says that in his eyes, Lance Russell is on the top of the mountain in terms of the greatest commentators of all time. There have been so many great commentators throughout the history of professional wrestling such as Jim Ross, Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon, but Lawler grew up listening to Russell and then had the opportunity to work with him, so in his eyes no one will ever be better than Russell.
That sums up this week’s episode of Dinner with the King. You can listen to the show yourself anytime here, and I’ll catch ya next week for another recap!
