The Post’s Anthony Sulla-Heffinger had a chance to sit down with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler and talk about all things wrestling.
Lawler talked about the WWE’s upcoming Axxess tour that will take over New York-New Jersey area this April leading up to Wrestlemania, his thoughts on comparing the current period to the beloved Attitude Era and this Sunday’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
Read the full interview below:
Thanks for stopping by. So tell us a little bit more about what the area can expect when Wrestlemania comes to town in April
Lawler: Of course, we always talk about Wrestlemania as our signature, Super Bowl event for WWE wrestling, but over the years it has evolved to not be just one event, one day event, it’s turned into a thing where the WWE come in, especially here in New York, takes over and rocks the city for an entire week.
Starting April 4, we have the Axxess, which is in the Izod Center, then Saturday night we have the Hall of Fame ceremony at Madison Square Garden and then Wrestlemania on Sunday. We had fans that didn’t even have Wrestlemania tickets last year that came and spent the entire day at Axxess. It’s going to be a week-long event.
I’m excited to see what it’s going to be like here in New York. We’ve had it in some places where it was almost a little subdued. When we had [Wrestlemania] in Phoenix, it was a nice setting but the city is not like New York City. Last year in Miami it was awesome, but I just can’t wait for it to be in New York, I think it’s going to be crazy with the atmosphere and all of the Superstars all over the city.
The Axxess is such a cool event because our shows throughout the year, they’re so big that for myself and the Superstars that are involved, it’s almost impossible to have any sort of fan interaction other than when you walk down the ramp and perform, you see the fans out in the audience. To me, this sort of harkens back to the old days when I first started. The venues were much smaller, you get to meet the fans, talk with them about wrestling and interact with them. That’s what Axxess is. It gives the fans the opportunity to get up close and personal with the Superstars.
There are so many great exhibits and so much going on. One year we had a graveyard for the Undertaker with tombstones of all of his past Wrestlemania opponents, it was actually creepy. My favorite was we had an exhibit with Vince McMahon’s Corvette that Stone Cold filled with cement. There’s just all sorts of things to see that you have seen in the past on TV but then suddenly it’s right there. It’s like a rolling museum of the WWE’s past and current Superstars will be there interacting with fans as well. It’s just a really fun week.
This year, because we are having Raw at the Izod Center the night after Wrestlemania, the entire set will be there and fans can go in and be a part of the entire Raw set that they see every week and VIP ticket holders can walk down that same ramp that John Cena and The Rock and guys do every single week.
We talked about the fans, but what’s it like for you and the other Superstars?
Lawler: It’s a unique experience for us as well because the business, industry and WWE has gotten so big that you almost lose that opportunity to get up close and personal with the fans anymore. I always enjoyed that starting out early on in this business. This is an opportunity to do that. There are so many things that you get to do on this one occasion that you don’t ever get do to during the year so it’s fun, it’s special, it’s different.
WWE recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of Monday Night Raw. What was it like seeing some of the guys they brought back for the show and what was your favorite part?
Lawler: For me personally, it’s really neat and gratifying to have guys that I’ve worked with in the past come back. I’m going to be honest with you, sometimes when I’m backstage at Monday Night Raw, even though I’m an integral part of the show doing the commentary, some of these guys are so young and so new and are just getting their feet wet in this business, I think sometimes they are a little intimidated to come hang out with some of the veteran guys like myself so what happens is that I find myself sometimes feeling like an outsider looking in at these young guys. It’s always good to see a guy like Mick Foley, Ric Flair and The Rock, who certainly isn’t an old guy by any means, but it is good to see these guys come back that I’ve dealt with and wrestled with. I enjoy that. I know that just hearing from the fans that [the old guys coming back] is special for them too. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard from people ‘Oh I grew up with you, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Shawn Michaels.’ They love to see these guys come back.
The 20th anniversary I personally loved seeing, and I wish there had been more of, the old clips. I’m sitting there myself just enjoying seeing it all. I mean gosh to sit there and remember being there calling the match the night that Stone Cold Steve Austin came out on the zamboni and rammed it into the ring or the beer truck and dousing Vince McMahon. My favorite clips that night were the vehicular ones and all of the crazy things we’ve done with vehicles over the years. I’ll never forget when Rock came out with a brand new Lincoln Continental right off the showroom floor and at the end of the night Stone Cold had run over it with a monster truck.
I know in 20 years there have been so many great moments that we wouldn’t have been able to cram them all in there, but I wish we could have seen more. I almost wish that every week there was a segment like a ‘Blast from the Past’ where we go back and look at what happened on a certain date in Raw history.
There has been a lot of talk about comparing the current era and its superstars to the Attitude Era. Having experience both, what is your opinion on the debate?
Lawler: I think certainly everyone has opinions about everything you can compare but I don’t know how much validity or weight everyone’s opinion carries because there’s nothing that the comparison will accomplish other than to say ‘I thought it was better then,’ or ‘No, I think it’s better now.’ It’s not going to change anything.
I honestly feel, in my own personal opinion, that during the Attitude Era our roster was stronger. I just think that there were stronger, from top to bottom of our roster, characters and Superstars than we have now. We certainly have guys now that are capable of moving the ball and getting the job done with CM Punk, John Cena, Big Show, Randy Orton and other guys that are being featured right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not casting dispersions on these guys at all, but when you look back at the Attitude Era, there was some of the biggest names in the history of this industry. I don’t think anybody will argue with the fact that there may not be anyone who could fill the shoes of The Rock or Stone Cold. Those are two guys right there that were in their heyday that we have not seen the likes of since and we may never see the likes of those guys again.
Both periods of time were great successes for the WWE so I’ll just say my own personal opinion that I thought the roster was a little bit stronger during the Attitude Era.
We’ve discussed the past stars, but who is the next big name in the WWE?
Lawler: Our WWE developmental company down in Florida told me there are almost 70 wrestlers down there that are just waiting to get the opportunity to get some exposure on television and are chomping at the bit so there’s no telling who the next superstar will be.
When you look at the roster that we have right now, Ryback has come basically out of nowhere to become a major force right now in such a short time. Of course CM Punk, he’s really surprised me with the longevity that he has had. I know Punk is a very talented guy, a tremendous talker and adding Paul Heyman into the mix has made him into somebody that has really, I think he’ll even admit it, come further along than he ever thought he would and had more longevity than anybody thought he would. Heck, there may be no stopping CM Punk on that deal.
I think Dolph Ziggler has a lot of potential too.
And what about The Shield, a group everyone is talking about?
Lawler: I think that what they’ve done with those guys and the way they have been presented has been very good in making a fast impact. I think now their characters need to be a little more developed, in other words, let’s see a little more about these guys as individuals. You can of course still keep them as a unit but you can also hear more from them.
I’m a firm believer that if a guy doesn’t get the opportunity to talk every week that there’s only a certain point he is going to get to. A guy has to be given the opportunity to talk one way or the other and that’s going to make or break a guy. I feel like those guys will be able to do that, but I think we need to hear more from them to get to the next level.
I do see those parallels and I think you’ll agree that the Nexus shot up fast and got to that certain level and then it just kind of petered out. I would hate to see that happen to these three guys and that’s why I say it needs to go to that next level and I feel like in order to do that they’ll need to have a little bit of a different kind of exposure other than just those hit-and-run type things.
I think that gets to a point where it angers the fans first at the members of The Shield but the longer it goes on without these guys developing some more character it angers the fans at the WWE and they ask ‘Hey, why do you keep letting this go on like this? Something more needs to be done.’
They’re all interesting characters. Ambrose reminds me of the Joker from Batman. The Heath Ledger one. It’s almost like I can just see that he’s got that kind of personality that people associated with that villain and he could go places with it. That’s why I think they need to change them up a little bit.
What do you think happens this Sunday at the Royal Rumble? Who wins the Rumble and can The Rock beat CM Punk for the WWE Championship?
Lawler: I definitely think The Rock can beat Punk for the title but will The Rock beat Punk for the title, that’s another question.
My own personal, I don’t want to say dream scenario, but I think all fans sit there and try and figure out what’s next or what they would like to see happen, I would like to see The Rock and Cena again for the WWE title. I could envision Cena winning the Rumble and The Rock beating Punk and then the two of them at Wrestlemania for the classic rematch. That first time around was so good. I know Cena would give his right arm to have that match again.
There are so many different scenarios that can take place, none of them are going to be bad. Wrestlemania is still going to be Wrestlemania no matter who wins the Rumble.
The Royal Rumble has become our next biggest and most fan-favorite pay-per-view. It’s so unpredictable. I know for a fact, I don’t know who it will be, but there’s always some surprise entrants. There will be some people that you didn’t have a clue they were going to be involved in the Rumble.
I do know that they had contacted Rikishi but he had a prior commitment that he could not get out of. My son Brian told me that it was just a commitment he literally could not get out of even though he really wanted to [be in the Rumble].
There are going to be some great names who will be there though.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com