[1992-06-20-USWA-TV] Dennis Coraluzzo and Fred the Elephant Boy

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

"I forgot to tell Lance Russell he's gotten a heck of a tan since I've last seen him" -- Dennis to Dave Brown, about Cory Maclin

 

The two kids who are supposed to be Lawler's come out, one of whom is Fred the Elephant Boy, and he goes around the ring trying to collect money from the crowd since Lawler refuses to pay child support. This feels more than mildly exploitative.

 

Lawler runs them off and vows revenge. Always funny how Lawler seamlessly transitions from feud to feud without skipping a beat.

[Tim Evans]

Where's Baba Booey? I'm pretty sure Fred paid to be in this angle since he's a huge wrestling fan. I remember when he was on Stern with Cactus Jack around this time. Loved this angle and it's too bad this was the end of it.

[Cox]

Fred the Elephant Boy used to go to Dennis' shows all the time. Not sure if he had any official capacity or what, but I used to go to NWA shows in New Jersey and Fred was always a part of the show in some way.

 

Instead of watching ROH or Dragon Gate iPPVs on Saturday, my friend and I watched Will's SMW set and YouTube videos of Dennis Coralluzzo's stint in Memphis. I'm pretty sure these promos were much, much better than Davey Richards vs Michael Elgin.

[Kevin Ridge]

I like how they used his real kids names for the two illegitimate ones.

[WingedEagle]

Fred from Stern & some other goof are out as Lawler's kids. This was as bad as the previous segment with Coraluzzo was good.

[PeteF3]

That Lance Russell line was spectacular. "These are NOT Jerry Lawler's kids!" Dave Brown with the cold, hard facts. "Brian Lawler" aka Fred the Elephant Boy cuts a promo while the other kid tries to collect money from the fans until Lawler runs him off. Lawler tries to hype this Monday as the greatest night in his professional career--Lawler against Mike Doggendorf AND Mike Samples!

[MikeCampbell]

The Lance Russell line about Corey Macklin was the highlight here.

[garretta]

This might have been the most offensive segment Memphis has done in a long, long time. From the racist crack about Lance "getting a tan" to Lawler's "kids" sounding like they're mentally slow to the passing of the hat, it all just plain reeked.

 

Even the non-exploitative stuff was terrible. Note to Dennis: Jesse Ventura got away with referring to all the announcers as "Jack" (because they don't mean jack) back in his wrestling days. You, sir, are no Jesse Ventura. You're probably not even as good as Jesse's son Tyrell, who's not even a wrestler and has never cut a promo that I know of. If this kind of stuff is the best you can come up with, stick to promoting and leave the working to those who know how, or at least can learn better than you have. At the very least, don't kill your own angle by having one of the "kids" come out in a Mets shirt. Make it an Indians shirt, since that's Lawler's favorite team and the one he'd presumably raise his "sons" to follow.

 

I wonder how the real Brian and Kevin felt about this angle. They may not have said anything, but they couldn't have been happy at being portrayed like this, particularly Brian, who was trying to make his way up the ladder as a performer. Remember, they may not have acknowledged him as Jerry's son on TV, but I'm guessing that most of the crowd knew it. It couldn't have made him feel good to be portrayed as physically weak and mentally retarded, and by a non-wrestler to boot.

 

I liked Dave directly warning the studio audience not to give the "kids" money. It may or may not have done any good, but it's nice to see an announcer taking an active, non-physical interest in an angle without killing it.

[ajtroma]

Sherri Martel did the same "sun tan" line to Corey when she popped in next year.

[dawho5]

I was wondering how much this would expose the whole Brian Christopher thing.  Second point of ridiculousness here is the ludicrous idea that Lawler would have kids in New York.  Somewhere in there Coraluzzo ends up referencing the whole Global belt deal too.  Either way, I was not impressed with Coraluzzo at all.

[xlynwoodx]

Coraluzzo returns to complain about Memphis and "Jeremy Lawler."  I didn't think the two kids were meant to resemble Lawler's real sons, using their names was just a sort of "easter egg" to those in the know.  But, I know very little about the history of Memphis wrestling so I could be way off base.

Lawler has this crowd in the palm of his hand.  He is so unconcerned about Coraluzzo and Mike Doggendorf, he's calling out other guys in the same promo.