Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), he is better known as Jerry "The King" Lawler, is an American color commentator and professional wrestler. Lawler is the cousin of fellow professional wrestler The Honky Tonk Man. His son Brian, who wrestled in WWF/E under the names "Brian Christopher" and "Grandmaster Sexay".

Lawler was born in Memphis, Tennessee, where he graduated from Treadwell High School. While working in Memphis, Tennessee, as a disc jockey, Lawler's artistic ability attracted the attention of local wrestling promoter Aubrey Griffith.

The two made an agreement in which Lawler would give Griffith free publicity in exchange for free wrestling training. Lawler debuted as a wrestler in 1970, and won his first championship in September 1971 by winning a battle royal. He soon won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship under the managerial service of Sam Bass with partner Jim White. In 1974, Lawler began feuding with Jackie Fargo, who had been his trainer and mentor. This led to a match for the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. On July 24, 1974, Lawler won the belt and the title of "King of Wrestling."

During 1975, Lawler teamed with a variety of partners such as Mr Wrestling II, Don Greene, and Bob Orton, Jr. He won the NWA Macon Tag Team Championship twice during this period. While Lawler began his career as a heel, he became a face after splitting from Bass at the end of 1974.

In 1977, promoter Jerry Jarrett broke away from Nick Gulas' NWA Mid-America promotion and formed his own promotion, the Continental Wrestling Association. Lawler—Gulas' biggest star—opted to join Jarrett. The CWA quickly outperformed NWA Mid-America, which ultimately folded in 1981. Lawler was both a co-owner of the CWA and its top star. On November 12, 1979, while working in the CWA, Lawler defeated Superstar Billy Graham to become the CWA World Champion.

In 1982, Lawler began a notorious feud with comedian Andy Kaufman. At the time, Kaufman wrestled women as part of his skits and had declared himself the Intergender Heavyweight Champion. On April 5, Lawler, who had taken exception to the skits, wrestled Kaufman in Memphis. During the course of the match, Lawler delivered two piledrivers to Kaufman, the second after the bell rang, sending him to the hospital and nearly breaking his neck. On July 29, Lawler slapped Kaufman in the face on an episode of Late Night with David Letterman. Kaufman responded by shouting profanities and throwing his coffee at Lawler. In 1998, Lawler appeared as himself in the Kaufman biopic Man On The Moon; the film revealed that Lawler's feud with Kaufman had been staged. Lawler later claimed that not only was his entire feud with Kaufman staged, but also the two were actually very good friends. According to Lawler's autobiography, It's Good To Be The King... Sometimes, an incident involving Jim Carrey (star of Man On The Moon) forgetting a line led to animosity between the two actors during filming. Between scenes Jim Carrey often remained in character as Andy Kaufman and at one point spit on Jerry, just as Kaufman had done in 1982. A 'stunned' Lawler reacted by grabbing Carrey by the hair and locked him in a sleeper hold and jerking his neck— sending Carrey to the hospital.

In 1989, Lawler made his debut in the Memphis brand United States Wrestling Association, where he won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship 28 times from 1989 until its doors closed in 1997. Lawler dropped the USWA Unified World Heavyweight for the last time to Dutch Mantel on August 8, 1997, in an All Body Hair match. The promotion closed in November 1997.

Lawler began his WWF career in December 1992 as an announcer on Superstars. USWA began a working relationship with the WWF. He made his in-ring debut at the 1993 Royal Rumble when he participated in the namesake match, which was won by Yokozuna.

From 1993 to 1995, he feuded with Bret Hart and the rest of the Hart family. The feud began at King of the Ring when Lawler interrupted Hart's victory ceremony and attacked Bret. Lawler claimed that he was the only true king in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and the two were scheduled to wrestle at SummerSlam to settle the dispute. At the event, however, Lawler came to the ring on crutches and claimed that he could not wrestle because of injuries suffered in a car accident. Hart faced Lawler's "court jester", Doink The Clown instead, and beat him by submission. Lawler then attacked Hart, revealing that he was not injured. Hart defeated Lawler by submission but refused to release the Sharpshooter. As a result, the referee reversed the decision and awarded the title of "Undisputed King Of The World Wrestling Federation" to Lawler. The two would continue to work throughout the fall on the house show circuit, including in steel cages.

Lawler did not face Bret Hart at another pay-per-view until the first In Your House, when he beat Hart after Hakushi and his manager Shinja interfered. This set up a "Kiss My Foot" match at King Of The Ring 1995, which Bret won. As a result, Lawler was forced to kiss Bret's feet. The feud took one final turn when Lawler introduced his "dentist" Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.. After Hart defeated Yankem by disqualification the feud quickly disappeared.

In the fall of 1994, Lawler initiated a feud with Doink The Clown. Lawler popped the balloons carried by Doink's midget sidekick, Dink. After Doink and Dink retaliated, Lawler introduced a midget sidekick of his own, who he named Queasy. In the following weeks, Doink added two more sidekicks, Wink and Pink, while Lawler introduced Sleazy and Cheesy. This led to an elimination match at Survivor Series 1994, which Lawler's team won. After the match, however, Lawler's team turned on him, joining with Doink's team to attack Lawler.

By the fall of 1997, the WWF introduced a new "light-heavyweight division" to compete with World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s cruiserweight division. Lawler's son, Brian Christopher, was one of the major superstars in the division, although the WWF played up an angle where both Lawler and Christopher would deny their family relationship, even though the two would aid each other in matches and so on.

By 1998, Lawler rarely wrestled in the WWF and focused on commentary. Vince McMahon had turned heel in the WWF for the first time and left the announce position, to which Lawler began praising McMahon's name on commentary as part of his own heel persona, much to the chagrin of Jim Ross. It was McMahon's departure from the commentary team which led to the strong on-screen chemistry between Lawler and Ross in subsequent years. This played a key role in a change of Lawler's character; although he still supported the heels, he showed a sense of right and wrong, and would condemn actions of heels when they went too far.

He would turn face by 2000 (while wrestling). This began when Lawler surprisingly attacked Tazz when the latter started bullying Jim Ross. At SummerSlam, The King wrestled Tazz in defense of Ross. Lawler won the match. A feud with Tazz begun. At Unforgiven, he lost to Tazz in a Leather Strap match. In 2006 this feud would pick up again when Tazz insulted & criticized Jim Ross until Lawler came to Ross' defense. The feud concluded when Tazz and Lawler faced each other in a match at ECW One Night Stand, which Tazz won in only 30 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission after a distraction from Joey Styles.

With the creation of the XFL in 2001, Lawler was given the job as an announcer for the new football league. Lawler claims that he never wanted to announce for the XFL, but that he agreed to it after McMahon and Kevin Dunn asked him.

In February 2001, Lawler's then-wife Stacy "The Kat" Carter was involved in a storyline where Right To Censor (RTC), a group of wrestlers purportedly wanting to rein in the vulgarity of the "Attitude Era," during which she demanded equal time for the "right for nudity". RTC's leader Steven Richards offered a match with Lawler at No Way Out. If Lawler won, Kat got naked and if Richards won, Kat became RTC property. Richards won the match at No Way Out. The next night, Lawler teamed with the APA (Bradshaw and Faarooq) as they defeated Right to Censor members Bull Buchanan, The Goodfather and Val Venis on Raw. This would be Lawler's last WWF match. After No Way Out, The Kat was released by the WWF and Lawler quit the company in protest.

On November 19, 2001, after a nine-month hiatus from the company, Lawler returned to the WWF. He was reintroduced by Vince McMahon on Raw as the replacement for color commentator (and Alliance member) Paul Heyman, who had been (kayfabe) fired. As he had been before his departure, Lawler once again became color commentator on Raw and pay-per-view events alongside Jim Ross and SmackDown! with Michael Cole, until the brands were separated and Lawler became exclusive to Raw. Lawler stated that his well-worked chemistry with Jim Ross has been a result of their different styles; according to Lawler, Jim Ross is a fine storyteller and keeps fans well-versed with current storylines, whereas he provides reaction and emotion to liven the commentary.

In 2003, Raw's announce team of Lawler and Jim Ross feuded with Sunday Night Heat's team of Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow. At Unforgiven, Lawler and Ross lost a match against Coachman and Snow, thus losing their right to do commentary on Raw. In a rematch, however, Ross defeated Coachman, winning Lawler and Ross their position back.

In July 2006, Randy Orton began a feud with Hulk Hogan. Lawler attacked Orton in defense of Hogan, which set up a match between them on Raw. Orton defeated Lawler after a low blow and an RKO.

On March 31, 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

On the November 29 King Of The Ring Raw special, Lawler (who was celebrating his 61st birthday) challenged The Miz to a WWE Championship match. It was granted by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who made it a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and it was Lawler's first shot at the title. Miz retained the championship after interference by Cole and Alex Riley. Cole's interference caused tension between the two, but when Lawler threatened to attack Cole, the Anonymous Raw General Manager issued a "cease and desist" order, which barred any physicality between them.

Lawler continued to feud with The Miz, where on the December 20 Raw, Lawler teamed with Randy Orton and John Morrison to take on Miz, Riley and Sheamus in a 6-man tag match which Lawler won by pinning Miz. This led to a rematch between Miz and Lawler the following week, with Lawler once again getting the victory, this time by count-out after Morrison got involved. Lawler teamed with Orton again on the January 10, 2011 Raw, facing The Miz and Riley, which Lawler won by pinning Riley. Lawler won a 7-man Raw Rumble match on the January 31 Raw with help from John Cena to earn a WWE Championship match against The Miz at Elimination Chamber, where he was unsuccessful in winning the title, ending the feud.

The following night on Raw, Lawler, after having enough of Cole's attitude, which included the mocking of Lawler's mother's recent death, challenged him to a match at WrestleMania XXVII, which Cole accepted on the February 28 Raw and announced that he would be trained in the coming weeks by Jack Swagger for the upcoming match. Stone Cold Steve Austin was announced as the guest referee for the match the following week. On the March 14 Raw, Lawler was confronted by his son, Brian Lawler, who was invited to Raw to "expose" his father's character. Brian ranted about various problems he had with his father before slapping him and leaving. Cole continued to harass Lawler after Brian left, but was interrupted by a returning Jim Ross. Before JR could attack Cole, Swagger attacked Lawler from behind and then proceeded to attack and lock in the ankle lock on JR, while Cole harassed him. Lawler tried to stop the attack, but fell victim to the ankle lock as well.

At WrestleMania, Lawler initially won by submission, but the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision due to Stone Cold physically getting involved in the match by pushing Cole, making Cole the winner by disqualification. Lawler and Ross then faced Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules in a Country Whipping match, where they were defeated. Lawler challenged Cole to one last match at Over The Limit, even going as far as to putting his Hall Of Fame ring on the line and offered to personally induct Cole into the Hall of Fame itself. During the contract signing, Cole announced it would be a "Kiss My Foot" match. At the pay-per-view, Lawler defeated Cole. Afterwards, Ross, Eve Torres and Bret Hart helped Lawler by making Cole kiss his foot. Following the pay-per-view, Cole apologized to Lawler, ending the feud.

On the July 9 episode of Raw, Lawler went against Cole in a WrestleMania XXVII rematch, which he quickly won, but the anonymous Raw General Manager, who returned that night as the guest general manager, reversed the decision and Lawler lost to Cole by disqualification following interference by Booker T. Santino Marella came out to reveal that Hornswoggle was the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who was hiding underneath the ring.

On September 10, 2012, during Raw at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, not long after defeating Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a tag-team match with Randy Orton, Lawler legitimately collapsed at the announcers table while Kane and Daniel Bryan competed against Titus O'Neil and Darren Young. Cole continued to call that match alone, as well as the next match, before WWE (through Cole) announced the medical situation with Lawler.

At the end of the broadcast, it was announced that he had received CPR, but was breathing independently and reacting to stimulation. Doctors said that Lawler was clinically dead for almost 30 minutes. It was later confirmed on WWE.com that Lawler had suffered a heart attack. On September 11, he underwent an angioplasty to improve blood flow to his heart. On September 12, Lawler was reported to be slowly being eased off sedation, his ventilator removed. He was able to blink, nod, and squeeze with his hands, and that same day, the results of several CT scans showed no signs of brain damage. By September 17, Lawler had returned to his home in Memphis. During Lawler's hospital stay, it was determined that his heart attack was not caused by a blocked artery, but was instead an unexplained cardiac arrest. Lawler was soon medically cleared to continue wrestling.

On January 8, 2015, it was announced on WWE.com that Lawler would be a part of the SmackDown broadcast team as a color commentator along with Cole and Byron Saxton starting January 15, ending his 19-year run as a color commentator of Raw. On July 7, 2016, Lawler was taken off air and placed on the pre-show of both Raw and SmackDown as an analyst. On December 5, 2016, it was announced that Lawler would no longer be used on pre-shows and instead be kept for special events such as the Hall of Fame ceremony.

2017-most of 2019 Lawler wasn't use much. He would make appearances in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. He would also do larger events like the 2018 Royal Rumble, the fifth annual André The Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show, the special SmackDown Live 1000th episode, and the July 22, 2019, special episode of Raw called the Raw Reunion.

On March 21, 2018, Lawler suffered a stroke at his home in Memphis. He explained the incident on his podcast, which he revealed he couldn't speak for three days. He stayed in the hospital's ICU until he woke up three days later and regained his speech. The doctors said Lawler would make a full recovery. He was able to make all of his appearances during WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans and was cleared to wrestle.

On September 26, 2019, WWE announced as a part of their "WWE Premiere Week" that a new commentary team will be on Raw. Lawler would return to full-time commentary on Raw, as an analyst alongside Vic Joseph and Dio Maddin beginning on the September 30, 2019, edition of Raw. By January 2020, Lawler had outlasted both Joseph and Maddin, who were replaced by Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, respectively. Lawler was replaced by Samoa Joe on the April 27, 2020, episode of Raw.

Lawler has created some musical recordings. Among these are two late-1970s singles: "Cadillac Man/Memphis", and "Bad News". During his feud with manager Jimmy Hart (Lawler is a factor for "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart entering professional wrestling; Lawler wanted to record a wrestling album with him singing, and since they had gone to school together, he called Hart and asked him to be a part of it) in the mid-1980s, Hart became known as "The Wimp", a nickname given to him by Lawler and chanted by fans. Hart was the subject of the song "Wimpbusters", which was sung by Lawler to the tune of the popular hit "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr.. A music video was also made, featuring Lawler, legendary announcer Lance Russell, and wrestlers such as Randy Savage, along with footage of "The King" beating Hart and his "First Family." A very young Brian Christopher also made an appearance as a young child being bullied. He also recorded a CD titled Memphis' Other King.

Lawler had his own talk show called "The Jerry Lawler Show" on WMC-TV in Memphis during the 1980s.

Lawler is also a commercial artist, designing graphics for various companies, including WWE. In 2007, he painted the cover of the wrestling comic book Headlocked.

Lawler's son Brian was found hanging in the Hardeman County Jail on July 29, 2018, and was pronounced dead later that day.

Though he has spent most of his life in Memphis, Lawler did spend a part of his childhood in Ohio after his father was transferred to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant in Lorain, Ohio. From the ages of 7 to 15 his family resided in the city of Amherst, Ohio, a suburb near Cleveland. Although this stay was brief, it would have an influence on Lawler throughout his life thereafter. He often cites Cleveland as his second-favorite city behind only Memphis and is a die-hard fan of the Cleveland Indians, the Cleveland Browns, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. When WWE performs in Cleveland, Lawler will usually wear a Browns jersey or an Indians jersey.

This skin was made for me by Yondee.