Memphis Wrestling History: 1977

1977

1977 Highlights

01 Mar 1977 | goto
New NWA In Town
NWA Champ Harley Race successfully defended his world title against Rocky Johnson.

20 Mar 1977 | goto
Jarrett Splits From Gulas
Newspaper article about Jerry Jarrett quiting the Gulas promotion and opening up his own wrestling company.

20 Mar 1977 | goto
Jerry Jarret's First Memphis Card
This was the first card Jerry Jarrett promoted in Memphis after his split from Nick Gulas.

24 Apr 1977 | goto
Race Defends NWA Title Again
Harley Race came back to Memphis to successfully defend the world title against Rocky Johnson.

09 May 1977 | goto
Last Nick Gulas Card In Memphis
This was the last card Nick Gulas ran in Memphis. Loss of TV and his top stars caused the attendance to drop all the way down to 484 people on this card.

04 July 1977 | goto
Lawler-Dundee Feud Begins
Possibly the greatest set of matches to ever take place in Memphis started on this card. Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee went at it for the remainder of the summer and had amazing attendance numbers.

13 Sep 1977 | goto
Lawler Retires
After defeating Bill Dundee and shaving Beverly Dundee's head (per the stipulations), Jerry Lawler retired. Just as he said he would. This only lasted a few weeks...

19 Sep 1977 | goto
Handsome Jimmy Valiant Debuts
Jimmy Valiant debuted on this card and won the Southern title in a one night tournament (after Jerry Lawler vacated the belt upon his retirement.)

09 Oct 1977 | goto
King Returns
Jerry Lawler returned as a fan favorite to defeat the areas new top villian, Jimmy Valiant.

24 Oct 1977 | goto
Lawler & Dundee Team Up
For the first time ever, Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee teamed up. The duo would go on to be considered one of the area's top tag teams of all time.

11 Dec 1977 | goto
Lawler-Race Goto Draw
Jerry Lawler took world champ Harley Race to a 1 hour draw in his title match.

18 Dec 1977 | goto
Lawler-Race Rematch
In a 90 minute time limit, no dq rematch for the NWA World title, Race was delared the winner when Jimmy Valiant showed back up. Valiant ran into the ring and busted a coke bottle over the head of Lawler before stabbing him in the shoulder with the broken bottle.