Jerry Lawler Reveals What The Rock And Nick Khan Talked About At Recent Dinner

With tonight's episode of "Tales from the Territories" focused on the feud between Jerry "The King" Lawler and comedian Andy Kaufman, younger fans unfamiliar with the storied Memphis rivalry between the two performers will have a chance to find out what makes the storyline so beloved in the eyes of those who were around to see it. Speaking on Sirius XM's "Busted Open Radio," Lawler revealed that the feud became the topic of conversation during a recent dinner between himself and two of the biggest figures in the industry.

"I had dinner with The Rock just the other night ... and Nick Khan," Lawler said. "That's all we were talking about, was the Andy Kaufman situation. And Rock said ... 'I would probably not even be a movie star today if that had not happened. Because that was the first thing that tied wrestling and entertainment together.'" After the rivalry between Lawler and Kaufman, the floodgates had opened, and the newly-in-charge Vince McMahon Jr. began bringing in Hollywood talent to work with the company, such as Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T.

With the way the world has changed since the days of Lawler vs. Kaufman, the Memphis legend does not believe that story could be recreated today. "That genie's out of the bottle," Lawler stated. "And I don't think something like that can even happen again." Lawler shared that Kaufman first went to Vince McMahon Sr. with the idea that he would wrestle women to get himself over as a villain, but the WWF owner turned him down. McMahon told Kaufman he was skeptical about putting the idea in the heads of fans that if an actor was involved, maybe wrestlers were all actors.

Lawler also spoke at length about Kaufman's stint in the business, including his love for wrestling, and how easy and fun he was to work with. "A lot of people in Hollywood thought it was career suicide, but Andy didn't care," Lawler recalled. "Because Andy didn't care about Hollywood. Andy really loved wrestling. He actually told me ... 'Man, I love this. I would give up everything I'm doing in Hollywood ... if I could just stay involved in wrestling.'"