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'King Jerry Lawler' to open Beale bar and grill this spring

Posted: Mar 7th 2016 By: Michael Donahue

Make way for the King. "King Jerry Lawler's Hall of Fame Bar & Grille" is slated to open before May at 159 Beale.

A lifelong Memphian, Lawler, a professional wrestler and a Memphis booster, is an investor in the wrestling-themed establishment. "It's not a club," he said. "I think it's going to be more of a restaurant with entertainment than a bar."

His new place, formerly Flynn's Restaurant and Bar, is in "an awesome location" between B.B. King's Blues Club and A. Schwab department store, Lawler said. "It's the 50-yard line as far as Beale Street goes," he said.

Lawler spends a lot of time in Memphis, appearing at festivals and other events around town. He wants King Jerry Lawler's to be a "destination" for his in-town and out-of-town fans, Memphis Grizzlies players, players for the opposing teams and others.

Lawler is signed to WWE, where he serves as the color commentator on the "Main Event" and "SmackDown" broadcasts. His restaurant's hall of fame will focus on Memphis's wrestling history as well as the history of wrestling in general. Lawler, who has wrestled professionally for more than 45 years, has "so much wrestling memorabilia" housed in two storage units. "Not just my entire career, but my life."

Live music will include some blues, but Lawler wants an eclectic mix of music that will appeal to his fans. He plans to include "rockabilly, Elvis-type stuff, country, a little bit of everything. I want to bring Jimmy Hart back one night with the Gentrys and have them play. Larry Raspberry. Different people that made Memphis music famous."

The bar will include specialty drinks. "Name them after my moves ? the 'Pile Driver' or the 'Body Slam.' Or something like that."

Asked why he decided to open a place on Beale, Lawler said, "I'm a big fan of Beale Street and I always have been. I used to love to go hang out with my buddy, Silky Sullivan. Silky would set up a throne in front of (Silky O'Sullivan's). He would just sit there hours at a time. Thousands of people would come by. He was a great ambassador for Beale Street.

"Now with B.B. King dead and Silky dead, there's really no person to represent Beale. Hopefully, I'll be able to slide into that role. I plan to be there a lot. I'm not saying I'm going to be there 24-7 working the bar, but I'm going to be there."

The Beale Street bar/grill isn't Lawler's first venture into restaurant ownership. "We have to go way back to 1976, back when they had that first-ever food court ? Food Fair on Summer. I had the 'Slamburger' restaurant in there. It was mine and a friend of mine's, but we utilized my name."

He also utilized names of his pals. He sold "Banana Nose" hot dogs, which were named after former TV wrestling announcer Lance Russell. "It was a foot long ? like Lance's nose," Lawler joked.

King Jerry Lawler's "Slamburgers" lasted about a year and a half, Lawler said. Food Fair became an "after-school hangout. Someone put an arcade in there. The next thing there were fights in there."

In 2010, Lawler was in negotiations to open a wrestling-themed deli called "King Jerry Lawler's" at 109 North Main, but withdrew his name and likeness after a split over business differences with his business partner, Joe Cooper.

Lawler wants his new place, which also will house some of his own artwork, to open before the Memphis in May International Festival.

As for food, Lawler plans to revamp the current Flynn's menu. "Maybe downsize it a little bit and concentrate on maybe 10 really great dishes. Maybe do 10 things really well as opposed to having 30 things. One thing they don't have on the menu is steaks."

Will any item be named after Jerry Lawler? "I would like to have a specialty burger named after me. The 'Royal' something. I don't know. I think that would be my favorite. I'm a big burger guy. We might revive the name 'The Slamburger.'"