ABSTRACT
On a Saturday morning in April 1981, a visibly agitated Terry Funk appeared at the WMCT Channel 5 studios to deliver a message to announcer Lance Russell and the people of Memphis about their hometown hero, Jerry Lawler:
I have got a date. I have got a time. And I have got a place. This is a personal invitation – sealed right here – to Jerry Lawler to ask him to meet me by himself with nobody else involved at an area that I know, he knows, and you will know. And I want you to bring the camera down there, but I don’t want a referee, I don’t want the police, I don’t want the fans, I don’t want money for this. [. . .] I want to see if he’s got the guts to come down there! The guts ... like I don’t think a lot of people have around here, and I’m talking about the fans, Lance. I’m talking about you!
