RWR Power Pro Wrestling Podcast Ep. 14: (7/18/98) "The Owner, Founder, & President"

On Episode #14 of the Retro Wrestling Re-View Power Pro Wrestling Podcast, Gene Jackson, Robb Helt, and Brian Tramel head back to July 18, 1998, for the final TV push before “Malice in the Palace” at the Mid-South Coliseum. Power Pro is only a few months old, but this episode feels like the promotion has found its main identity, Memphis’ answer to Austin vs. McMahon……Lawler vs. Hales! The heart of this episode is the Jerry Lawler vs. Randy Hales angle. Randy has gone from the happy “aw-shucks” promoter on the first episode trying to bring back “Memphis Wrestling for the fans” into a full blown 1998 “heel authority figure”, and this week is the moment where that identity really locks in. He is smug, he is awkward, he is personal, and he seems to be loving the heat. Lawler, meanwhile, gives the whole thing the classic Memphis twist by showing up “injured”, selling the attack, then revealing it was all a trap.The backstage footage from Raw is a big part of what makes the angle feel different. Power Pro is still a local Memphis show, but using Jim Cornette, Monday Night Raw, and the “Giant King” attack gives the feud a bigger world feeling. Gene, Rob, and BT all point out that the Giant King may be limited, but the presentation made the upcoming match feel more important than it probably had any right to feel.Another major highlight is The Rock’s promo for his upcoming Intercontinental Title match with Brian Christopher. He is still introduced as Rocky Maivia, but the personality is already shifting into The Rock. Gene, Rob, and BT spend time talking about how far he had come from his Flex Kavana days and whether Memphis should have acknowledged that history or treated Power Pro as its own separate world.There is also plenty of classic Memphis weirdness: Brandon Baxter suddenly being okay with Randy Hales because you know, “rasslin logic”, Heinrich Franz Keller sounding like a bad German villain from Austin Powers movie, Streak painting stripes on people, Dundee getting flattened by Koko, and Randy Hales ending up on the hood of a car in his underwear while everyone at the Pizza Hut across the street looks on in horror (seriously, watch til the end).Episode #14 is the true Malice in the Palace “go home” show. It may not all make sense, and some of it is absolutely “ridiculous”, but by the end of the hour, you know the big matches, you know the major feuds, and you know Jerry Lawler wants Randy Hales and the Giant King to pay.Memphis wrestling may have changed in 1998, but this episode proves one thing had not changed at all:When it was time to sell a Coliseum show, they were still willing to get really ****ing weird to do it. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★