Jerry Lawler has set a record in wrestling that may never be broken.
The WWE Hall of Famer competed in a match at an independent show in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on January 21st 2023. Lawler’s participation at the event means that the former Raw announcer has now competed in at least one match every year for 53 straight years.
Jerry Lawler Has Wrestled Every Year Since 1970
The match that extended the streak by another year took place at the AML Wrestling event Acts Of War 2. In the 4th match on the show, Lawler would defeat The Beer City Bruiser in a singles match.
The impressive milestone was noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, where the achievement was described as potentially being “unprecedented in history.” The report goes on to mention how impressive the milestone is considering that The King suffered a near fatal heart attack during an episode of Raw back in 2012.
The King’s final match in WWE took place in September 2012. Lawler would team with Randy Orton to defeat the team of CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. It was shortly after this match that the Hall of Famer would suffer the aforementioned cardiac arrest.
The over 50 year streak far eclipses the streak set by John Cena, which was frequently praised and referenced by the company. Cena has wrestled at least one match every year from 2002 to 2022. However, this streak only recognises matches that have taken place in WWE, not counting any rookie matches Cena had prior to the famous debut match against Kurt Angle on SmackDown in 2002.
Jerry “The King” Lawler still makes frequent appearances on WWE programming. Most recently, Lawler would take a seat behind the announcers table one more time during the Raw 30 celebration show. The WWE Hall of Famer provided guest commentary for the 6 man tag team match that saw the team of Seth Rollins and The Street Profits defeat Imperium.