User:The C of E/lvk

Lawler vs Kaufman was an American professional wrestling event run by the Continental Wrestling Association on 5 April 1982 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. The main event was a match between the AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler and the self-proclaimed "Intergender Wrestling Champion" actor Andy Kaufman. Kaufman won the match by disqualification after Lawler used a piledriver, a move that was banned in CWA, on Kaufman.

Background
Actor Andy Kaufman had been a fan of professional wrestling and in the 1970s, tried to get involved in it. Due to his lack of physical strength, he decided that he would only wrestle women, offering $1000 if any woman could pin him. Starting in 1977 to 1979, he wrestled up to 400 women being undefeated in all one-on-one contests, including one on a Saturday Night Live skit, which led to him calling himself the "Intergender Wrestling Champion of the World".

In 1980, he started contacting professional wrestling promoters around the United States about joining. When he contacted the World Wrestling Federation's owner Vince McMahon, Sr. in New York about wrestling women in the WWF, McMahon declined owing to wish to keep kayfabe but directed him towards the CWA in Memphis. Jerry Lawler was keen to bring Kaufman in.

In 1981, Kaufman appeared on Memphis wrestling television as a heel, insulting the crowd with condescending Southern stereotypes, making sexist comments and promoting his Hollywood origins. Kaufman wrestled four women, his final one against a lady named Foxy Brown whom took Kaufman down before getting pinned by him. After the match, Lawler entered the ring and volunteered to train her for a rematch. Kaufman won the rematch but started rubbing Brown's face into the mat leading to Lawler pushing Kaufman off her.

Main Event
The main event between Lawler and Kaufman started with Kaufman contintually slipping out of a ring to avoid Lawler and repeatedly taunted him with monkey gestures. After five minutes of this, Lawler left the ring and picked up a microphone and said to Kaufman: "Did you come down here to wrestle or act like an ass?". He then offered Kaufman a free headlock, which Kaufman took. After a few seconds, Lawler lifted up Kaufman and hit him with a back suplex. Following this, Lawler picked Kaufman up and gave him a piledriver, which was banned in Memphis, resulting in Lawler getting disqualified. Lawler then gave him a second piledriver after the bell had sounded. Kaufman remained on the floor keeping kayfabe, indicated he wanted an ambulance and said he would pay the $250 cost for it. Kaufman claimed he spent three days in hospital and his manager George Shapiro claimed: "Kaufman suffered cuts on the top of his head, strained neck muscles, and a compressed space between the fourth and fifth vertebra.

Lawler and Kaufman appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. Kaufman, wearing a neck brace, apologised for his wrestling antics and claiming he could have sued for injuries. Lawler later rose and slapped Kaufman out of his chair just before the commercial break. Kaufman responded after the break by swearing repeatedly at Lawler live on air and throwing Letterman's coffee at him.

Aftermath
In the following months, Kaufman would repeatedly show up at wrestling matches trying to get revenge on Lawler.

In 1999 during the filming of Man on the Moon, Jim Carrey who played Kaufman, would repeatedly harass Lawler during filming in character as Kaufman, reportedly unaware the feud was kayfabe. This included throwing glass bottles. During the filming of the wrestling match, Carrey repeatedly asked Lawler to give him the piledriver which Lawler refused to and told the director Milos Foreman who stopped filming for the day. In response Carrey spat in Lawler's face, with Lawler responding by locking him in a sleeper hold.