Jerry Lawler discusses creating the Kamala gimmick

Jerry Lawler has opened up on the process behind creating the Kamala "The Ugandan Giant" gimmick during the 1980s.

WWE legend Kamala passed away age 70 years old earlier this week after suffering a cardiac arrest due to COVID-19 complications. WWE also aired a tribute package to the WWE legend during the opening of RAW this week.

Speaking on the Busted Open podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler went into detail about Kamala being based on Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and allegations of cannibalism:

"So, here's the one thing a lot of people didn't even, at least today, realized how this whole gimmick for James came about, at that particular time, you're always looking for something that topical, something that's going on in the world today. At that particular time, the president of the country of Uganda, over in Africa, was a guy named Idi Amin. Does anybody remember that name? Idi Amin was the actual president of Uganda, and he was an admitted cannibal. I mean he had in the past been a cannibal, and he's elected president of Uganda. And it was just like the natural pick to kind of capitalize on this story that was in the news." (h/t to Wrestling Inc.)

WWE is saddened to learn that James Harris, known to WWE fans as Kamala, has passed away at age 70.https://t.co/d0kGY4GcTO

— WWE (@WWE) August 10, 2020

Jerry Lawler would then go into further detail about how he pitched the character and gimmick of Kamala to the booker of the Continental Wrestling Association, Jerry Jarrett:

"So, never forget. Got to Nashville and Jerry Jarrett had in his office, two things hanging in his wall. Jerry was a big hunter, and he had guns and deer heads and animal heads and taxidermy stuff hanging all over his office, and two things he had hanging there was this big African mask and a big African shield. And so I had seen this picture. I was also a fan of this artist named Frank Frazetta, and he did all of these fantastic covers of the paintings of these covers. And I remembered this painting that he did on a cover of a magazine where this girl was tied up, and she's about to get burnt at the stake by a bunch of Natives. And they were all dressed with spears and the masks and that sort of things, and then there was this guy that was trying to save her and he was at this gun shooting and everything." (h/t to Wrestling Inc.)

Jerry Lawler on creating Kamala vignettes

After pitching the Kamala gimmick to Jerry Jarrett, The King would then recall how Jarrett, Lawler and Kamala worked on the initial vignettes of The Ugandan Giant in the Continental Wrestling Association:

"So, I found that picture, and so I took the makeup off of one of those Natives in that picture. And I painted Kamala's face with just white acrylic paint. I painted Kamala's face to look like that native in that picture that I've seen, and we put this loincloth around him like a leopard looking loincloth thing around him. We went out back to Jerry's house. He had a 100-acre ranch-like house, and he had a big pond back there. We went out there." (h/t to Wrestling Inc.)

Just been told that Kamala has passed away. pic.twitter.com/oBGnezmujn

— Jerry Lawler (@JerryLawler) August 9, 2020

"We got some dry ice, threw some dry ice out into the pond. Also, this smoke starts coming up, and we told James, 'we want you to walk out maybe 20 yards or 20 feet into the pond, then turn around and just look at the camera and start walking towards the camera.' And so that's how we made this video of James, and I also looked into the National Geographic magazine and the country of Uganda. And there's a city there named Kamala. So that's how we came up with the name Kamala, The Ugandan Giant. And so you know we made that video that day." (h/t to Wrestling Inc.)

What are your favorite memories and matches involving Kamala in professional wrestling?