Vince McMahon disagreed with his own father's decision not to allow major star to work for WWE (Exclusive)

Vince McMahon Jr. once told Jerry Lawler that he wanted to hire Andy Kaufman to work for WWE before he began wrestling in Memphis.

Kaufman made his name in the 1970s and early 1980s for his unique style of entertainment, which included a series of wrestling matches against women. When McMahon Sr. rejected his idea to join WWE, the entertainer called Lawler and began a memorable feud with him in Mid-Southern Wrestling.

Wrestling legend Dutch Mantell, an expert panelist in the Sportskeeda Wrestling Awards, spoke to Riju Dasgupta about McMahon’s reaction to the Kaufman vs. Lawler rivalry:

“He told Jerry Lawler on a plane one day, he said, ‘Damn you, Lawler, if you hadn’t have got Andy Kaufman when you did, I would have had him,’ because Andy Kaufman wanted to go to New York [WWE] first. He wanted to go to that old territory. That’s what he grew up watching.” [20:23-20:46]

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Vince McMahon Jr. would have enjoyed working with Andy Kaufman

While Vince McMahon Sr. viewed his product as professional wrestling, McMahon Jr. enjoyed the sports entertainment aspect of WWE more than wrestling. He even joked recently that his father would likely never have sold him the company in 1982 if he had known what it would become.

On reflection, Dutch Mantell believes McMahon Jr. was right to think that Andy Kaufman’s form of entertainment would be suited to WWE:

“The old man, Vince’s father, was still alive, and Vince’s father put the kibosh to it and didn’t bring him, and then he said [he could have kicked himself] every time he would see him on the [David] Letterman show or he would see something. Kaufman got eyeballs on the product and on Memphis, and it helped Lawler tremendously.” [20:47-21:08]

Mantell added that Kaufman, who passed away aged 35 in 1984, never cashed any of the checks he received from wrestling in Memphis. Jerry Lawler’s former rival made the appearances due to his love of wrestling and had no interest in earning extra money.

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