After a series of outstanding matches with TV
Champion Rob Van Dam that captivated fans of Extreme Championship Wrestling, Jerry Lynn
has started referring to himself as "The New F’N Show." After seeing
Lynn’s work in the ring and willingness to fight through serious injuries since
coming to the company, it is hard to dispute his claim.
The average fan can look at Jerry Lynn’s
ECW career and marvel at his physical toughness, but it’s only when you investigate
his past that one realizes things weren’t always so rosy for the wrestler who is now
at the top of his game.
At 5 feet 8 inches tall and 204 pounds, Lynn
was never the biggest guy in the ring. Unlike some wrestling stars, Lynn knew he was not
going to be able to rely on sheer size and strength to win matches. He would have to hone
his wrestling skills to stake out a place in the business. Working on wrestling skills
should seem obvious, but it’s actually something many others in the business
don’t seem to focus on very often.
Lynn learned all that he could from the people
around him during his early years working for independent promotions. He studied
videotapes of other wrestlers to see what they did and often added unique twists to their
moves, while also perfecting many of his own moves.
Lynn prided himself on being a creative
performer and striving to have the best match on the show. But as most people already
know, being a fantastic wrestler doesn’t matter much if you don’t have a
promotion for which to ply your trade.
An 11-yer veteran, Lynn paid his dues working
in practically every promotion in the United States and for a brief time in Japan from
1988 to 1995. He wrestled in the Memphis territory and was even on the first-ever set of
TV tapings for the now-defunct Smoky Mountain Wrestling company. Lynn also worked a few TV
shots for the World Wrestling Federation, but he was never offered a contract.
Lynn continued to develop a name for himself
as a high flyer on the independent circuit, especially in his native Minnesota, and kept
looking for the opportunity to showcase his talent on the national stage. Ultimately,
World championship Wrestling took notice.
Lynn pitched an idea to WCW for a takeoff on
the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a gimmick that he had been working on. Lynn thought WCW
was looking for a character like that and would push it. It sounded like the perfect
opportunity, and he signed with WCW in late 1995.
What appeared to be his big break, however,
turned into a nightmare for Lynn when WCW saddled him with the name "Mr. JL"
before his first match. He found no push and no spotlight on his wrestling ability.
Besides being just another one of many guys in the company, it was also clear to Lynn that
he was not going to be allowed to show anybody up by doing the kind of moves that got him
noticed.
After Lynn’s run in WCW, he became jaded
toward the wrestling business. He even considered getting out of the business entirely and
going into stunt work. He had done a movie in 1992 with Sean "X-Pac" Waltman
called "Crossing The Bridge" for which they orchestrated the fight scenes.
Lynn said, "You can ask a lot of the guys
who wrestled for WCW. They just drain you of any and all motivation. (They) just take the
heart right out of your work. I didn’t want to wrestle after being there. I was ready
to quit wrestling altogether."
So, what made Lynn decide to come to ECW
despite his growing disdain for the business? Lynn recalled a conversation he had in 1997
with ECW promoter Paul E. Heyman around the time the offer was made for him to work for
the company.
"In WCW, I was bitched at for having
‘too-good’ matches with certain people. I knew my place at the time. I was there
to make everyone else look good," Lynn said. "Paul E. doesn’t do that. You
can go out to the ring and basically do whatever you want to. He let me wrestle like the
old Jerry Lynn. I could just go out there and do what I liked to do. Paul E. said when he
hired me, "I want you to go out there and steal the show.’"
This was clearly the situation Lynn had been
looking for. In ECW, his work was what mattered. He made his ECW debut in Waltham, Mass.,
on September 5, 1997, in a match against Chris Candido. Then after only two weeks in the
company, Lynn faced Justin Credible at the "As Good As It Gets" show on Sept. 20
at ECW Arena. Lynn lost the match to a man who would later become one of his most
accomplished foes. Ultimately, Credible was the guy against whom Lynn would hit his stride
in ECW.
Lynn’s early ECW days saw him paired with
veteran Tommy Rogers in a feud with the tag team of Candido and Lance Storm. Some of the
matches started with Candido wrestling Rogers, and when Storm interfered, Lynn would come
out and even up the sides by teaming with Rogers. Mixed in with this feud were tag bouts
against the Full Blooded Italians, whom Lynn and Chris Chetti defeated at the Living
Dangerously pay-per-view event on March 1, 1998.
Nevertheless, while he was getting more of a
push than he ever did in WCW, Lynn had yet to break through the way he wanted. This was
mostly because of restrictions he had placed on himself, due in part to his experience
being held back in WCW. In Atlanta, he had to deal with the politics involved in working
for a huge company and co-existing with some big egos. Being new to ECW, Lynn wasn’t
sure if things were the same there. In WCW, if he wrestled to his potential, he heard
about it when he got to the back because some of the big names felt they were being shown
up by "a kid." This trepidation carried over to Lynn’s early tenure in ECW.
Then, on May 16, 1998, everything changed for
Lynn at the "Matter Of Respect" show, during which he had a
two-out-of-three-falls match with Justin Credible.
"I told myself, ‘I’m not going
to ask permission to do anything,’" Lynn said. "I’m not going to be
afraid to step on anyone’s toes. I went out there and tore it up, and that is when
everything started to change."
Indeed it did. Even though Lynn lost the match
in the third fall, he was the winner than night because he opened everyone’s eyes by
wrestling the match that everyone in the company wanted him to have. He was finally
wrestling as "the old Jerry Lynn" again. The events of that weekend, which
included him beating Credible on the May 14, 1998, "It Ain’t Seinfeld" show
in Queens, N.Y., put Lynn well on his way to being one of the top stars in ECW.
Lynn’s feud with Credible continued
throughout the summer. He beat Credible on June 6, 1998, at ECW Arena in an "I
Quit" match and then finally lost to Credible at the Aug. 2 Heat Wave PPV Winning or
losing was not really the issue, of course. More important was that Lynn was having
exciting, challenging matches every night.
The late summer saw Lynn feuding with Mikey
Whipwreck. Lynn continued to have great matches, and more people noticed. Lynn’s
aggressive style also caused him to suffer some injuries at the end of 1998, including a
fractured pelvis, twisted ankle and a badly hurt set of ribs.
True to his nature, Lynn wanted to continue
wrestling, through the injuries, but Heyman forced him to take some time off to heal. He
missed the January 1999 Guilty As Charged PPV, but was back on pay television on March 21,
losing a hotly contested match for the TV title against Rob Van Dam, a match that wen to
overtime after ending in a time limit draw. It was fantastic match that firmly established
Lynn’s position in the company, and almost immediately the rematch was signed for the
Hardcore Heaven show in May (you can find extensive coverage of this match in the
pay-per-view section of this issue beginning on page 56).
Before Lynn actually made it to the match with
Van Dam, Credible came back into the picture and challenged him for his PPV shot at the TV
title. Lynn beat his old foe on April 30, 1999, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to retain the
shot.
The record book shows that Jerry Lynn lost to
Rob Van Dam on May 16, 1999, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but that tells only part of the story.
The reality of the situation, however, was obvious after the match, when Van Dam
high-fived Lynn, demonstrating a mutual respect.
Lynn is still not completely satisfied with
his spot in ECW. After all, he would not have gotten to where he is today if he was
willing to settle. He wants to take on all of ECW’s top dogs, and he undoubtedly will
get his shot.
ECW commentator Joey Styles said,
"Everyone seems to have their best matches with Jerry Lynn. Rob Van Dam’s best
matches, and in my opinion, the best matches of his career, were against Jerry Lynn at
Living Dangerously 1999 and Hardcore heaven 1999."
It’s clear that, unlike other wrestling
promotions, ECW realizes the potential superstar it has on its roster and won’t let
Lynn get away.
