Jerry Lawler Has Some Questions About Brian Christopher’s Death

There’s no easy way to talk about this. Nine days ago, Brian Christopher Lawler died while in a Memphis, Tennessee jail. The death was ruled as a suicide as Lawler allegedly hung himself in his cell. Lawler is the son of Jerry Lawler, who is a very well known figure in the sport of professional wrestling. Since Brian’s passing, Jerry has stated that he doesn’t believe the facts of the case as they are being presented, including on his own podcast.

On a recent edition of his My Dinner With The King podcast, Jerry talked about what had happened and how he doesn’t accept the official story of his son committing suicide. Jerry goes into a recap of what happened and how he was in Raleigh, North Carolina when he heard about Brian. He also goes into some details about what he believes happened, though he can only go so far as the death is still under an official investigation. Here are some highlights, with transcription courtesy of Wrestlinginc.com:

On His Reaction To Hearing The News

“I never dreamed it in a million years to get the phone call that I got last week. It was just devastating and then all of the events after that have almost been a blur. You’re suddenly living a nightmare.”

On What He Told Brian At The Hospital

“What you saw with Brian was what you got. Going back to what caused all of this or why Brian was in the situation he was in. You know, Brian made some bad decisions in his life. It’s one of the things I was trying to say to him when he was in [the hospital], I said, ‘Brian you have made some bad decisions, but this is your worst if you really made the decision to take your life.’”

On What Was Going To Happen Before Brian’s Suicide

“Brian was at the point where he needed help and I think he realized it. But, you know there’s some things that went on while Brian was in jail and then he basically was going to have a mandatory — it was his third DUI — and in Tennessee, I believe that’s a mandatory ninety-days in jail. We spoke with the Sheriff and this is the crazy thing, he said, ‘this is going to be the best thing for Brian. He needs help, we’re going to get him some help. We’ll get him into a rehab program from here.’ He said, ‘Jerry, my jail is going to be the best place for Brian for the next few weeks.’ He said, ‘I’ll personally keep an eye on him and he’ll be safe here,’ and then this is what’s happened.”

And One What He Thinks Happened

“I have doubts as to whether Brian really did actually commit suicide. The Tennessee Bureau Of Investigation is working on investigating what happened at the jail. I don’t have any results from that yet, but I have my doubts as well.

“We’ve been contacted by inmates who were in the jail with Brian and they don’t believe what was told was actually what happened. We’ve been contacted by another person who witnessed… I probably shouldn’t say any more because this investigation is ongoing and it may take a long time to get sorted out.

“I don’t want to believe that Brian committed suicide but by the same token, if there is something else involved, I don’t know if it will bring Brian back, I don’t know if it will make it better or worse. We just want to know what actually happened because right now there’s a lot of doubt and a lot of questions that are going to have to be answered in the next few months.”

Christopher could do more than talk.

Flash Flanagan vs Brian Christopher: Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinals - Raw, Nov. 24, 1999

Opinion: I’m not going to try to comment on what Lawler may be thinking here as I’ve never been in that situation and hopefully I never will be. I can understand the idea that Lawler may not want to accept what happened because it’s his son and this all happened less than two weeks ago. Maybe he’s still in shock or maybe he knows something we don’t know. Either way, I’m not about to question what he’s saying or doing right now as I just hope that he makes it through this.

What is your favorite Brian Lawler match? How good were he and Jerry together on screen? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 28 wrestling books. His latest book is the the Complete 2003 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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