The following press release was issued to Prowrestling.net on Wednesday to promote the “Dinner With The King” podcast.
On this week’s episode of ‘Dinner With The King’, hosts WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and Glenn Moore give insight about WWE’s usage of the Great Balls of Fire name.
Lawler explains how WWE and Jerry Lee Lewis, who owns the usage of Great Balls of Fire, worked out a deal (18:45 mark of show).
“My personal attorney here in Memphis is Joe Barton. Good friend of mine and my attorney. I got a phone call from Joe a few weeks ago, and Joe also represents Jerry Lee Lewis.
And Joe said, “Hey Jerry, do you happen to know who I would contact at the WWE about copyright infringement?”
I go, “What? What are you talking about?”
He goes, “Well, we understand they are doing a pay-per-view called Great Balls of Fire and Jerry Lee has that phrase trademarked. He has ever since they recorded the song.”
So, I put him in touch with the WWE people, gave him a name. Apparently he called them and got everything worked out. Not only are they using the name, they are using Jerry Lee’s song, which is awesome.”
Also during this episode, The King talks about Andy Kaufman’s death, Kaufman’s final appearance in Memphis, how The King became King, and much more.
You can listen to the whole show below:
Powell’s POV: So not only does the name feel silly and dated to many fans, the company obviously had to pay extra money to use the name and license the song.
Turn the autoplay off.
Seriously, kill the autoplay.