Jerry Lawler's Son In ECW In 1993
In 1993, Kevin Gilbert appeared in Eastern Championship Wrestling a few times. He served as a referee, especially during matches with Eddie Gilbert. Kevin's real name is Kevin Lawler and he is the son of Jerry Lawler, who later appeared in ECW (then called Extreme Championship Wrestling) in 1997 as an antagonist of ECW coming from then-WWF (now WWE).
Kevin later was repackaged briefly as "Freddie Gilbert", the storyline brother of Eddie Gilbert. This was late in Eddie's tenure as booker for ECW, and Kevin left at the same time Eddie did in September 1993.
The above video, starting around the 8:40 mark, shows Kevin getting involved as a the backup referee in the chain match between Eddie Gilbert and Terry Funk at ECW's Summer Sizzle Spectacular event in June 1993. The end of the video shows Eddie celebrating with Kevin (as the referee) to crown Eddie as the "King of Philadelphia" - a gimmick which was featured in several segments on ECW Hardcore TV during the Spring and early Summer of 1993 with Eddie, Paul E. Dangerously, TV announcer Jay Sulli, Tod Gordon, and random people from various locations across Philadelphia.
This article with quotes from Kevin Christian/Freddie Gilbert (Kevin Lawler) goes into detail about his experiences with Eddie Gilbert and ECW:
Here is his page from IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4940838/
Here is extra confirmation about Kevin's time in ECW: https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/eddie-gilbert-ecw-paul-heyman/
I didn’t know much about Kevin Lawler’s time in ECW before. It’s cool how he was connected to some key storylines back then, a nice look back at that era of wrestling.
Thanks! I remembered his changing his name to "Freddie Gilbert" toward the end of his time there; but I didn't know his last name before researching earlier today.
Great write up, I love these kinds of wrestling facts from the early 90s. Kevin Lawler’s role was small but still important.
Thank you! ECW had so many hidden gems, especially in the lesser-known eras such as the "Eastern" era (1992-mid 1994) and the final months of the company after the TNN shows ended (Fall 2000 through January 2001).
If you have any questions or ECW topics you would like me to explore then please let me know.