Though retired from full-time wrestling for a few years now, the "Outlaw" and his wrestling antics are easily remembered. Any true-tried wrestling fan in
Alabama
,
Louisiana
, North or
South Carolina
,
Tennessee
,
Georgia
and especially in
Florida
will remember J.R. James.
Not considered a "fan" favorite because of his rule breaking ways, the "Outlaw" was able to capture the IPWA World Heavyweight Championship on three different occasions, as well as several other "World Championships" from many different territorial promotions throughout his 18 plus years of competing.
According to James, the most coveted of his title reigns were of course the three (3) Worlds Heavyweight Championships, but also the five (5) World Heavyweight Tag-Team Championships he held with four different partners, a feat to date that has not been matched.
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The Begining of the End.....
In Early 1999, the Outlaw begun a feud with a new "part-time" wrestler in the State of Florida, Harry Venus. Venus had just been elected as the "real life" Mayor of the town of Davie, Florida, and brought an impressive amatuer background in wrestling with him when joining the IPWA. J.R. did not feel there was any room in wrestling for politicians, so he set out to end Harry's career as quickly as he could.
They battled for a couple of years throughout the State of Florida. Then in August of 2001, after feuding for quite some time with the Mayor, the two grapplers decided to hook it up one final time in the squared circle, but under special conditions and stipulations.
If Mayor Venus were to loose this “no disqualification match”, then he would have to give up the Mayor’s seat of power to the “Outlaw” for the rest of his term of office. The city of
Davie
had so much confidence in their Mayor that the City Commissioners passed several provisionary ordinances that would have allowed the transfer of power to James if he was victorious. The Florida State Elections Division reviewed the city’s ordinances to make sure they were within constitutional by-laws for the state, and allowed the match to go on. On the flip side, the Mayor demanded that if J.R. lost, he would have to retire permanently from pro-wrestling.
The hype-up of the match was quite intense, with press outlets from as far away as
London
and
Paris
sending correspondents to interview the combatants and cover the match itself.
A week before the big match-up, both the Mayor and the Outlaw were in a TV studio in
Miami
to sign the contract stipulations for the match. Shown live on several local TV stations and beamed across the
Atlantic Ocean
to
England
and
France
, the Outlaw allegedly attacked Mayor Venus after signing the contracts. Some witness’ say it was Venus who threw the first punch, but all agreed this feud had come to a point where tempers took over, and both men went at it with reckless abandonment, destroying most of the studio in the melee. Local law enforcement officials had to be called in, and when everything was said and done, James was arrested for resisting arrest and the Mayor was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for a possible crushed larynx. The scene transmitted to thousands of homes showed the Outlaw finally getting the best of the Mayor by slamming his head into a studio camera, and then proceeded to choke out the Mayor with a 1 inch studio camera cable. The viciousness and force of the choke caused the Mayor to begin to bleed and froth from the mouth, and then he passed out.
The following day, at an impromptu press conference held upon his release from the hospital, the Mayor was unable to speak aloud, but wrote down on a pad of paper what his thoughts were. No, he would not press assault charges against the Outlaw. He simply wrote he would settle this score once and for all in the ring the following Saturday.
Well, that next Saturday came, and Physicians had warned the Mayor that he should not go through with the match, fearing he might cause additional, permenent damage to his throat. The Mayor would hear nothing of it, and in front of over 5,300 frenzied fans at the Davie Rodeo Arena, most of which cheering him on, the Mayor held up the dignity of his office as well as sparing the city of
Davie
of having an "Outlaw" for a Mayor.
It was a hard fought battle, with the “No DQ” match lasting almost an hour, with favor going back and forth several times . And then, after a grievous mistake on James’ part, Venus was able to capitalize on that mistake by taking the big Outlaw down, and with the referee in position, Venus covered James for the pin and secured the three count. Easy come, easy go. The Outlaw was sent into "forced" retirement.
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