This was the menu. View our food choices.

Valentine's Day is one of my least favorite holidays. I can't help but feel like jewelry and greeting card companies got together to create a holiday specifically to remind me of my perpetual singleness. But this year was different. This year, I had a Valentine. And not just any ol' Valentine -- the WWF's own Jerry "King" Lawler.

I'm not too sure how I ended up eating lunch with Jerry Lawler at the fabulous WWF New York restaurant. At some point I was in the WWF store and slipped an entry form into a box for some contest that I think had something to do with Jerry Lawler... or Valentine's Day. Needless to say I was completely surprised when a friendly representative from WWF New York called to inform me that I'd be having lunch with Jerry Lawler on Valentine's Day.

I arrived at the WWF New York restaurant not knowing what to expect. Would this be a simple photo op, or would we actually be eating real food with Jerry Lawler? I sat for about an hour with the other winners, 5 men and 3 other women, waiting for our "dates" to arrive. The women would be eating with Jerry, and the men would be eating with Terri, one of the surgically enhanced WWF Divas. Eventually we were seated in a festively decorated section of the store, right in front of huge picture windows looking out on Times Square. The superstars made grand entrances, with theme music and everything.

	Top: Meredith with her Valentine, Jerry Lawler. Middle: Meredith with WWF Diva Terri. Bottom: Jerry at the table.

Jerry sat with us at the women's table and started making conversation. The other winners seemed a bit overwhelmed as he talked about his admiration for Superman, so I decided to loosen things up by asking him,"Have you seen the new Superman show on the WB?" Without missing a beat he answered, "Smallville? Yeah, it's pretty good." I knew then that it was going to be a fun lunch. We ordered from the menu. Jerry had "the little salad" with ranch dressing, the chicken vegetable soup, the New York strip steak (medium) and a diet Coke.

While we ate our surprisingly good food, Jerry and I talked about WWF collectibles (Jerry thinks XFL merchandise will become valuable), gossip about other WWF superstars, his upcoming appearance on The Weakest Link (he voted Kane off in every round), catering at various venues (Milwaukee's is the best) and what he bought his mother for Valentine's Day (pink pajamas and a robe). I think the other winners might have spoken up once or twice, but I had about 7 glasses of soda and the caffeine made me very chatty. During the meal, the camera crew took each of us aside to ask us a few questions. I told them that I was a big fan of Jerry's and that I "liked his crowns."

After we ate we took some pictures of Jerry and he took some pictures of us with his really nice digital camera. We also got to talk to Terri and the male winners, one of whom was hitting on Terri's mother all afternoon. Terri was also celebrating her daughter's birthday, so the WWF New York staff brought out a huge cake decorated with plastic horses, that one of my fellow winners sampled and described as "mousse-y." Jerry and Terri signed autographs for us, and then Jerry had to catch a plane back to Memphis so the lunch was over. As he left he gave me a hug and I thanked him for being my Valentine.

	Jerry takes a picture of one of the other winner's tattooed "puppies."

Though I was a little nervous at the beginning of the afternoon, I had a great time. Jerry was very nice and answered all my questions, even the ones that came completely out of left field (I asked him about SMALLVILLE, remember). He has impeccable manners and was very nice to all the random fans who stopped by the store while we were eating. Someday I may have another Valentine, but he'll have a hard time filling the royal shoes of Jerry "King" Lawler.
--Meredith Riley
2/14/02