Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
On Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 2:49 PM EST

PWInsider is reporting that at today's scheduled Memphis Wrestling press conference at the Fed Ex Forum, it was announced that the planned Hulk Hogan vs. Jerry Lawler match on April 27 is now off. Instead, Hogan will now face former WCW & WWE star Paul "Big Show" Wight in the main event.

Jerry Lawler stated at the press conference that he was called into the WWE offices this past Monday and asked if he was going to face Hulk Hogan in Memphis. When Lawler informed them that was the plan, he was told that was a big problem. Lawler was reportedly told that any NBC/Universal contracted talent (which WWE talent fall under) could not appear on VH1 (who Hogan is under contract to), so Lawler was forced to pull out of the match.

When Hulk Hogan spoke about the situation at the press conference, he noted that members of the Fed Ex Forum called WWE to make sure it was okay to run an event there. WWE officials had no problem with it since Jerry Lawler, Jimmy Hart and Cory Macklin were involved. That was until Hogan's name got involved. Hogan then stated that WWE officials then tried to get the Forum to cancel the show and were told no. Hogan said that WWE then offered to pay Cory Macklin's deposit back, plus interest, but were still turned down.

Hogan said he found it interesting that WWE forced Lawler out of the match, especially considering the whole "NBC/Universal talent can't appear on VH1" scenario when numerous WWE talent have appeared on Hogan's reality show before including footage from his match with Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. Hogan added that Memphis Wrestling would be giving the fans the match they were cheated out of for WrestleMania 23. Paul Wight (aka The Big Show) also spoke at the press conference, being introduced as Paul "The Great" Wight. He reportedly took a few shots at WWE, with one being that when he was referred to as "Big Show", he stated on the mic that he renounced his slave name when he left the company. Wight later stated he was happy to no longer be owned by anyone anymore (mainly Vince McMahon), that he has lost over 60 pounds and now does intense cardio training. When asked if he would ever be interested about going to TNA, Wight stated that Billy Gunn (Kip James) and Kurt Angle were close friends of his, but said he was leery of working with any established promotions right now because he doesn't want to be owned anymore.