It seemed to happen silently, but WWE Hall of Fame legend Jerry Lawler has been completely removed from the WWE television product. He was the color commentator on Monday Night Raw for years before moving to SmackDown Live . He then moved to the pre-show panels and has been absent from them for awhile now.
411mania reached out to the WWE for clarification on the status of Jerry Lawler and learned that “The King” is, in fact, no longer a part of the WWE on-air product, although he is still with the company in other capacities.
“Jerry Lawler has a Legends agreement with WWE, however, he will no longer regularly appear on our pre-shows. He will continue to host special events, including WWE’s annual Hall of Fame celebration at WrestleMania.”
There are three-man announcing teams for Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live . Raw has the team of Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves. Meanwhile, SmackDown Live has Mauro Ranallo, JBL, and David Otunga. NXT has Corey Graves and Tom Phillips as the main announcers. 205 Live has Mauro Ranallo and Corey Graves calling the action.
Jerry Lawler is also no longer on the pre-shows for events. At this past weekend’s Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV, Booker T, Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg (ESPN), and Daniel Bryan were on the pre-show panel. Survivor Series saw Renee Young, Booker T, Lita, and Jerry Lawler as the pre-show hosts. It appears that this will be the last time to see The King on TV for some time.
He’s the face of Memphis wrestling..influenced the careers of wrestling’s biggest stars & entertained millions. Happy birthday @JerryLawler pic.twitter.com/9XHndnpgxr
— Brandon Baxter (In The Morning) (@BrandonOnBBiTM) November 29, 2016
Jerry Lawler recently got into some trouble when he and his girlfriend were both arrested early in 2016 on domestic abuse charges. As the Inquisitr previously reported, the WWE suspended Lawler for the incident, but when all the criminal charges were dropped for both parties, the WWE reinstated Lawler to their roster.
There is no word on why Jerry Lawler has been removed from television. He is 67 and might just want to start to spend more time away from the WWE, much like Jim Ross did when he left commentating.
Jerry Lawler started out his career in Memphis, where he remains a legend to this day. Starting his career in 1970, Lawler became the most successful wrestler to ever compete in the Memphis territories. He held the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship 35 times, likely because he booked the promotion and kept himself on top. He held a total of 45 titles in that territory.
Jerry Lawler also won the AWA world title and combined it with the WCCW world title as well.
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Jerry Lawler finally made his way to the WWE in 1992, and ironically enough, never won a single title of any kind in the WWE. During his wrestling days in the WWE, Lawler feuded with Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
Jerry Lawler also took part in a feud with Vince McMahon as a cross-promotional USWA vs. WWE feud. He also was part of the infamous WWE vs. ECW feud where Jerry Lawler would appear at ECW events, insulting the wrestlers and fans, and ECW wrestlers would invade Raw .
However, the biggest contribution that Jerry Lawler made to the WWE was as a commentator. He started this in 1998 and served as a commentator alongside Vince McMahon. When McMahon left the announcers table, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler became one of the most iconic hosts in Monday Night Raw history.
[Featured Image by WWE ]