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WWE drops Jerry Lawler from Raw, Smackdown commentary

By Matt Couden

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 24: Jerry 'The King' Lawler attends the C2E2 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place on April 24, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 24: Jerry 'The King' Lawler attends the C2E2 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place on April 24, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images) /
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Following the WWE Draft on Tuesday night, the WWE announced some changes to the Raw and Smackdown commentary teams, including moving Jerry Lawler off the television shows.

On Tuesday night, various men’s and women’s WWE superstars were placed on their Raw and Smackdown roster spots via an official WWE Draft shown on SmackDown Live and the WWE Network’s Draft Center show. The company then announced more breaking news: they were making changes to the commentary teams for their two shows as well.

The biggest change is that longtime commentary team member and fan favorite, Jerry “The King” Lawler, will now longer appear on either Raw or Smackdown. He’ll be replaced on Smackdown by John Bradshaw Layfield, aka “JBL,” who will join Mauro Ranallo and David Otunga. Lawler was a color commentator dating way back to 2001. Fans of the “Attitude Era” are likely to remember his various one-liners and call-outs, including “Puppies!” There was also the well-known, on-air heart attack incident that scared many viewers.

Lawler’s removal could be due to recent media attention he received for a domestic violence incident. All charges were dropped against him, and he returned to his on-air work with WWE after serving a suspension. It’s believed he may appear on the various WWE Network shows along with Renee Young, Booker T and Lita.

As for the Raw commentary team, sorry Michael Cole haters, he’ll still be running his mouth on Monday nights. However, he’ll be joined by Byron Saxton and emerging commentary star Corey Graves. Graves had to give up his performances in the ring a while back, but has really held his own while providing commentary on shows like NXT and the various pay-per-view panels on the WWE Network.

The commentary moves certainly look to establish the new feel of the new shows. The verdict is still out on which show will perform better, but many fans already feel Raw got the better superstars in the draft. It should be interesting to see which show emerges with the better commentary team moving forward.

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