WWE Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler revealed on the latest episode of his “Jerry Lawler Show” podcast that he will be returning to the announce table for Monday’s RAW at the empty WWE Performance Center in Orlando.
Lawler stated that he will be going back to the Performance Center on Monday for the next RAW that airs on the USA Network. WWE is reportedly taping WWE NXT, SmackDown and RAW episodes beginning this week, through late next week, but there’s no word yet on if they plan to air Monday’s show live, or on a tape delay.
“I’m excited about it,” Lawler said about his return. “I don’t like to sit home and watch RAW and not hear The King on there somewhere.”
Lawler also talked about missing WrestleMania 36 but watching Night One and Night Two from home. Lawler said he watched every bit of WrestleMania 36 on TV at home, and said as he watched it, he just thought about how he couldn’t believe he wasn’t a part of the show. Lawler said he hated not being involved.
Lawler last worked RAW on the March 16 episode, calling the action from the empty Performance Center with Byron Saxton and Tom Phillips. Lawler talked about working RAW, and how the tapings for WrestleMania and the other WWE TV shows were so different. Lawler said he went to Orlando a few weeks ago, worked the March 16 RAW, and then drove to their condo in Fort Myers, FL for vacation. Regarding RAW at the Performance Center, Lawler said there were very few people involved, and nowhere near as many as there would be for a regular RAW taping. Lawler said he was ready to return to RAW the following week, thinking he could just drive back to the Performance Center from Fort Myers, but then he got the call saying WWE Chairman Vince McMahon was keeping him off the show due to coronavirus concerns.
“I’m thinking that I’ll just be able to drive back up to the Performance Center the following Monday, but then of course I got the call saying Vince was a little concerned,” Lawler said. “Because then the word was really strong, at that time, of course I think it’s changed since then, but they were saying this coronavirus is mostly striking older individuals, or is tougher on older individuals. Of course now they’re saying that’s not the case, other than the fact that kids and everybody seems to have become a victim to it since that time. But anyway, word was sent down that I wouldn’t need to come back for a few weeks until that travel ban and some of that stuff was lifted.”
Lawler said he then got the word that they would be taping RAW instead of trying to do it live. He was thinking he’d get the call to come back for some of that action, but that wasn’t the case. Lawler also revealed how Michael Cole revealed how decisions were being made and how quickly plans were changing due to COVID-19.
“Talking to Michael Cole one time, I was just amazed at how it all got done,” Lawler said. “Because Michael said things are not changing by the day, things are changing by the minute, and because it was so new, everything was having to be so different, literally things… decisions were being made by the minute – how to do or what to do, and all of this sort of stuff, and how many people you could have at one taping. So, the whole thing had to be done over several days and in several locations, and that sort of stuff. So, like I said, I just hated that I didn’t get to be a part of it. I looked around and there were so many fans online saying, ‘We should just cancel WrestleMania, postpone it or something. You just can’t have it, you just can’t do it.’
“And of course don’t ever try to tell Mr. McMahon that he can’t do something because he will prove you wrong every time, and sure enough, I was amazed at how great it was.”
You can listen to Lawler’s full episode below:
