WWE News: Real Reason For Hall Of Famer’s Return To Weekly Television Revealed
As The Inquisitr reported earlier this week, WWE has confirmed the new announce teams for Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and NXT. The red brand unveiled the trio of Vic Joseph, Dio Maddin, and Jerry “The King” Lawler as the new voices of the show, which was surprising to WWE fans. While the addition of two newcomers to the announce team was shocking enough, fans were even more surprised about Lawler’s return. The legend hasn’t been a regular commentator on WWE television for a number of years.
Since the announcement that the Hall of Famer will be a weekly fixture again on Monday Night Raw for the foreseeable future, many fans have been wondering what prompted WWE to bring him back full time all these years later. According to Lawler, his return was prompted by the company looking to add some familiarity and experience to Raw.
As quoted by Sportskeeda, the legendary commentator recently spoke to the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper, where he went into detail about why he was given the announcing role.
“It was Paul’s [Heyman] idea to put Vic and Dio on Raw. Apparently, what I was told, Vince [McMahon] said, ‘You can’t throw these two new, young guys on our flagship show. Call King.’ That’s how it happened.”
The decision appears to have been the result of a compromise between McMahon and Heyman. Since becoming the executive director of Monday Night Raw earlier this year, Heyman has been given some creative control on the red brand show, and he wants to bring a new flavor to one of the longest-running weekly episodic programs in television history.
At the same time, the younger announce team might alienate fans who aren’t familiar with NXT UK and 205 Live, where both commentators recently called the action. The inclusion of a veteran like Lawler will help ease the new guys in as they warm themselves to the general WWE audience.
With a new draft set to take place next month when SmackDown Live airs on Fox, there’s a real sense of impending change within WWE at the moment. The new commentary team will be one of several components of the company’s plans to make every show feel unique and distinct from the others.
Having Lawler back on weekly television will no doubt please the WWE universe. He’s widely regarded as one of the finest color commentators in the history of sports entertainment, and his experience will be invaluable as the new guys learn how to adjust to the demands of WWE’s flagship show as it enters a new era.
