WWE has confirmed that Hall of Famers Lita and Jerry Lawler have been removed from regular weekly WWE programming. The two were pulled from the RAW Pre-show, along with Scott Stanford, beginning this week. The pre-show was also cut down to 10 minutes from 30 minutes. The new RAW Pre-show hosts are Charly Caruso and Booker T, and a similar change is expected for the SmackDown Pre-shows.
Both Lawler and Lita have been moved from full-time deals to WWE Legends contracts and the decision was made to remove them from the RAW, SmackDown and pay-per-view panels.
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Lawler began his WWF career in December 1992 as an announcer on WWF Superstars of Wrestling. The King was the main color commentator next to Jim Ross during the Attitude Era off and on through 2014.In 2016, Lawler and his girlfriend, Lauryn McBride, were both arrested on charges of domestic abuse, with each party claiming the other assaulted them. Lawler was suspended indefinitely for the incident. On July 1, 2016, WWE.com reported that his suspension had been lifted and all charges were dropped against both him and his girlfriend.
Lita wrestled in the WWE from 2000-06 when an injury forced her early retirement. She came back to the WWE in 2014, where she assisted the creative team and began her pre and post show broadcasting tenure. During the WrestleMania 32 kick–off show on April 3, 2016, Lita unveiled the new WWE Women’s Championship belt, in addition to announcing the retirement of the WWE Divas Championship.
It was noted that both are still loosely affiliated with the company and may be brought back to TV on the WWE Network for special occasions.
The WWE is experimenting with new panel guests as Hot 97 & Cheap Heat Podcast host Peter Rosenberg worked the TLC panel on Sunday.
Meanwhile, David Otunga is still gainfully employed.
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