Jerry Lawler’s time as a lead commentator is all but done, but one on promotion thought the Attitude Era’s color man was capable of another fruitful run.
In early 2017 Lawler’s contract with WWE was set to expire. In that narrow window, Jeff Jarrett of GFW/IMPACT Wrestling reached out to the King in hopes of kindling some mid-90’s magic. In a recent episode of his podcast, Dinner With The King, Lawler covered the situation:
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“During that time, I did get a call from Jeff Jarrett just saying, ‘Hey, we [TNA] were just wondering if you re-signed with the WWE or not?’ It was one of those things that I got right back to him and said I did re-sign with them [WWE].”
At the time, Jim Ross was also available for contract negotiation. Lawler thinks Jarret was trying to package the legendary duo for a final run:
“Without a doubt, I’m sure that’s what was in their minds and it was possibly in the mind of JR’s as well.”
Since Lawler has resigned with WWE in a reduced role that allows him to keep a part-time schedule. Jim Ross, too, has re-joined WWE, also on a limited schedule. Good Ol’ JR has made a few marquee appearances for WWE since returning. He called the massive Roman Reigns vs. Undertaker WrestleMaia 33 match which saw The Deadman (mostly?) retire. Ross also was in the booth for the incepting moment of the United Kingdom Championship where Tyler Bate pinned Pete Dunne to become that title’s first owner.
More: Jim Ross Nearly Signs With IMPACT Wrestling
We can’t blame Jeff Jarret for trying to kickstart his new promotion by adding the voices of the most prolific era in the history of wrestling. Wrestling is a business that benefits highly from any element of nostalgia, and if GFW locked up King and JR, well, many more fans would be inclined to watch.
GFW just totally rebranded itself a couple weeks ago, crystallizing their inception with a successful Slammiversary pay-per-view. However, their new Unified Champion, Alberto El Patron (Del Rio in WWE) was just indefinitely suspended.It’s definitely not the way Jeff Jarret wanted to start his new promotion and it’s a problem that will take more than bombastic announce team to fix.
