"He might have made a mistake" - Jim Ross reflects on Jerry Lawler quitting WWE

Former WWE commentator and executive Jim Ross believes Jerry Lawler regretted his decision to quit Vince McMahon’s company in 2001.

Jerry Lawler’s ex-wife, Stacy Carter (a.k.a. The Kat), received her release from WWE in February 2001. Lawler left the company in protest before returning in November 2001 following his separation from Carter.

Speaking on his Grilling JR podcast, Ross said Lawler knew he should have taken more time to think about his decision before quitting.

“I think he realized at that point that he might have made a mistake, that he could have not quit. He could have just said, ‘I need some time off.’ Vince would have given him the time off, just like that, no problem. He was a little defiant and he was standing up for his soon-to-be ex-wife, so it was just a unique time and I’m glad that it finally all got worked out,” Ross said.

Jim Ross worked as WWE’s Head of Talent Relations when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon told him to fire Stacy Carter. Although he thought Carter was a “sweetheart,” Ross said earlier this year that WWE’s writers found her “too hard to work with.”

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Jim Ross enjoyed working with Paul Heyman in Jerry Lawler’s absence

Paul Heyman replaced Jerry Lawler as a color commentator during The King’s nine-month absence from WWE.

Jim Ross, who commentated alongside Heyman during that time, enjoyed the challenge of working with someone as argumentative as the former ECW owner.

“But, in the meantime, I was having a hell of a lot of fun working with Heyman. Paul’s really good and he brings out a different side of me. He’s very combative and argumentative and so forth, much more so than Jerry and I were together. We might have been a little more adversarial at the beginning, but then as time went on we got so comfortable with each other,” Ross said.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are widely considered to be one of the greatest commentary duos in wrestling history. Ross now works as a commentator for AEW, while Lawler appears on WWE's pay-per-view kickoff shows.

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