This is hard to say, but the absolute truth: Jerry 'The King' Lawler has no place on commentary anymore. Going back and listening to him at his prime is almost heartbreaking. As a sycophantic, authority-worshiping lech, he had so much character, so much passion in his voice. The jokes would come thick and fast, and while some of them were off-colour and some were hoary, the byplay he had with JR, who didn't, and would never, giggle at his lame jokes like Cole does, genuinely sings. It brilliant. Then time, and the inevitable direction that the company took, stripped of anything that made him unique. They gradually turned him face, pitting him against Tazz and the Right To Censor. Him and JR became brothers in arms, which made it less and less convincing for him to side with the heels. Then the WWE stripped out most if not all of their sexual content, meaning he had nothing to perv on anymore. While the absence of perving on TV is not a bad thing by any stretch, this left us with a hollow King. Now he's just a bland babyface. We already have one of those. His name is Michael. King's already been moved from RAW to Smackdown. Listening back to the Attitude Era PPVs, I never thought I'd say this but ... he hasn't been missed. The King has done great work. He should step down, while it's still his choice. His absence should spur the WWE to a more streamlined team of JBL and Cole on RAW, and Renee Young and Booker T on Smackdown, with a focus on the wrestling, the whole wrestling, and nothing but the wrestling.
