Madusa On Jerry Lawler's Attitude Era Commentary: 'It Would Never Fly Today'

Madusa Miceli, best known to WWE fans for her mid-'90s run as Alundra Blayze, continues to do numerous interviews to promote her upcoming memoir, "The Woman Who Would Be King: The MADUSA Story," releasing March 28. While talking to TV Insider, Madusa was asked about Jerry Lawler's heavily sexualized and often outright sexist color commentary during WWE's "Attitude Era," and how she writes in the book that it bothered her. How does she look back at that now with a couple decades of hindsight?

"It is very difficult to try to explain eras if you haven't lived them," Madusa replied. "With people today and kids growing up in today's world hearing that stuff that was said or told or done is almost unrecognizable. It would never fly today. We are in a different world and culture and upbringing. I'm not defending that era ... but we are a product of our environment. It's about decision-making and choosing. We all have a choice. Knowing how to make a decision. ... At that time that is what they chose. Not defending Lawler again, but I am saying in that era he was probably told what to do but that was his personality ... When you are forced up against a machine, he had a choice and there were other commentators at the time that chose not to be that way."

Lawler, in that era, particularly after the rise of the Debra character that constantly distracted men with what "The King" would insistently describe were her "puppies," was generally the announcer who took the role of sexualizing the female performers in various ways. That was toned down significantly during his later runs on commentary in WWE's PG era.