Jim Ross On If UFC 200 Loss Will Hurt Brock Lesnar In WWE, WWE Lifting Jerry Lawler's Suspension
Recently on The Ross Report, 'Good Ol' J.R.' Jim Ross talked about former broadcast partner Jerry 'The King' Lawler's recent domestic assault charges and Brock Lesnar's future with WWE if he loses to Mark Hunt at UFC 200.
According to Ross, Lawler was not guilty and was confident that the truth would come out in time.
"He understands the delicateness of the situation, but he also understands that he's innocent, so I think that it'll all come out. And, hopefully, people can put the pieces back together and move on."
Although Lawler's WWE suspension has been lifted, Ross claimed that WWE's upcoming brand extension is a good opportunity for the company to reevaluate its broadcast teams. And while WWE has become increasingly averse to bad press, Ross admitted that he has a difficult time imagining WWE without Lawler being involved in some capacity.
"When you're getting ready to switch up brands, it's not a bad time to reevaluate all your announce teams and how do you want to configure your announce teams for these brands." Ross added, "I have a hard time seeing WWE without some presence of Jerry Lawler on their air for the foreseeable future. Obviously, he's 66 years old. This is not going to last forever. And it may not last, he may not want it to last past his current deal. I don't have any idea, but he is 66 years old and it is weekly travel. And I can tell you, I'm younger than him, but when I got off of weekly travel, it was like I'd gotten on the gravy train."
In Ross's estimation, a loss at UFC 200 will have no affect on Lesnar's standing with WWE, as no performer is ready to be moved into Lesnar's role.
"I heard that Lesnar had two more WrestleManias on his contract, so that means he would be with the company, if this is true and it may not be, so nobody should go jump on the line on this one if they hear this on our podcast, but I heard that he had two more WrestleManias remaining on his contract. So, if that's true, that would be 33 and 34, so he is a major part of the success of those two WrestleManias without question. And it's almost a blessing to know that probably when that deal ends, he's probably going to want to hang it up. He'll be north of 40. He [has] got young kids, young boys. He [has] got a farm. He [has] got land. He likes to hunt. He's a blue collar guy. He's a different breed of cat. That's why he's so damn great. So I think that, win or lose, he's going to be a made man in WWE for as long as he wants to be there because there's nobody vying for his role. There's nobody that compares to him."
Click here to check out this edition of 'Slobberknocker Audio'. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit The Ross Report with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: The Ross Report