On the latest episode of his “Dinner with The King” podcast, Jerry Lawler talked in detail about his experience at RAW 25 this past Monday night when he reunited with Jim Ross on commentary at the Manhattan Center in New York City.
Lawler spoke in detail about the planning for the show, working with Jim Ross again on commentary and a photo of them allegedly sleeping at the broadcast table.
On the two reportedly falling asleep during the show:
“Our monitors were small and they were down at the lower part of the desk. This picture was taken during a commercial break. The headsets were a little different. I don’t know what the deal was with the chairs, but they were not comfortable, they were not the chairs that were ordinarily used. So during the show, while we were doing the commentary, in order to see the monitor right, I would have to sit up straight and almost lean forward to be able to watch the monitor. So then, when a commercial break came, I would take that opportunity to kind of sit back and really, just sort of stretch my back. But anyway, somebody catches that one particular shot and then they put it out on the internet and man, it was all over the place… I know JR was really sensitive to it. It upset JR because that just wasn’t the case. I mean, good gosh, nobody went to sleep during the broadcast of the 25th anniversary of Monday Night Raw.”
On working with JR again as part of the broadcast:
“There was actually a lot of pressure. I know JR and I could just feel it. It didn’t feel comfortable because there was just so much going on that you didn’t have a lot of preparation time. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time with our crew that was going to be working with just JR and I. It was tough getting everything done in a short time to try and make that show what everyone expected it to be. I thought, all in all, I was certainly pleased with our part. I just wish we’d been able to do a bit more, but other than that, I thought it went off well. A lot had changed in that chemistry between JR and I and all of the sudden you’re under the gun to make it just seem like it did 25 years ago in an instant and that’s hard to do. I certainly don’t think it was bad, but I think if JR and I continued to work together and do shows a little more often, it would be right back to where we were from the get-go.”
On Triple H calling an audible with the upset Manhattan Center crowd:
“I think at first, some fans realized ‘we’re not going to get to see in person a lot of these people that had been advertised,’ when someone is at the Barclays Center and they started showing all these different guys. They started to complain and feel uncomfortable and everything. I’m not sure, but I think Triple H is the guy who made a call over there and said ‘hey, we’ve got to give these people more over here.’ So what they started doing, they started sending some of the superstars that were primarily, originally just booked to be at the Barclays Center, they started sending them, putting them in a car service or limos and sending them over to the Manhattan Center. So by the end of the night, the people at the Manhattan Center got to see a ton of the superstars.”
Source: PWInsider.com