WWE recently decided to not renew Hall of Famer Jerry Lawler’s broadcast contract, thus ending his on-screen run with the company that began back in 1992.
It has been revealed that Lawler’s contract with WWE expired at the beginning of 2024, although a WWE source has clarified that he is under a Legends deal with the company.
This on-screen departure comes as Lawler has been out of the public eye, focusing on his recovery from a stroke he suffered in February 2023.
According to sources close to the matter, under previous ownership, individuals like Lawler would have been “taken care of”.
However, with what some describe as a “new era” in WWE, characterized by shifting priorities and leadership, longstanding relationships like Lawler’s have come to an end.
“The old company is dead,” remarked one source. “People can say they hate Vince (McMahon) and Kevin (Dunn) all they want, and they’d be right to do so, but certain people would have been taken care of. Lawler would have been one, but this isn’t the old WWE. Howard Finkel, God bless him, wouldn’t have had a job for life here anymore, either.”
In an interview with PWInsider, Lawler said the following about WWE not re-signing him to a new, regular talent contract:
“One other thing that a lot of people wonder about, my career has probably ended with the WWE and it’s just one of those things that goes with my getting over with all the stuff that happened with the stroke and it was my, my just sitting behind a desk and doing it, commentating on a match again was extremely difficult.”
Regarding Lawler’s health, Dutch Mantell (Zeb Colter in WWE & Uncle Zebekiah in WWF) said on his podcast that Lawler suffered a minor stroke recently:
“I heard he had another one, a minor one, but he did have another one within the last two or three weeks, I heard, or it may have been a month. But there must have been not a lot to it.”
