Why Jerry Lawler and Lita Were Pulled From WWE Television

The WWE pre-shows will be light on legends in the near future after Jerry Lawler and Lita were removed from the panel of hosts.

It was reported last week that both WWE Hall of Famers were been taken off of regular weekly programming — which includes the pre-shows for Raw, SmackDown LIVE and pay-per-view events.

Lawler talked about the change on Saturday during an appearance on a sports talk radio show in Memphis, Tennessee.

“The King” said that he got a call last week from Kevin Dunn, who is one of the guys that make decisions when it comes to WWE television. Dunn said that due to WWE being a publicly-traded company, it comes down to dollars and cents. Having his salary being absorbed on the pre-show after he was taken off of commentary for SmackDown made it a very expensive to produce, so they decided to get rid of the pre-show.

Lawler said that he is under contract to WWE through January. They will talk about a new deal then and he expects to make less money, which is understandable to him since he will be working less. He intimated that he may sign a talent contract as well.

Lawler said this may give him the opportunity to work on a project like the history of Memphis wrestling for the WWE Network.

Lawler said that Vince McMahon called him and said he is definitely not done with WWE. He reiterated that the pre-show was dropped due to financial reasons.

Lawler also said that he was told that he has a job for life with WWE as the Hall of Fame Master of Ceremonies.

Lita, meanwhile, is no longer under contract to WWE, according to Jim Ross.