Jerry Lawler On Triple H Joking About RAW 25 Sleeping Reports, What Announcers Know About The Rumble
Many have wondered about the backstage production that goes into booking a Royal Rumble match. Fresh off his appearance at this year's event, Jerry "The King" Lawler revealed some behind the scenes information on his Dinner With The King podcast.
One of the best features of the Royal Rumble is the element of surprise. But Lawler revealed that one person who is not caught off guard by any of the entrants is most likely Michael Cole. He believes Cole, as the lead commentator, probably knows the order of the entrants beforehand.
"Honestly, I think Michael Cole does know. When I said I don't have to go to production meetings, Michael Cole does. I mean, he has to," Lawler said. "When you are the main guy you have to be ready for that information so I'm pretty sure who was coming out next from 1-30."
On the other hand, Lawler said he had absolutely no preparation for his guest commentary during the match. He said he never received any information from the higher-ups about what he should be ready for. He said it was uncomfortable for him to be so unprepared to be calling a match of that magnitude.
"I had no list. I went into this thing so unprepared I honestly felt like they may have forgotten they called me to be at the Royal Rumble. I mean, I talked to some people, but nobody in charge. I didn't speak to anybody in charge all day," he said. "I had finished the pre-show and had headed up to the Gorilla position when the Royal Rumble started, because as you know the Men's Royal Rumble was on the third match, so I went and changed into my old King coat and crown and all of this stuff. I had went up there and started standing around and then the show started. Vince McMahon saw me and got up and shook my hand to ask me how I was and then he went and sat back down. Michael Cole was already out there.
"I just felt weird because we were getting closer to the time of the Royal Rumble but nobody told me anything," he continued. "Then, I finally had gone to Billy Kidman because he's the one who kind of runs the time of the show becuase the Royal Rumble was about to start and then they run a package. I went over to him to ask if I was supposed to be out there already and he looked over at the sheet and said, 'Oh no; you are going to have your music and entrance.' I let out a big sigh of relief. Then, little bit after that I went out. I hadn't talked to anybody; I hadn't talked to Michael Cole or Corey Graves about what to do or say about the show. I had no clue about anything on the order that was going to happen."
Probably the biggest surprise entrant in this year's Royal Rumble was Rey Mysterio. His return to the company shocked everyone after it was rumored that he would be signing with Impact Wrestling. Lawler said he was really impressed with how good Mysterio looked and he hopes to see him back with the WWE full-time.
"Rey Mysterio looked amazing. They have John Cena being the spokesperson for Pistachios, Rey Mysterio needs to be the spokesperson for Kapiti," Lawler said. "What a tan he had! He's like Tom Brady. I hope he is back full-time. I wish I had known he was 43 years old, I would have had some one-liners for that."
Lawler said he also ran into Triple H backstage and the two of them shared a laugh after Triple H referenced the rumors of Lawler falling asleep at RAW 25.
"The first time I saw Triple H at the Royal Rumble, he goes, 'Hey King.' I said, 'Hey Hunter.' He said, 'Try to stay awake out there tonight.' I said, 'OK.' So yeah, it's kind of like a joke," Lawler said.
If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Dinner With The King with an H/T to WrestlingINC for the transcription.
Source: Dinner With The King
Peter Bahi contributed to this article.