Jim Ross Recalls The Kat’s Firing In WWE, Jerry Lawler Leaving With Her, Paul Heyman Replacing Lawler

In a recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed The Kat (aka Stacy Carter) being fired in WWE, Jerry Lawler leaving with her, and much more. You can read his comments below.

Jim Ross on The Kat’s firing in WWE and Jerry Lawler leaving the company with her: “I thought the world of Stacy [Carter]. Jan and I went to their wedding in Vegas. Jan and Stacy became good buddies because Lawler and I were together a lot…..she just was a sweetheart, I thought. But apparently, based on what the writers said – those same writers who couldn’t find an idea for the Stone Cold babyface to do viably – said she was too hard to work with. They caught Vince on a day when he was not in a real great mood, apparently. I got called in Vince’s office and, ‘I want her gone, and I want her gone today.’ So, that’s where your job becomes very challenging. There’s no way I would have fired her, no matter what the writers said, without talking to the writers and telling me, ‘What did she do that you believe merits her dismissal? Explain to me so I know.’

“I didn’t do that because I had no room to do that. I asked, “Can I do some checking around?’ ‘No, she’s gone.’ You got a decision to make. It’s not like I would have done anything or I would have challenged Vince in that situation. You’re stupid if you do that. That’s what he wanted because I knew if we got past this day and she took some time off, that there’s a good chance we could bring her back. He forgives. Hell, look at me, I’ve been in and out, in and out. So, I know there’s a propensity to do that by him. What we didn’t count on, and I don’t think Vince did either, was that Lawler was going to support her and leave. That was a little different twist to the plot.”

On working with her in WWE: “The thing about Stacy, unlike a lot of the women, Stacy had product knowledge. She lived the business since she was a teenager being Lawler’s girlfriend and then his wife. So, she had a little bit more of a knowledge and a basic fundamental skill set as far as the psychology and understanding of the product than did a lot of the other Divas. With that said, she would question things. Ask questions. It wasn’t like, ‘I’m not going to do this, I’m not going to do that, that doesn’t make any sense, you’re stupid.’ It’s just she would ask for the logic behind something she was going to do, which, if you’re a good producer, you’ve got no problem with talent asking questions because you can explain it and sell it to them.

“In any event, they lost patience – this crew of creative in that regard – and she was out. Lawler said he’s out. He felt like he was doing the right thing, and I admire what he did, but it was something we hadn’t planned on certainly and losing Lawler off the broadcast team was significant in my opinion. It was to me. It certainly was to me. He was my partner. It was an unfortunate deal all the way around. A lot of overreaction. I thought the writers or producers had issues that were unwarranted and it was a little bit of a knee-jerk.”

On Paul Heyman replacing Lawler on commentary: “Luckily, Paul Heyman was standing in the shadows. And when I was asked, Heyman was the obvious answer. I thought for two guys that had no worked together since the WCW days, that we caught up very quickly. I thought our team was entertaining and controversial. Heyman knew how to piss me off and get red-ass JR going. I knew how to do the same to him. I think some people tuned in to see who’s gonna blow up first. Every week, there was some shit going on.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Grilling JR with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.