Jerry Lawler's Decades-Long Friendship With Jim Ross, Explained
Isabella Bartlett 
Quick Links
Jim Ross and Jerry "The King" Lawler can easily be considered one of the best commentary teams in not just WWE, but in professional wrestling as a whole. Their chemistry was unmatched, their characters were defined, and their obvious enjoyment made watching WWE TV so much fun. When anyone is as close to a co-worker as those two were for almost twenty years, there's going to a sense of friendship and comradery. Not only were Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler magic on screen together, they were very good friends off-screen, which made their performance every Monday during the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression eras that much better.
RELATED: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jerry "The King" Lawler's Wrestling Career
Jim Ross And Jerry Lawler Had Amazing Chemistry Together
Many point to Jim Ross as the voice of Attitude Era, and that's a very valid claim. However, it would be severely unfair to just leave out his broadcast partner for the vast majority of it all. The two defined the play-by-play and color commentary spots respectively. Good Ol' JR was always calling the action while Lawler was always spewing some nonsense, but that made it so much fun. Lawler would speak his mind and say whatever even if it sometimes came at the expense of JR. It was in good fun, and felt like a revival of the relationship between Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, who were also best friends in real life.
The best commentary teams consist of one heel and one neutral commentator. Not a 2011 Michael Cole heel, but one who would root for the heel because the neutral commentator wanted to see a fair contest, so they had to naturally condemn a heel's actions. This dynamic was in full force between JR and King. They meshed so well together. Lawler justifying The Corporation's actions while JR screamed his lungs out when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's music hit defines so much of the Attitude Era.
RELATED: 10 Weirdest Wrestling Commentary Quotes Ever
Jim Ross' Reaction To Jerry Lawler Leaving The Company In 2001
In March 2001, Jerry Lawler left the company in protest after his wife at the time, Stacy "The Kat" Carter, was fired. This was significant to Jim Ross because JR was the one who had to fire her. Lawler understood the position his friend was in, and never held anything against him. This was also a blow to JR because that was his partner. JR felt that everybody in that situation overreacted, including JR, who said on his podcast that he thinks that Lawler immediately regretted quitting the company. Lawler would be back in the company by the end of the year.
RELATED: Why Jim Ross & Randy Savage Were A Poor WWE Commentary Team, Explained
In any case, JR was asked who he wanted to work with. He requested and was given Paul Heyman. Heyman and Ross would then call the entire Invasion angle together. Ross would also say that he did have a lot of fun with Heyman as his partner. He was able to bring out a different side to JR. It was a more adversarial or argumentative approach to the commentary. It was certainly a change of pace, and Heyman and Ross did do a great job together. However, as good as they were, they weren't better than JR and King.
Jerry Lawler's Heart Attack In 2012 Was Very Hard On Jim Ross
On an episode of Raw in September 2012, Jerry Lawler suffered a heart attack live on TV. It was scary moment for the fans, the officials, Michael Cole, and of course, Jim Ross who was watching the show at home when it happened, and only had Twitter updates to keep track of his best friend. Lawler came out alright, in the end, and Jim Ross would help out in filling in for his commentary duties, but JR posted his immediate reaction to the heart attack on his blog when it happened.
JR was obviously very emotional in writing that, and everything he said was as genuine and caring as it can get. Among many other things, he told stories of the road trips he and King went on to each show, he praised Michael Cole's professionalism, which was absolutely deserved, and basically said that the only reason King survived was that he was at a WWE event with world-class medical professionals. He was legitimately scared for his friend's life because he had no idea what was going to happen next, but was confident and hopeful that the King would pull through, and he did.
Even after each of their departures from the WWE, they've still kept in touch and still stayed close. It's heartwarming to say the least. It's so nice and refreshing to see a true friendship like Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler in the world of professional wrestling. The industry can be so toxic and so demoralizing, especially during the late 90s, but these two men enjoyed each other as human beings, which just made their work so much better.
