WWE News: Is Jerry "the King" Lawler Turning Heel?

This past edition of RAW was a bounce-back week as far as the commentating was concerned. Michael Cole was back to his 2008 form as a serviceable and less irritating version of his heel persona, Jim Ross was seamless in weaving his brilliant input in and out of the booth and seemed less like a the third man, while Jerry "the King" Lawler was just Jerry Lawler. 

Circa 1996. 

There was a noticeable change in the King's tone as the night progressed, especially in the main event match between CM Punk and John Cena. 

Prior to the main event, Lawler heelishly dismissed the already-heel former tag team champions, David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty. He reiterated that he hasn't seen anything out of them and they had not impressed him enough to prove their standings as tag team champions. Mind you, King does not watch SmackDown.   

However, his comments accelerated tenfold during the No. 1 contender match between Cena and Punk that concluded RAW, with King questioning CM Punk's talent, time and again.

It was odd to hear King claim that CM Punk "wasn't that good" before refuting Cole's subsequent arguments by saying that Punk defeated Cena twice under tainted circumstances.

The fact that John Cena is indeed a babyface makes King's anti-Punk sentiments seem less substantial, but it's worth paying more attention to King on commentary moving forward. The fact that Cole has toned down, albeit possibly for just one night, and Lawler has suddenly become more heelish on commentary seems like more than just a coincidence. 

This could well be the WWE changing gears in the announce booth to allow their lead commentary to be more neutral in response to alarmingly subpar ratings patterns ahead of the upcoming NFL season and Monday Night Football.

As great as Michael Cole was as a heel in his heyday, at this point he is certainly more useful getting the product and talent over to combat what appears to be internal softness in the WWE brand.  

Jerry Lawler may be too revered for fans to fully embrace him as a heel. However, I feel that he was at his best in the 90s, when he wore his black crown and defended the villains almost to the point of delusion.

Should Lawler keep up his sour opinions on otherwise popular wrestlers, with Cole playing more of a voice of reason as opposed to an obnoxious and misplaced heel? This would be a good start in WWE turning around their flagship program that has currently been shipwrecked in the ratings category. 

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