Return to WWF/WWE (2001–present)
On November 19, 2001, after a nine-month hiatus from the company, Lawler returned to the WWF. He was reintroduced by Vince McMahon on Raw as the replacement for color commentator (and Alliance member) Paul Heyman, who had been (kayfabe) fired in the aftermath of the Alliance's loss at the previous night's Survivor Series. As he had been before his departure, Lawler once again became color commentator on Raw and pay-per-view events alongside Jim Ross and SmackDown! with Michael Cole, until the brands were separated and Lawler became exclusive to Raw. Lawler stated that his well-worked chemistry with Jim Ross has been a result of their different styles; according to Lawler, Jim Ross is a fine storyteller and keeps fans well-versed with current storylines, whereas he provides reaction and emotion to liven the commentary.
In 2003, Raw's announce team of Lawler and Jim Ross feuded with Sunday Night Heat's team of Jonathan Coachman and Al Snow. At Unforgiven, Lawler and Ross lost a match against Coachman and Snow, thus losing their right to do commentary on Raw. In a rematch, however, Ross defeated Coachman, winning Lawler and Ross their position back.
In 2006, Lawler faced Tazz at ECW One Night Stand, which Tazz won in only 30 seconds by making Lawler pass out to the Tazzmission.
In July 2006, Randy Orton began a feud with Hulk Hogan. Lawler attacked Orton in defense of Hogan, which set up a match between them on Raw. Orton defeated Lawler after a low blow and an RKO.
On March 31, 2007, Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by William Shatner, whom Lawler had a memorable altercation with on a January 1995 episode of Raw. In August, King Booker claimed to be the only one entitled to be known as "King". After being beaten by Booker in the ring, Lawler was supposed to be forced to crown his opponent at a show of August 13 in Madison Square Garden. During the ceremony, however, Lawler announced another king as a new opponent for King Booker, "The King of Kings" Triple H. This led to a worked brawl between Lawler and King Booker.
On the July 7, 2008, episode of Raw, Lawler was attacked by Kane after saving Michael Cole from a similar attack, in which Kane repeatedly asked "Is he alive or is he dead?" Later that summer, he teamed with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to face Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes for the World Tag Team Championship but lost.
On the March 23, 2009, episode of Raw, Lawler challenged Chris Jericho to a match because of his disrespectful and erratic behavior to WWE Hall of Famers, which Jericho accepted. The following week, Lawler lost to Jericho after submitting to the Walls of Jericho. After the match, Jericho outlined how he would remain supreme against WWE Hall of Famers at WrestleMania 25.
On the July 20 episode of Raw, Lawler announced himself as the opponent against The Brian Kendrick. He went on to defeat Kendrick. On the November 16 episode of Raw, after recent acquisition Sheamus attacked the timekeeper in frustration for not receiving an opponent, Lawler left the announce table to confront Sheamus and check on the victim, only to receive a kick to the head for his troubles. On June 7, 2010, during a Viewer's Choice edition of Raw, Lawler lost his crown to IRS because he had apparently not paid his taxes, but it was regained by Quinton Jackson later on. At the end of the night, Lawler was one of the many employees at ringside that were brutally attacked by the season 1 NXT rookies. Lawler, however, was the only person at ringside that fought back, as he used punches and chops to attack the NXT rookies assaulting him until it was a 3-on-1 assault. The following week on Raw, Lawler and the Raw roster fought off the now-called "The Nexus" when they attempted to ambush John Cena a second time. On June 28, Lawler, Ricky Steamboat, Michael Hayes, Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda and Dean Malenko were severely attacked by the Nexus, just as they were celebrating Steamboat's career. Josh Mathews replaced Lawler on color commentator for the remainder of the show.
On the July 26 episode of Raw, Lawler teamed with Mark Henry, Goldust, Yoshi Tatsu, Evan Bourne and The Hart Dynasty in a tag team elimination match versus the Nexus. Lawler was eliminated by Heath Slater.
On the November 29 King of the Ring Raw special, Lawler (who was celebrating his 61st birthday) challenged The Miz to a WWE Championship match. It was granted by the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who made it a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match and it was Lawler's first shot at the title. The Miz retained the championship after interference by Cole and Alex Riley. Cole's interference caused tension between the two, but when Lawler threatened to attack Cole, the Anonymous Raw General Manager issued a "cease and desist" order, which barred any physicality between them.
Lawler continued to challenge with The Miz, where on the December 20 Raw, Lawler teamed with Randy Orton and John Morrison to take on The Miz, Riley and Sheamus in a 6-man tag match which Lawler won by pinning The Miz. This led to a rematch between The Miz and Lawler the following week, with Lawler once again getting the victory, this time by count-out after Morrison got involved. Lawler teamed with Orton again on the January 10, 2011 Raw, facing The Miz and Riley, which Lawler won by pinning Riley. Lawler won a 7-man Raw Rumble match on the January 31 Raw with help from John Cena to earn a WWE Championship match against The Miz at Elimination Chamber, where he was unsuccessful in winning the title, ending the feud.
The following night on Raw, Lawler, after having enough of Cole's attitude, which included the mocking of Lawler's mother's recent death, challenged him to a match at WrestleMania XXVII, which Cole accepted on the February 28 Raw and announced that he would be trained in the coming weeks by Jack Swagger for the upcoming match. Stone Cold Steve Austin was announced as the guest referee for the match the following week. On the March 14 Raw, Lawler was confronted by his son, Brian Lawler, who was invited to Raw to "expose" his father's character. Brian ranted about various problems he had with his father before slapping him and leaving. Cole continued to harass Lawler after Brian left, but was interrupted by a returning Jim Ross. Before Ross could attack Cole, Swagger attacked Lawler from behind and then proceeded to attack and lock in the ankle lock on Ross, while Cole harassed him. Lawler tried to stop the attack, but fell victim to the ankle lock as well.
At WrestleMania, Lawler initially won by submission, but the Anonymous Raw General Manager reversed the decision due to Stone Cold physically getting involved in the match by pushing Cole, making Cole the winner by disqualification. Lawler and Ross then faced Cole and Swagger at Extreme Rules in a Country Whipping match, where they were defeated. Lawler challenged Cole to one last match at Over the Limit, even going as far as to putting his Hall of Fame ring on the line and offered to personally induct Cole into the Hall of Fame itself. During the contract signing, Cole announced it would be a "Kiss My Foot" match. At the pay-per-view, Lawler defeated Cole. Afterwards, Ross, Eve Torres and Bret Hart helped Lawler by making Cole kiss his foot. Following the pay-per-view, Cole apologized to Lawler, ending the feud.
Lawler competed in the 2012 Royal Rumble match as the number 12 entrant, but was eliminated by Cody Rhodes after 43 seconds. He, along with Booker T, eliminated Cole afterwards. On the April 30, 2012, episode of Raw, Lawler competed in a Beat the Clock challenge to determine the number one contender for the WWE Championship match at Over the Limit, but was defeated by Daniel Bryan, who went on to challenge for the title. On the July 9 episode of Raw, Lawler went against Cole in a WrestleMania XXVII rematch, which he quickly won, but the anonymous Raw General Manager, who returned that night as the guest general manager, reversed the decision and Lawler lost to Cole by disqualification following interference by Booker T. Santino Marella came out to reveal that Hornswoggle was the Anonymous Raw General Manager, who was hiding underneath the ring.
On the July 23 episode of WWE Raw 1000, after CM Punk attacked The Rock, Lawler would mention on commentary that "CM Punk has turned his back on the WWE Universe." The following week on Raw, Punk would confront Lawler about what he said before being interrupted by Big Show. On the August 20 episode of Raw, after Cena would not tell Punk he was the "Best in the World", Punk would ask for Lawler to get in the ring and say it for the WWE Universe. After Lawler refused to say Punk was the "Best in the World" too, Punk would attack Lawler from behind. The next week on Raw, after Lawler demanded an apology from Punk, Punk would challenge Lawler to a match, which Lawler would accept later that night, where Punk would defeat Lawler in a Steel Cage match. Before the September 3 episode of Raw, Punk and Lawler brawled backstage, with Punk getting the upper hand before officials stopped them, Lawler was kicked in the throat, which caused Lawler to miss commentary that night, with The Miz filling in for him.
On September 10, 2012, during Raw at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, not long after defeating Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a tag-team match with Randy Orton, Lawler legitimately collapsed at the announcers table while Kane and Daniel Bryan competed against Titus O'Neil and Darren Young. Cole continued to call that match alone, as well as the next match, before WWE (through Cole) announced the medical situation with Lawler. The remaining matches on the show went ahead as scheduled but without commentary and updates on Lawler's condition were provided by Cole. At the end of the broadcast, it was announced that he had received CPR, but was breathing independently and reacting to stimulation. Doctors said that Lawler was clinically dead for almost 30 minutes. It was later confirmed on WWE.com that Lawler had suffered a heart attack. On September 11, he underwent an angioplasty to improve blood flow to his heart. On September 12, Lawler was reported to be slowly being eased off sedation, his ventilator removed. He was able to blink, nod, and squeeze with his hands, and that same day, the results of several CT scans showed no signs of brain damage. By September 17, Lawler had returned to his home in Memphis. During Lawler's hospital stay, it was determined that his heart attack was not caused by a blocked artery, but was instead an unexplained cardiac arrest. Lawler was soon medically cleared to continue wrestling.
It was announced on October 29 that Lawler would return to WWE on the November 12 episode of Raw. He continued his rivalry with Punk after his return was interrupted by Punk and Paul Heyman, who re-enacted his heart attack. Lawler continued to favor Punk's opponents, hoping that Punk would lose the WWE Championship, which he eventually did to The Rock at the Royal Rumble much to Lawler's delight.
On January 8, 2015, it was announced on WWE.com that Lawler would be a part of the SmackDown broadcast team as a color commentator along with Cole and Byron Saxton starting January 15, ending his 19-year run as a color commentator of Raw as he was replaced by Booker T.
On the March 30 episode of Raw, however, Lawler made a one-night return to commentary with Saxton to fill in for Cole, Booker T and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) after they were assaulted by Brock Lesnar after Lesnar was refused his rematch against Seth Rollins. On June 17, 2016, Lawler was suspended following his arrest for domestic violence, with WWE stating they have "zero tolerance for matters involving domestic violence, and per our policy, Jerry Lawler was suspended indefinitely following his arrest", until July 1, when the charges were dropped and WWE lifted Lawler's suspension.
On July 7, 2016, Lawler returned to SmackDown resuming his commentary role. However, shortly afterwards, Lawler was taken off air and placed on the pre-show of both Raw and SmackDown as an analyst.
On December 5, 2016, it was announced that Lawler would no longer be used on pre-shows and instead be kept for special events such as the Hall of Fame ceremony.
On January 17, 2017, Lawler returned to SmackDown Live to host the return of The King's Court from his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. During his interview with Dolph Ziggler, Ziggler took credit for Lawler's real life heart attack in September 2012 before and kicking him in the chest and leaving the ring. Later that night on Talking Smack, Renee Young announced that Lawler, Cole and Corey Graves will be the commentary team for the Royal Rumble match at the 2017 Royal Rumble. On August 28, Lawler filled in for Booker T on Raw commentary from his hometown of Memphis. Lawler, Ross and numerous other WWE Legends appeared on Raw 25 on January 22, 2018. On January 26, it was revealed that Lawler signed a new one-year deal with WWE. At the 2018 Royal Rumble, during the men's match, Lawler was the special guest commentator where he correctly predicted that Shinsuke Nakamura would win.
On March 21, 2018, Lawler suffered a stroke at his home in Memphis. He explained the incident on his podcast, which he revealed he could not speak for three days. He stayed in the hospital's ICU until he woke up three days later and regained his speech. The doctors said Lawler would make a full recovery. He was able to make all of his appearances during WrestleMania 34 weekend in New Orleans and was cleared to wrestle.
On April 8, 2018, at WrestleMania 34, Lawler called the fifth annual André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show, alongside Ross and Saxton.
On April 27, 2018, Lawler served as part of the pre-show panel at the first WWE pay per view in Saudi Arabia called the Greatest Royal Rumble alongside Ross.
On the special SmackDown Live 1000th episode on October 16, 2018, Lawler returned as a guest commentator alongside Booker T to provide commentary for the New Day–The Bar match for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
Lawler returned as a guest commentator on the July 22, 2019, special episode of Raw called the Raw Reunion.
On the July 30, 2019, edition of SmackDown Live, Lawler returned to host the Kings Court with Trish Stratus as his guest.
Lawler returned on the August 19, 2019, edition of Raw to host the Kings Court and was attacked by "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.
On September 26, 2019, WWE announced as a part of their "WWE Premiere Week" that a new commentary team will be on Raw. Lawler would return to full-time commentary on Raw, as an analyst alongside Vic Joseph and Dio Maddin beginning on the September 30, 2019, edition of Raw. By January 2020, Lawler had outlasted both Joseph and Maddin, who were replaced by Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, respectively. Lawler was replaced by Samoa Joe on the April 27, 2020, episode of Raw.
Following his 2023 stroke recovery, Lawler appeared at Raw in Memphis, Tennessee on August 28, 2023, in a segment for the live audience, which was later uploaded to WWE's YouTube page as a digital exclusive. On the November 28, 2023, episode of NXT, he chose the participants that will compete in the Iron Survivor Challenge at NXT Deadline.
On May 6, 2024, it was reported that Lawler's broadcast contract with WWE expired at the beginning of 2024 and the company decided not to renew it. Lawler still remains under a Legends contract with WWE.
