By James Caldwell, PWTorch.com assistant editor

WWE Raw announcer Jerry Lawler says he's scheduled to wrestle on the June 2 Smackdown taping from his hometown of Memphis. Lawler says he's usually not told in advance whether he'll be used in a rare wrestling role.

"They (WWE) contacted me just the other day and they want me to wrestle on that event," Lawler told Phil Strum of the Poughkeepsie Journal. "Ordinarily, I never even know, except for an event like the one coming up in Memphis. Usually, I get there on a Monday and they say, 'hey, we're going to have you wrestle Chris Jericho' or something."

Lawler says he would have loved to have been in the ring against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 25 to have his first match on a WrestleMania card, but he's looking forward to next year as another opportunity. He doesn't think he's used often enough, though.

"They throw me in there to wrestle every now and then, but not as often as I'd like," said Lawler, who still wrestles about 100 shows per year on the independent circuit. "I still enjoy wrestling a lot. It gives me a chance to do that."

As for his color commentator role in WWE, Lawler says he's watched the younger WWE broadcasters such as Todd Grisham, Matt Striker, and Josh Mathews "trying too hard" instead of just having fun calling wrestling.

"Every one of them - talented guys," Lawler said. "I don't mean this as any kind of derogatory remark or anything, but when I look at them, I just think, it's almost like they're trying too hard."

Lawler says they're probably putting too much pressure on themselves not to screw up. The enjoyment of calling live wrestling seems to be lost in the process, according to Lawler.

"If the commentators are enjoying what they're doing, it's going to be a better broadcast," Lawler said. "People are supposed to have a good time watching this. So I try to have fun doing it. I think the young guys need to get that attitude ... It doesn't have to be perfect. Most of this is live TV. It's a wrestling show. It's not brain surgery. It's not life or death."

Link: Jerry Lawler interview with Phil Strum.

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