Given his over 30 year stint with the WWE before his departure earlier this year, one would think that Jerry "The King" Lawler's relationship with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon over the years was pretty good. That wasn't always the case, however. Lawler famously disappeared for months in 2001, after he quit WWE over the firing of his then wife, "The Kat" Stacy Carter, and long before his WWE run began had a situation with McMahon that seemingly damaged their business relationship before it even began.

Speaking with Bill Apter of "Sportskeeda," Lawler revealed that years before he joined WWE, he took action against the promotion and McMahon, when the latter attempted to portray another legendary wrestler under Lawler's "King" gimmick in Tennessee, where Lawler was one of the biggest stars in wrestling at the time.

"I remember I sued Vince McMahon when he brought in Harley Race as the King in Memphis, and then in Nashville," Lawler said. "I sued him, and I won the case."

Despite the animosity the situation generated, and Lawler's own belief that he and McMahon would never do business together, "The King" revealed it didn't take much for him to go and work for WWE when McMahon eventually reached out to him.

"I thought I was done with him for sure then," Lawler said. "And then something...I don't really know what happened. But he just called me one day and said 'Hey, want to come up and work for us and continue to work in Memphis?' And I said 'Well, if I can do that, then yeah, I'll do it."

If you use quotes in this article, please credit "Sportskeeda" and provide an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription