WWE Wrestler Suffers On-Air Heart Attack

[rwllay]

Pro-Wrestling is not something i can say ive ever really seen discussed here but last night i was watching WWE's Monday Night RAW, and about half-way through, long-time commentator and wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler suffered a heart attack live on air. It wasn't on screen, but you could here his erratic heavy breathing, and see him partially collapse in the background of the shot. The Commentary went silent, the crowd stopped paying attention to the match, and the Co-Host Michael Cole gave a teary eyed update on the situation as it progressed and Lawler was rushed to hospital.

Fortunately it appears that Lawler has stabalised.

Lawler was a huge part of my childhood, and it was was genuinly unsettling to watch the man who first popularised pro-wrestling with his feud with late comedien Andy Kaufman, almost die on air. anyway Escapists i was interested to read your thoughts on the matter

i will try to find a clip if possible if people want me to

 

[Marter]

Yeah, that's not fun at all. I hope he makes a speedy and full recovery.

 

[Fappy]

Oh man that sounds rough. It's always unsettling to see something like that happen live.

 

[Andy Shandy]

While admittedly I wasn't as shocked as when I saw the title (I thought it was somebody wrestling at the time at first), it's still a shocking thing to happen on air.

I wish a speedy recovery to him.

 

[Dags90]

While admittedly I wasn't as shocked as when I saw the title (I thought it was somebody wrestling at the time at first), it's still a shocking thing to happen on air.

TBH, at 63, he's lived quite a long life for a professional wrestler. A lot of them don't live to see their 50[sup]th[/sup] birthday.

 

[rwllay]

While admittedly I wasn't as shocked as when I saw the title (I thought it was somebody wrestling at the time at first), it's still a shocking thing to happen on air.

I wish a speedy recovery to him.

Well if it helps he had competed earlier in the show, (Jerry Lawler & Randy Orton vs. CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler if anyone's interested), which probably didn't help matters even slightly

Captcha: Rhodes Scholar (the fan nickname for occasional tag team of Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) so slightly appropriate

 

[Shaved Apple]

At first I wasn't sure if it was part of the show or not until Cole said it wasn't. Hopefully he gets well soon.

 

[AyaReiko]

According to JR's blog [http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/jrs-thoughts-jerry-lawler-and-montreal-raw], Lawler's own Dad apparently died of a heart attack at a young age, so it could be genetic.

Regardless, I hope Jerry makes a speedy recovery.

 

[piinyouri]

I know they were trying to push this feud with CM Punk and Lawler, and I say this with respect, but maybe they shouldn't have had the 63 year old man wrestling in the ring?

For the record, I don't think Ric Flair, Hogan, or anyone of that age should be doing it anymore. I realize sometimes life twists your wrist, and you do what you got to do but I just wish there was another way.

My condolences go to Lawler and hope he has a quick and painless recovery.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I'm glad to hear he's stabilized. Jerry's been such an important part of the show for so long that this is actually kind of scary.

 

[Kolby Jack]

I know they were trying to push this feud with CM Punk and Lawler, and I say this with respect, but maybe they shouldn't have had the 63 year old man wrestling in the ring?

For the record, I don't think Ric Flair, Hogan, or anyone of that age should be doing it anymore. I realize sometimes life twists your wrist, and you do what you got to do but I just wish there was another way.

My condolences go to Lawler and hope he has a quick and painless recovery.

Most pro wrestlers absolutely love the business, and have a very hard time letting it go. Can't say I blame them, it really seems like a dream career. Lawler is old, that is true, but fans still love to see him do the occasional match to prove he's still got it, and I think I can safely say he loves to do them as well. Sometimes you do things that don't make sense in order to be happy and have fun, yea?

I was watching RAW when it happened, and it was pretty eerie. I was touched by Michael Cole's very extreme concern for Lawler, given that in-character they're supposed to hate each other. I'm glad he's stabilized, and I hope to hear how he's doing from his own mouth very soon.

 

[piinyouri]

I know they were trying to push this feud with CM Punk and Lawler, and I say this with respect, but maybe they shouldn't have had the 63 year old man wrestling in the ring?

For the record, I don't think Ric Flair, Hogan, or anyone of that age should be doing it anymore. I realize sometimes life twists your wrist, and you do what you got to do but I just wish there was another way.

My condolences go to Lawler and hope he has a quick and painless recovery.

Most pro wrestlers absolutely love the business, and have a very hard time letting it go. Can't say I blame them, it really seems like a dream career. Lawler is old, that is true, but fans still love to see him do the occasional match to prove he's still got it, and I think I can safely say he loves to do them as well. Sometimes you do things that don't make sense in order to be happy and have fun, yea?

I was watching RAW when it happened, and it was pretty eerie. I was touched by Michael Cole's very extreme concern for Lawler, given that in-character they're supposed to hate each other. I'm glad he's stabilized, and I hope to hear how he's doing from his own mouth very soon.

Oh believe me, I know.
I know he's just doing what he loves.

It just..honestly hurts me to see my favorite wrestlers put their lives in jeopardy this way.

The movie The Wrestler got it pretty much right on the head as far as wrestler's lives and careers go, and not being able to leave.

 

[Vault101]

While admittedly I wasn't as shocked as when I saw the title (I thought it was somebody wrestling at the time at first), it's still a shocking thing to happen on air.

TBH, at 63, he's lived quite a long life for a professional wrestler. A lot of them don't live to see their 50[sup]th[/sup] birthday.

this whole thing reminds me of "the wrestler"

life imitates art....

 

[Evil Smurf]

I've never seen the apeal of wrestling

 

[KingHodor]

A lot of pro-wrestlers live on an intense diet of 'roids, benzos, GHB and most of all coke, and it's especially the latter that tends to go to your heart. Still, you've got to give them credit for risking their health like that to be able to entertain the masses.

 

[Joriss]

Damn that must have been some scary stuff, hope Lawler stays with us for still a long time, despite his goofy-ness

 

[Antitonic]

It might even be considered a good thing he wrestled earlier in the evening, if that's what brought it on. At least that way, he was attended to by medics and the like as quickly as possible, rather than, say in a hotel room alone.

Also:

On his current condition:
"Right now he's stable, being responsive with a tube down his throat. He's squeezing people's hands, nodding his head. He can point out where he's hurting, stuff like that. The next step is to wait for the test results to come back tomorrow, the scan on his brain to see what - if any - brain damage he may or may not have. And that's pretty much it. He's still critical but stable. He's strong and he's stubborn, so if anybody can pull through its him."

On the amount of time it took CPR to work:
"WWE's doctor was there when Jerry collapsed and fell out of his chair. He started CPR. From what I've been told is Jerry did not regain consciousness there. They did revive him there, but it took a long time - 15 minutes. It took a long time to bring him back. But he's back now, he's lightly sedated, and they're taking him off the ventilator. He's not in the heavy sedation that they had him in."

On it happening on live TV:
"Jerry would be dead right now if it did not happen where it happened. Stuff like that just keeps running through my brain. Jerry normally grabs something - some food - on the way back to the hotel ... fast food or if the bar is open, and he eats, then he's there by himself. But this could have happened just two or three hours later and nobody would have been there with  him and he wouldn't be here right now. Or he could have been driving to the arena or flying to Montreal. If it had to happen, I'm very thankful that it did there."

I'll try and keep up with any news...

EDIT:
WrestlingNewsSource ‏@WNSource
BREAKING: Brian Christopher "The CT scan of my dad's brain came back good!" Many Memphis Local News Stations Reporting NO Brain Damage Too.

 

[rwllay]

good to hear he's improving, I've had my eye on the dirt sheets since it happened

 

[jbm1986]

Can't say I'm a WWE fan, but I do hope he gets better. I know a lot of his fans would be crushed if he died.