Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Sometimes real life interferes with fiction in pro wrestling and we are all left to question the validity of the situation. Did what we see or hear a part of an elaborate storyline or is this actually happening for real? On September 10, 2012 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on a random episode of Monday Night Raw…WWE Hall of Famer Jerry ‘the King’ Lawler died. No, it wasn’t any part of an angle or storyline…it was all too real.
This all happened in Montreal of course…the place where a few years earlier….Bret Hart was screwed out of the WWF world title in the infamous “Montreal Screwjob.” While many to this day still contend that the Montreal Screwjob was in fact an elaborate work, was the fact that Jerry Lawler collapsing at the announcers table and stretchered off backstage a work? After all, Lawler was previously seen that night wrestling a match teaming with Randy Orton taking on CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler. Could it have been possible that this was just something to advance that angle?
The answer was sadly no. Although, that match may have had something to do with the medical emergency that transpired. In that said match, Dolph Ziggler delivered repeated elbow drops to the chest of Jerry Lawler. Lawler recalled at that time…“After the fifth elbow that he was dropping on my chest, I said to myself, ‘Whatever happened to the days that we used to do this and not kill each other?’” Despite Ziggler’s supposed overzealousness, Lawler would return to the broadcast booth with Michael Cole by his side later that night.
While at the commentator’s position, as Michael Cole was calling the action in the ring, he could hear the slight sound of snoring coming from Lawer’s headset. Cole began laughing, as he thought the King was just doing a heel comedy routine. He believed Lawler was snoring because he wanted to convey to the viewers that the match was boring. It wasn’t until Cole looked over to his side and saw Lawler hunched over, snoring and looked a bit blue in the face.
At that point, Cole realized it wasn’t a routine and that something was seriously wrong. Cole looked over to Dr. Michael Sampson who was sitting ringside and alerted him of the situation. Cole hit the mute button on the microphones, as his initial thought was not let Lawler’s family (who always watchedthe show) be alerted tat something dire was happening. As Jerry Lawler slumped off his chair, Dr. Sampson ran to him, checked his vitals and immediately began administering CPR. As the situation was becoming more chaotic, Cole continued to call the match in the ring.
Lawler was quickly stretchered out from ringside and sent backstage. With little to no information available, Cole was just sitting quiet at the announcer’s table for the remainder of the show. He was getting updates from Triple H, who was at the Gorilla Position. Cole alerted the TV viewing audience of the incident and would continue to provide updates as they were made available.
According to a number of wrestlers and personnel backstage, Jerry Lawler’s heart had stopped and was clinically dead for over 20 minutes. The situation was becoming extremely grim and Triple H alerted Cole to this. He told Cole to be prepared for the worst possible scenario. It was Cole’s job to alert the fans watching, that Jerry the King Lawler had died, if it was going to come to that.
Cole sat alone at the announcers table the rest of the night with nothing to go on. He was fearing the worst and had to somehow compose himself to potentially announce the death of a friend on live TV. About 30 minutes before Monday Night Raw went off the air, Cole received word that the medical staff were able to get Lawler’s heart pumping again. A small relief at that time.
Lawler could not remember anything that happened from the time he was calling a match ringside, to the point he woke up in a hospital bed. All he remembers is being incredibly sore as he had suffered a broken rib while being given CPR. He did clarify that he did not suffer a heart attack, but cardiac arrest. His heart just simply stopped working. There was no damage to it and says while a scary situation, he doesn’t dwell on the incident at all.