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A ?King? back in the ring

Posted: May 23rd 2013 By: CMBurnham

Two weeks ago, Dory Funk Jr. called his longtime friend Jerry Lawler to see what the Memphis wrestling icon was planning for his scheduled appearance Saturday at Funk's "!Bang! TV" tapings.

The expected answer was something along the lines of a meet-and-greet with fans.

Instead, the former National Wrestling Alliance world heavyweight champion got a pleasant surprise.

"He told me he had been cleared by doctors and would be making his return to the wrestling ring here in Ocala, Fla.," said Funk, like Lawler a WWE Hall of Famer. "I couldn't believe it."

"I let him know I feel great," Lawler added.

Make no mistake, this is a big deal considering the events of Sept. 10, 2012, at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

There, about two hours into the WWE's 1007th episode of Monday Night Raw, Lawler went into cardiac arrest while on the air.

To the viewing audience, it wasn't immediately evident anything was wrong.

However, off camera, after starting to breathe heavily, Lawler clutched his chest and/or arm, began convulsing in his chair and fell to the ground, according to an eye-witness account given to wrestlingobserver.com.

Paramedics rushed him backstage as the audience chanted, "Jerry! Jerry!"

He was unable to breathe for a few minutes.

CPR was administered, and defibrillator pads were used seven times before his heart began beating.

There was serious concern that even if he survived, Lawler could suffer brain damage due to oxygen deprivation.

Doctors told Lawler ? a man nicknamed "The King" ? he had suffered Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

According to the Mayo Clinic, SCA "usually results from an electrical disturbance in your heart that disrupts its pumping action, stopping blood flow to the rest of your body." It is not the same as a heart attack, which occurs when blood flow to a portion of the heart is blocked.

One American dies of SCA every two minutes, according to stopcardiacarrest.org.

"It has to be treated immediately," Lawler said Monday, two years to the day after an early 1980s rival of his, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, died of a heart attack while driving in Tampa. "It can kill you within minutes. You have to get help right away.

"If it had been an hour-and-a-half later, and I was back in my hotel room, I wouldn't be here today."

This happened to a man who "has never had a sip of beer, wine or whiskey, never had a cigarette in my hands and has never done any drugs," Lawler said. "It goes to show [that] you can live a healthy life and still get very sick and die."

Lawler returned to the announcers' table two months later, the same joke-cracking "King" who fans have adored through a 43-year career as a wrestler and commentator.

And Lawler made it clear he'd like to lace up his boots and return to the ring.

So on Saturday at the !Bang! soundstage ? also known as the Dory Funk Arena ? Lawler, 63, will team with Funk, Johnny Magnum and Jessica "Powerhouse" Hill to take on Cory "Wild" Weston, Quinton "Drop Back" Hitchcock, Romero Youngblood and Hollywood Heather in an eight-person tag match.

Justin Kilbourn, a 35-year-old engineering technician at the University of Florida, echoed what many fans have been posting on wrestling-related message boards.

"I think it's great that he's obviously excited about having his chance to get back in there, but as someone who has followed his career, it's also concerning to me," Kilbourn said. "I worry about his health and wonder if there is any real benefit. Nobody wants to see anything happen to him again.

"I am glad he feels up to it, and to me, that's the best part of it ... that he's recovered enough to feel this way. And I guess it's nice he's going to get to pull down the strap [on his wrestling singlet to fire up the crowd] and get another pop one more time."

Lawler said he was cleared during his six-month checkup, though his cardiologist advised him to watch his sodium and cholesterol intake.

"He said everything looked great, that I was good to go," said Lawler, who added a little bit of memory loss is the only real issue he still has. "I asked if I can go back to doing what I've always done, and he said it wouldn't be a problem, that it actually should be good because it will be cardio work, which is good for me. Anything to get my heart rate up.

"I asked if taking a body slam would be an issue. He said nothing like that would affect my heart."

Then came the old Lawler wit: "I asked if I could play tennis. He told me, ?Yeah, no problem.' I then told him, ?Well, I never could before, so why now?' "

Lawler said the entire ordeal taught him a lot about how people can touch one another's lives.

"It was astounding, the outpouring of concern for me when it happened," said Lawler, who hopes his future includes a major comeback match in the WWE. "At that point, when I was literally dead for a few minutes, millions and millions of people started praying. Some held hands. Some said they put their hands on their TV and started praying.

"It made me a more firm believer."

Funk, who first wrestled Lawler about 40 years ago, said he is proud to be a part of his friend's comeback and is making sure necessary precautions are being taken. That includes having his own personal doctors present and having a wrestling student, Andrew Kintantinov, who has graduated from medical school at ringside.

"I respect everything Jerry wants to do, and I know he has approval from the WWE (Lawler confirmed he does) because he'd never want to do anything to upset [Chairman and CEO] Vince McMahon or anybody else in the company," Funk said. "And the fact that he chose here to come back is exciting. I'm just elated.

"I think this will be a memorable night not only for the fans in attendance and the rest of us there, but for Jerry, as well."