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Wrestling's ?King' Proves All Heart In Return To Ring

Posted: May 27th 2013 By: CMBurnham

Early last week, WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler said he never gets nervous before matches.

Not before slapping comedian Andy Kaufman on "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1982.

Not before stepping in the ring at WrestleMania XXVII in front of 71,617 fans and a pay-per-view audience of larger than a million.

But Lawler admitted Saturday night in the cozy setting of Dory Funk Arena was a little bit different.

"I had some butterflies before this," Lawler said. "It isn't often you return to doing something you love for the first time after nearly dying.

"This was special for me."

Eight-and-a-half months after he suffered Sudden Cardiac Arrest while providing commentary on an episode of Monday Night Raw airing live on USA Network, Lawler teamed with Funk, Johnny Magnum and Jessica "Powerhouse" Hill to take on Quinton "Drop Back" Hitchcock, Cory "Wild" Weston, Romero Youngblood and Hollywood Heather.

Lawler spent most of the match in the ring for his team, doing numerous comedy spots (including a pre-match bit where his blood pressure was checked by a ringside physician), as well as offensive moves that saw his opponents eagerly bump for him.

That all led to the big moment where he faced off with Heather - with whom he'd shared humorous banter throughout the encounter. Playing the heel role, Heather slapped "The King" in the face, receiving a piledriver and a three-count in return.

"You have no idea how great it was to be in there with him," said Hollywood Heather, 21, better known to her fellow Vanguard High School Class of 2009 alums as Heather Webber. "I've been watching him for 15 years, and it's just wonderful to have him here.

"You can learn so much being around him, just with how he works the crowd and the psychology he uses,'' she said.

Webber did joke that when Lawler told her he was going to piledrive her, she said, "You're gonna what? I don't want to be dropped on my head!"

Lawler, who received the "Fighting Heart" award from Funk earlier in the evening, said he was assured by his cardiologist that stepping back in the ring would not be a risk. However, he added that something that happened in a tag match about an hour before his cardiac arrest could have been the trigger.

"I have watched the tape of that over and over again, and wrestling sure is different now than when I started," Lawler said. "There is a moment where Dolph Ziggler delivers six or seven elbows to my chest. It was just bang, bang, bang. I think that knocked my heart out of rhythm (something Lawler said his doctors verified could be the case)."

So, Lawler says anytime Ziggler, the current world champion, tells a joke in the locker room, "The King" grins and replies with "you kill me, Dolph! No, literally, you killed me!"

Humor like that is part of what Lawler, 63, brought to the ring Saturday night in Ocala and always has.

"Jerry Lawler is my hero - he really is," said Funk, himself a WWE Hall of Famer. "I'm very proud of him and very thankful he chose to come to !Bang! TV to have his first match back.

"He's very important to this business. He's quite a man, and I feel fortunate to be able to call him my friend. It's always great to see him."