Over the course of his storied wrestling career, Jerry “The King” Lawler has fought and beaten numerous legends, but if you ask him, his best victory was clearly the one over death. Ten years ago, the beloved Hall of Famer and commentator collapsed during an episode of Raw. His heart stopped beating for more than twenty minutes, but the legend miraculously survived and made a full recovery. In fact, he’s still putting in appearances on WWE and around the independent circuit.
This week marked the 10th anniversary of that collapse, and The King decided to celebrate the milestone as only Jerry Lawler would: by hilariously celebrating his victory. The commentator took to Twitter to boast about his win and also to think Dr. Sampson for saving his life. Here’s a look at his post…
10 years ago today on @WWE RAW from Montreal/Quebec Canada, @RandyOrton and I defeated @CMPunk and @HEELZiggler Then, right after that, I won the match of my life, when I defeated DEATH! After a cardiac arrest, my heart did not beat for 22 minutes! Thank you @DocSampson13 pic.twitter.com/gkQOkbnrbZSeptember 10, 2022
The terrifying moment, which is well remembered by many WWE fans, occurred on September 10th, 2012. Jerry Lawler was in Montreal at the Bell Centre, which is always a great venue for WWE with really loud and invested crowds. He teamed with Randy Orton to defeat CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a tag match. Afterwards, he returned to his normal position at the commentator’s table and was working a Kane and Daniel Bryan tag match when he collapsed and was rushed into the back. The ensuing medical event wasn’t shown on TV, but you could see something was wrong based on the crowd reactions. Michael Cole later confirmed those worries when he addressed viewers and said The King was receiving CPR in the back.
But he survived and was out of the hospital and back home a week later. About two months later, he was back on television and eventually started doing the occasional wrestling match again too. He’s since transitioned away from full-time weekly commentary, but he still fills in, makes a lot of appearances and always receives a huge welcome from WWE fans who fondly remember him as one of the great announcers ever.
There have been a lot of incredible commentator duos in WWE over the years. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon were terrific in the early 90s. Monsoon and Jesse ‘The Body’ Ventura were great in the late 80s. Pat McAfee and Michael Cole are currently amazing on Smackdown (at least when McAfee isn’t doing football games), but for many wrestling fans, especially those who love the so-called Attitude era of the late 90s and early 00s, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Jim Ross will forever by their favorite partnership. They were just such a perfect balance. Ross could paint an incredible picture of whatever was happening, and Lawler was able to inject such humor.
That’s why, for those of us who watched him for decades, the idea of him bragging about defeating DEATH in a social media post isn’t a surprise at all. We watched him rip on Bret Hart’s parents and slap Andy Kaufman on David Letterman. There’s nowhere that was too taboo for him to go, and it’s refreshing to see nothing has changed. Stay strong, King!
