10 Wrestlers Who Almost Died In The Ring

by Jamie Kennedy

1. Jerry 'The King' Lawler

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WWE.com

Minutes after working a throwaway tag-team match on the 10 September 2012 episode of Raw, Jerry 'The King' Lawler clutched his chest and fell to the floor behind the commentary desk. Suffering a very-real heart attack, he received CPR at ringside before being taken to hospital for further treatment.

Later, Lawler underwent an angioplasty to improve blood flow to his heart. It's frightening to think that the King could easily have had a heart attack when he was teaming with Randy Orton to face Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk earlier in the show. Thankfully out of the ring by the time it happened, being at ringside also meant WWE doctors were able to tend to Lawler quickly.

Lawler said during interviews that his heart stopped dead for 22 minutes that evening, and he was fortunate to recover. To this day, Jerry's incident remains one of the closest calls in WWE history. The legend very nearly died on air.

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Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.