Virgil Battling Early Stages Of Dementia, Reveals Recent Strokes

The former WWE and WCW star has provided a health update to his fans.

by Andrew Pollard
virgil wwe
WWE.com

Former WWE and WCW star Virgil has taken to Twitter to give a sad update on his health.

The one-time Million Dollar Champion revealed that he recently suffered two "massive strokes", is currently unable to use one of his arms, and has been informed by doctors that he's fighting the early stages of dementia.

In a Twitter thread, Virgil explained how he hadn't been feeling well since the weekend of WrestleMania 38. Upon visiting a doctor about his head, arm and heart, the 59-year-old was told he'd suffered two major strokes and was suffering with early dementia. The nWo alumnus detailed how is looking to sell autographs and videos in order to help him out financially at this time, and also asked people to download his Meatsauce Madness mobile game.

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The real-life Michael Jones made his pro wrestling debut in 1985, with him first working as Soul Man Jones in Memphis before landing in the then-WWF in 1986. Initially working as an enhancement talent known as Lucius Brown, he would be repackaged as Virgil the following year.

From '87 through until 1991, Virgil served as the bodyguard of the 'Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase. After DiBiase turned on Virgil at Royal Rumble '91, the powerhouse became a fan favourite singles star who would eventually take the Million Dollar Title from Ted at that year's SummerSlam.

As Virgil, Jones would remain with WWF until August 1995. After that, he would turn up in WCW in '96, now known as Vincent and becoming the Head of Security for the nWo. That WCW tenure would last until 2000, with him renamed Shane, Curly Bill, Mr. Jones and finally going by his real name of Mike Jones during this final months with the company.

More recently, Jones made a couple of appearances for AEW during Chris Jericho's run as the inaugural AEW World Champion.

The thoughts of all of us here at WhatCulture Wrestling go out to Virgil at this time.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.