Ten Years Ago Today: We Almost Lost The King

[CMWaters]

Monday Night Raw. September 10, 2012.

After teaming with Randy Orton against Dolph Ziggler and CM Punk, Jerry "The King" Lawler returned to the announce desk to continue his duties.

During a match with Team Hell No vs. The Prime Time Players, Lawler suddenly passed out on the announce table. Michael Cole had to quickly call for the doctors. It would later be revealed that Lawler suffered a heart attack, possibly due to him taking Dolph's multiple elbow drops during the match earlier. It was said Lawler's heart stopped beating for 20 minutes.

I am sure some of you weren't watching at the time, but the situation was a scary one, and from a YouTube interview I saw, Cole was told to "prepare for the worst". For those that were watching, what were your reactions when you learned about it?

WWE snippit video:


Lawler on Austin's podcast talking about it.

[pinja]

It's scary. Very, very scary. I've seen it happening a couple of times in soccer games, players just dropping and either dying or getting out of it without any physical damage. But what does it do to the mind? It must be hard to get back confidence in your body.

[darbus alan]

I gained so much respect for Michael Cole that night. Like that night mercifully ended the heel Michael Cole character, and we got the real person with all the emotions he was going through. And he still soldiered on despite the worry that his coworker and I assume friend might have died. And the relief when he announced that Lawler was going to be alright.

[fw91]

Michael Cole won me over that night. From his sadness and anticipation of having to possibly announce the worst, and his pure joy when it looked like Jerry was going to make it was quite the emotional ride.

[MiLB Fan]

FAN discussing it:

officialfan.proboards.com/thread/449919?page=1

I remember that night because it was the first time watching the show since my decision to take a break after the second three-hour Raw in July. I saw the thread and naturally wanted to know what was going on, so I tuned in to USA.

[dablueboy]

It was one of the scariest nights watching, praying for King to pull through, the rest of the show was such a blur that I don’t even know who main evented that night, just that they muted Cole’s commentary until the end of the show with the news that Jerry was awake

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Sept 10, 2022 13:01:21 GMT -5 darbus alan said:

I gained so much respect for Michael Cole that night. Like that night mercifully ended the heel Michael Cole character, and we got the real person with all the emotions he was going through. And he still soldiered on despite the worry that his coworker and I assume friend might have died. And the relief when he announced that Lawler was going to be alright.

Dude was calling the matches as normal you wouldn't realize anything was wrong ... but then you saw him in the background of the shot his head was down and his hands were on his forhead...clearly panicked/worried about Jerry.

[IgnahtaSempria]

I remember this is around the same time my dad had a heart attack, so it hit me a little harder than it would have otherwise.

This was also the time Paul Heyman faked a heart attack and CM Punk threw up the "X" for heat, which legitimately pissed me off for the above stated reason.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

I hated listening to it with headphones on (which is normally how I watch wrestling) because now I know the f***ing "death rattle" I've read about in stories is real.

Glad he pulled through, could've done without him eating a burger and flipping off the camera so soon after though.

And Cole earned everyone's respect that night.

[Hypnosis]

Sept 10, 2022 20:52:07 GMT -5 King Devitt and the Woke Mob said:

Glad he pulled through, could've done without him eating a burger and flipping off the camera so soon after though.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Sept 10, 2022 20:52:07 GMT -5 King Devitt and the Woke Mob said:

Glad he pulled through, could've done without him eating a burger and flipping off the camera so soon after though.

Well they mentioned that the heart attack was 100% because of physical activity and not like diet or cholesterol levels.

[CMWaters]

Sept 10, 2022 21:08:18 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

Sept 10, 2022 20:52:07 GMT -5 King Devitt and the Woke Mob said:

Glad he pulled through, could've done without him eating a burger and flipping off the camera so soon after though.

Well they mentioned that the heart attack was 100% because of physical activity and not like diet or cholesterol levels.

You have to wonder what Dolph was thinking after hearing that, especially since he did that multi-elbow spot on Lawler during the match.

[Alice Syndrome]

Sept 10, 2022 21:16:56 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Sept 10, 2022 21:08:18 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

Well they mentioned that the heart attack was 100% because of physical activity and not like diet or cholesterol levels.

You have to wonder what Dolph was thinking after hearing that, especially since he did that multi-elbow spot on Lawler during the match.

He must have had at least some sense of humor about it, because even the games started calling that move the Heartstopper by next year.

[CMWaters]

Sept 10, 2022 21:23:06 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

Sept 10, 2022 21:16:56 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

You have to wonder what Dolph was thinking after hearing that, especially since he did that multi-elbow spot on Lawler during the match.

He must have had at least some sense of humor about it, because even the games started calling that move the Heartstopper by next year.

...I would cry foul about that...but I remember I did something just as bad saying that Goldberg should have called his kick to the head that (only remove the e in the word heart) when I was younger.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Sept 10, 2022 21:25:52 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Sept 10, 2022 21:23:06 GMT -5 Alice Syndrome said:

He must have had at least some sense of humor about it, because even the games started calling that move the Heartstopper by next year.

...I would cry foul about that...but I remember I did something just as bad saying that Goldberg should have called his kick to the head that (only remove the e in the word heart) when I was younger.

Jerry probably loved it honestly... and since he was fine it's not in that terrible of taste.

[fg]

Sept 10, 2022 15:08:29 GMT -5 dablueboy said:

It was one of the scariest nights watching, praying for King to pull through, the rest of the show was such a blur that I don’t even know who main evented that night, just that they muted Cole’s commentary until the end of the show with the news that Jerry was awake

I don’t remember them saying that Jerry was awake but I do remember them saying that the outlook was getting better but I was still worried. I went to bed that night worried and when I saw the news the following morning that he avoided death, I was relieved.

I also do remember that when he came back to the commentators table, he was legitimately happy to be there after the ordeal he went through and in spite of or because he’s old school, he had no problem poking fun at it so to speak. When they showed an ambulance, Jerry said: “Hey, my ride is here.”

[Woo]

Really scary. Cole was fantastic throughout.

The Christian Erickson moment from last year was similarly disturbing.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Anal bleeding...

No, wait.

[Mid-Carder]

I didnt watch this at the time but add me to the people impressed with Michael Cole. Amazing he was even able to keep his composure.

And I hope King enjoyed his burger from that photo! Probably the best burger of his life.

[fg]

Sept 11, 2022 3:55:46 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

I didnt watch this at the time but add me to the people impressed with Michael Cole. Amazing he was even able to keep his composure.

And I hope King enjoyed his burger from that photo! Probably the best burger of his life.

Ironically it wasn’t from Burger King. (Remember the days when fans chanted that at him?)