JERRY LAWLER has declared that he wants to get back into the ring, despite suffering a heart attack on Raw two weeks ago.
The WWE Hall of Famer worked a match on September but later collapsed live on air while commentating.
The quick work of the on-hand medical personnel saved his life and he spent several days in intensive care.
Speaking at a press conference held at his home in Memphis, during which Jerry was in good spirits and looked remarkably well, he was asked whether he thought he would wrestle again, and answered without hesitation: “Oh, absolutely. Yes.
He continued: “I’ve had so many calls and messages from my fellow wrestlers.
“Literally everybody in the WWE has contacted me. Guys like Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair who aren’t in the WWE anymore have contacted me.
“There’s a brotherhood or camaraderie of guys who do this for a living.
“It’s entertainment. I don’t want to say it’s not as physically demanding as it seems, because it is physically demanding, but you’re not necessarily taking your life in your hands every time you get into the ring.
“From that aspect, I feel like I can go back and do it again. I certainly want to.
“Considering all that has happened, I feel really well. My chest is still sore from the compressions, the CPR.
“Our WWE doctor has an appropriate name — his name is Dr. Samson. And he was as strong as Samson.
“He may have cracked a couple of ribs! But that’s what saved me.
“My throat is raspy from having a breathing tube down there for a couple of days, but other than that I feel good.
“I haven’t had any after-affects as far as chest pain or anything like that.
“If you are going to have a heart attack, mine was probably as good an outcome as you could have.
“None of the major arteries were blocked. As a matter fact they were all clear.
“It was only two small arteries at the bottom of my heart, one required a stent to open, the other with a balloon.
“There was minimal damage done, and that part of the heart can heal itself and get back to normal.”
Viewers across the world were concerned when Lawler stopped announcing and appeared to start snoring.
He was rushed to the back for medical attention, leaving Michael Cole to explain to stunned fans what had happened.
Lawler, though, remembers little of what happened that night, including the lead-up to his collapse.
He said: “I remember going out, greeting the fans as normal before the show started, and sitting down at my announce chair.
“The first segment was our WWE champion CM Punk confronting Bret Hart. I can remember that like it happened five minutes ago.
“After that, that’s literally all I remember.
“Apparently I went on and had a match. Randy Orton and I wrestled CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler in a two-segment match. Apparently I looked like normal in the match.
“I came back to the announce table, put my headsets on and continued broadcasting the show. I don’t remember any of it. Not one bit.
“(Lawler’s girlfriend) Lauren has showed me the video of the match, but it’s like watching a match that may have taken place ten years ago that I don’t remember.
“Apparently the next thing that happened was that I slumped over on the desk. My broadcast partner Michael Cole said: ‘I knew something was wrong because you started snoring!’
“It wasn’t the heart attack that I envision people having. My father had seven heart attacks in his life, I was there when he had several, and it was excruciating pain.
“In my case, I was sitting there commentating then suddenly passed out. I woke up in hospital. I guess I didn’t get the sense of having a heart attack.
Since the heart attack, Lawler has been told that a combination of the quick work of the doctors in Montreal, where the incident occurred, and his own healthy lifestyle have aided his remarkable recovery.
Having flown back to Memphis in WWE Chairman Vince McMahon’s private jet, doctors have expressed satisfaction with how he is progressing, and expect a full recovery.
Lawler added: “Thank the lord that it happened where it did happen.
“Not only in Montreal, Canada, where the hospital they rushed me to is one of the top five cardiology hospitals in the world, but the fact that WWE doctors and paramedics that we always have at our shows were right there on hand, it just kept it from being probably much worse than it could have been.
“This was more than likely genetics. My father had seven heart attacks and passed away when he was 59 years old. My brother has had open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass.
“It’s probably something that was going to happen.
“But the lifestyle I have led, other than not being the greatest and healthiest eater on earth – I like fried chicken as everybody knows! – I’ve never even tasted alcohol.
“Not a sip of beer, wine, whisky or anything in my life. I’ve never had a cigarette even in my hand, much less smoke one.
“I’ve never done any kind of drugs. That type of lifestyle likely helped minimise what could have been more severe.”
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