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FILE - This April 23, 2011 file photo shows professional wrestler Jerry Lawler gesturing to fans before the start of Game 3 of a first-round NBA basketball series between the Memphis Grizzlies and the San Antonio Spurs, in Memphis, Tenn. Lawler collapsed during a World Wrestling Entertainment event on Monday night, Sept. 10, 2012 in Montreal. A statement from the WWE said that Lawler suffered a heart attack at the announcers' table and was taken from the Bell Centre to a hospital. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
Jimmy Blaylock of Tupelo has worked with Lawler for years and he’s been in contact with the family. “He’s already had stint surgery,” Blaylock said. “At least two stints were put in.”
Lawler, 62, was involved in a wrestling match on WWE’s “Monday Night Raw” that was filmed in Montreal, Canada, then he went to the announcer’s booth.
“It was live TV,” Blaylock said. “He started coughing. Then all of the sudden, he passed out. This all happened on the air.”
Blaylock said Lawler was given CPR at the venue, then taken to a Montreal hospital, where he’s in stable condition.
“Jerry Lawler was very important in Tupelo,” Blaylock said. “He would come down on Friday nights and wrestle in front of 1,000 people. They had to turn people away.”
Blaylock is a wrestling personality and goes by “Hollywood Jimmy.” He’s regularly worked events with the Memphis-based Lawler.
“It feels like he’s family. I’ve been knowing him so long,” Blaylock said. “I don’t know what would happen if Jerry Lawler couldn’t wrestle. I’m afraid his wrestling career might be over. That would be horrible.”
Lawler spent the past week in Aruba, and had symptoms on the Saturday flight back home.
“They thought it was indigestion,” Blaylock said, “but now they think it might’ve been when this started.”
scott.morris@journalinc.com