Jerry Lawler in serious condition

[rovert]

From Michael Cole to his own doctor are saying Lawler is fine to wrestle. Just wow.

[El-P]

Jerry Lawler : 1 - Death : 0

[rovert]

Jerry Lawler : 1 - Death : 0

Him in the WKO 2013 is a warm thought legitimately.

[Phil Schneider]

He was definitely going to be in the WKO 2012 list. Folks should watch the Derrick King/Precious v. Jerry Lawler/Brian Christopher tag, classic Lawler and the kind of match which would make every old school wrestling fan smile

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxp2imB-lXs

[El-P]

With perhaps the exception of the morbid last paragraph, I stand by the rest. This isn't complicated, and the WWE is talented enough to be prepared for these things. There are also people like Steph or Trip that need to have the balls to stand up to Vince if something like this happens.

Agreed. There was no point to continue the show at all, at least no point in broadcasting it. Nobody cared about watching a cold Cody Rhodes vs Rey match, and the final angle was awkward to watch, really. Showing clips and have an update between them would have been fine.

[ohtani's jacket]

How many other live broadcasts would stop because someone had a heart attack? Would a concert stop if someone in the crew had a heart attack? The WWE actually saved the life of one of its performers for a change, why quibble about the rest?

[flyonthewall2983]

That's the important thing. The job their medics did outweighs any mere complaints about moral standing as to whether the show continued. It's easy to say from where we sit they should have stopped it. But honestly, would any one of you who thought it should have been stopped pick up the mantle and ask however many thousands of paying customers that because someone suffered a heart attack that the show has to be cancelled? Of course some people would understand and leave, but there's always the potential some jackass gets pissed and starts an altercation that could make a bad situation worse. If anything, keeping the show possibly going allowed the ambulances to move out of the arena faster because everybody was still in their seats!

[jdw]

My points were:

 

* the WWE has had plenty of time/years to prepare for an event worth of stopping the live broadcast

* the methods for filling the time aren't complicated

* this was an event worthy of stopping the broadcast

 

I don't think the first two are arguably, in any fashion.

 

The third?

 

I don't think so, but others can offer up why having a performer on the show having a near death heart attack live on TV isn't worthy of stopping the show (let alone stopping the match for fucks sake). Go ahead, have at it.

 

Lawler isn't a member of the "crew". He's a fucking member of the Cast. A member who gets more air time a year than everyone in the promotion other than Cole.

 

The proper analogy would be if Little Steven had a heart attack during Springsteen's 9/8 concert at Wrigley Field during "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" (the 17th song of the show)... should Bruce and the rest of the E-Street Band have kept playing "Waitin' on a Sunny Day" while folks were tending to Little Steven on the stage?

 

Cause that's what the fuck the WWE did. Lawler/Little Steven keeled over, and for all they knew at the time was dead (stopped breathing for 20 minutes according to earlier reports).

 

These fucks thought so much of Jerry that they couldn't even go to a quick commercial, send out the EMTs, clear the ring, and get Jerry to the back before even bothering to show the ring shot again.

 

That's basic human decency shit that anyone would do... other than Vince and folks who want to apologize for Vince.

 

But going further with the analogy, what the WWE did was if after Steven was pulled to the back and quite possibly fucking dead, Bruce then decided to play "Who'll Stop the Rain".

 

Then played "The Ghost of Tom Joad"

 

Then played "Badlands"

 

Then played "Thunder Road".

 

Then take a short break before the encores.

 

Then come back out to play "Rocky Ground".

 

Then played "Born to Run".

 

Then played "Rosalita".

 

Then played "Dancing in the Dark".

 

Then played "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out".

 

Then played "American Land".

 

That would be kind of... fucked up to the max. Pretty much everyone would point out that Bruce was a cold, heartless bastard. Bruce fans in the building who would have understood the show being stopped because they love Van Zant would have wonder what in the hell was going through Bruce that he kept singing while Steven was over there having a heart attack, and paused in the show only long enough for Steve to be stretched off before Bruce pulled out the acoustic guitar to play...

 

"Heard the singers playin', how we cheered for more.

The crowd had rushed together tryin' to keep warm.

Still the rain kept pourin', fallin' on my ears

And I wonder, still I wonder who'll stop the rain."

-John Fogerty

 

It's good that "the WWE saved Jerry's life". That is a different thing from whether they handled the broadcast right.

 

John

[jdw]

But honestly, would any one of you who thought it should have been stopped pick up the mantle and ask however many thousands of paying customers that because someone suffered a heart attack that the show has to be cancelled?

I would. Pretty clear from my comments that I would.

 

Jesus christ... my facebook feed was filled up with a host of people doing the #prayforLawler (or something like it). No one gave a shit about the *show* at that point. Pretty clear that the fans didn't either. Do you seriously think the #prayforLawler folks would have cared if they stopped the show, filled the time with content that they *always* should be prepared to run (think of a hurricane causing an entire show to be cancelled the day of an event), and simply break into that content from time to time when/if they had an update on Jerry.

 

Would *you* have been offended / pissed of they did that?

 

John

[Dylan Waco]

I strongly suspect the show would have been called if it had been a random show in Jackson, Mississippi and not Bret in Montreal for the first time in fifteen years.

 

The funny thing is - as I noted earlier in the thread - the whole thing makes Bret's reaction to the Owen death look extremely self serving.

[jdw]

Agreed.

[rovert]

I strongly suspect the show would have been called if it had been a random show in Jackson, Mississippi and not Bret in Montreal for the first time in fifteen years.

 

The funny thing is - as I noted earlier in the thread - the whole thing makes Bret's reaction to the Owen death look extremely self serving.

I don't think Bret has any wiggle room since he took such a hardline but and there is a but to my understanding word had gotten round that Lawler was in a stable condition before than segment.

[KrisZ]

I actually think that the fans helped the show go on because they didn't tap out of the show when it happened. They were still into what was going on even the last Anger Management skit which took place after the incident and the fans were audibly laughing at the end. I think most other cities would've been pretty much done after seeing Lawler get taken out.

[ohtani's jacket]

So now you're saying they should have called the show off because it was Lawler? What if it had been a cameraman or a security guard or the physician at ringside even? The WWE's contingency plan is that the show goes on. Given that Cole did the best he could and Lawler got the immediate care he needed which saved his life. Surely, that's more important than staying tuned for regular updates on Jerry Lawler while we go to tape. That's crass.

[jackwebb]

Lawler looking good. An amazing man

http://www.tout.com/m/rwwluj

[blueminister]

Not sure why people would expect the show to be stopped for a non-fatal injury/incident, even a serious one. I mean... I watch football. And I've come to terms with the fact that a couple times a year I'm going to watch a guy roll off the field on a stretcher. Then the game starts again. I've never heard anyone suggest "that running back has a neck injury, cancel the game".

Wrestling is in its modern incarnation is basically a light comedic cooperative performance art and there was no assurance at the time that the incident was non-fatal. I think of this as one of many scenarios that may or may not have been appropriate grounds for cancellation of something like a sport event but are 100% grounds for calling off the rest of a prowres show.

[blueminister]

So now you're saying they should have called the show off because it was Lawler? What if it had been a cameraman or a security guard or the physician at ringside even?

Then the situation is very different? If you honestly can't discern how those scenarios represent vastly different degrees of severity to the audience and the performers you should probably think about this more.

 

Like, you call out the idea that the show should be stopped and finished with prepared footage and health updates as "crass" as opposed to, uh, having visibly shaken pro wrestlers go out and perform a skit immediately after learning their friend is within inches of death?

[jdw]

So now you're saying they should have called the show off because it was Lawler?

I'm saying that your calling him a member of the "crew" was wrong.

 

 

What if it had been a cameraman or a security guard or the physician at ringside even?

I would have stopped the show. But I wasn't defending "the show must go on". You were.

 

 

The WWE's contingency plan is that the show goes on.

We all know that.

 

Some of us think they're vile human beings for having the contingency plan.

 

 

Given that Cole did the best he could and Lawler got the immediate care he needed which saved his life.

That means they shouldn't have stopped the show?

 

 

Surely, that's more important than staying tuned for regular updates on Jerry Lawler while we go to tape.

If it's my company, my contingency plan with USA Network would be in situations like that they go to USA programing, not WWE programing.

 

That's too much to expect from the WWE. At *best* one could hope that they have a variety of WWE Content to go to, flexible in duration depending on when an event happen. If a hurricane or power outage prior to the show happened, they'd have a 3 hour option back in USA Headquarters ready to go. If something happened with 20 minutes to go, they would have 20 minutes to material. Etc.

 

In this case, they needed an hour to an hour twenty to fill. They *should* have that.

 

As far as getting Jerry treatment... read what I wrote, Daniel. Even you can grasp it if you slow down. I said they should have cut to a commercial immediately. Stopped the match. Gotten Jerry immediate care without having to worry about staying out of the eye of the camera. Without worry of anything going on to get in the way of care, and getting Jerry out of there when needed.

 

My comment about cutting in for updates was:

 

* they should have said what happened, just as they did

* if they get any positive news, which they did, someone could do any update... just as they did

 

That could be done while they roll out the "standby material" because they still will be going in and out of commericals, and there's zero doubt that the WWE Production would still be in the building until 11PM ET along with any number of people who could provide the updates if there was any info.

 

 

That's crass.

Carrying on a live match while Lawler is over there possibly dying is fucking crass.

 

Carrying on the live show while he is backstage and the on the way to a hospital with his "heart stopped for 20 minutes" is crash.

 

Seriously, Daniel... what kind of cold hearted shit out you defending?

 

John

[KrisZ]

This is his greatest comeback ever.

 

[jdw]

Like, you call out the idea that the show should be stopped and finished with prepared footage and health updates as "crass" as opposed to, uh, having visibly shaken pro wrestlers go out and perform a skit immediately after learning their friend is within inches of death?

That's generally what I'm getting at, but we need to go back:

 

Lawler is at the table with his life at risk having a massive heart attack and the WWE carries on with the *match* and doesn't cut away to commercial while Jerry is being attended to.

 

Think about just that as far as Stopping The Show. Can that at all be defending?

 

Does anyone think if the first base umpire dropped down with a heart attack that they would "finish the inning" even as he was being tended to "on the field"?

 

It's ringside at the table. That's part of the basic "stage" of WWE live TV/PPV pro wrestling shows. It's essentially "on the field".

 

And those sick fucks couldn't stop the match? Couldn't go to commercial while Jerry was being tended to?

 

Seriously... how in the hell can that be defended in any fashion?

 

I said in my earlier post that it's possible to defend going on with the show once Jerry's in the back. Personally... I can't justify it. Not my morals if that was my long time employee. It's easy for the WWE to have back up plans so USA doesn't go dark. But if someone wants defend it, that's their own morals on how they would run to run things.

 

Given that, I can only not beg off the comment I had at the original post: there is part of me that Vince checks out in a fashion like Lawler almost did Monday, and it gets to fall to Steph and Trip to either follow the Old Man's vision of "the show must go on" or be better human beings.

 

John

[blueminister]

With Vince I don't think keeping shows going is the product of any old-school "show must go on" sentiment as it is the outcome of an lightning speed cost-benefit analysis that runs through his bizarre carnie moral prism. Frankly, I don't have any reason to believe Vince cares enough about any of his performers where any "checking out" is necessary (with a few possible exceptions that are blood relatives or are married into the family, and even with Hunter I think it's more of a matter of overestimating his value as a commodity than any real warm feelings.)

 

Even in theater "the show must go on" is a maxim that applies more to the lead being locked up for drunk driving the evening of a performance and less to Falstaff collapsing of a heart attack in full view of the audience in the middle of the third act.

[Sean Liska]

This is his greatest comeback ever.

 

Love seeing Lawler back with his Diet Coke. What a remarkable recovery. Amazing.

[PeteF3]

Does anyone think if the first base umpire dropped down with a heart attack that they would "finish the inning" even as he was being tended to "on the field"?

When John McSherry died on the field, no. When Larry Dierker suffered a brain aneurysm in the dugout, no.

 

When Ray Chapman got carted off the field, never to regain consciousness...yes.

 

When Chuck Hughes died on the football field, yes.

 

When Dennis Byrd, Adam Talafierro, and that guy from Tulane 2 weeks ago all suffered horrific and possibly life-threatening injuries, yes.

 

Soccer...tends to be a mixed bag. Some matches were stopped, but many were not.

 

I don't think this is as cut-and-dried as it's being made out to be. I also tend to think that blacking out coverage, whether in favor of old WWE material or SVU reruns, would have been taken as an instant signal that Lawler was already dead. How many viewers would have tuned out at that point? I know I would have--which would have meant that thousands of people would have missed out on Cole's report that Lawler was breathing on his own--a major development and a sudden good sign.

[Gregor]

When John McSherry died on the field, no. When Larry Dierker suffered a brain aneurysm in the dugout, no.

 

When Ray Chapman got carted off the field, never to regain consciousness...yes.

It should be pointed out that these two no's took place in the 1990s and the yes took place in 1920.

[blueminister]

Also sports are legitimate competitive events between independently operated parties whose scheduling effects myriad economies and wrestling is essentially a dramatic simulation of a sporting event utilizing traveling troupes of performers that could and have run virtually the same show every night.