Luke Owen wonders whether the WWE should have stopped Raw this past Monday after Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler suffered a heart attack during the live TV broadcast…
While I know that Flickering Myth is a dedicated film and TV website, this has been something that has been playing on my mind for the last few days and I wanted to get something out there. And like or not, WWE Raw is a TV show made for entertainment purposes rather than a display of competitive sport.
For those of you who don’t know what happened on Monday night’s live television broadcast, colour commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler suffered a near fatal heart attack during a tag team match between Kane and Daniel Bryan and the Prime Time Players. His co-commentator Michael Cole went very quiet and was clearly panicked but carried on the show as a professional. The cameras never panned or cut to the announcer’s desk, but it was clear that live crowd had stopped watching the match in the ring to look towards where Lawler had collapsed. Within minutes the paramedics were at the announcer’s desk and took Jerry to the back via stretcher, again with none of this being shown by the live cameras. After the match was over, we had another short segment before Cole told us what had happened and promptly stopped calling matches as a mark of respect for Lawler.
It was later revealed once the show was off the air that Lawler had suffered a heart attack that would have killed him had he not been in the capable and quick hands of the WWE paramedics. It was also revealed yesterday that, despite not breathing for 15 minutes, he has suffered no brain damage and is sitting up, talking and laughing.
But the question hangs over this horrific event – should WWE owner Vince McMahon have stopped the show once Jerry collapsed? Reports say that Lawler suffered his heart attack at just before 9pm which means the show went on for another hour before finishing at its scheduled time of 10pm. As the old saying goes – the show must go on.
It brings me back to the darkest day in live WWE event history when performer Owen Hart fell to his death at the Over The Edge PPV on May 23rd 1999. As he was playing the role of comedy superhero The Blue Blazer, Hart was to be lowered into the ring by a harness (which had been used many times during the day by Hart himself and WCW performer Sting at various shows), however the quick release mechanism was activated early which caused him to plummet 24 meters from the ceiling. TV viewers did not see the event as a pre-taped vignette was airing and were told what had happened by commentators Jim “JR” Ross and Jerry Lawler. Hart later died in hospital.
Despite the seriousness of the event, Over The Edge continued as planned however the show has never been released on home video. As the old saying goes – the show must go on.
But how true of a statement is that really? Should either show really have ‘gone on’? After all, one of them nearly led to the death of a beloved performer and the other one did. What would have to happen for a show to not ‘go on’?
I can see the argument that says the shows should have stopped and have everyone sent home which feels like the most compassionate response. But the other argument is just that old saying that has been around for eons – no matter what happens, the show must go on. If someone gets injured or hurt, the show has to continue. Whether we like or not, this is showbusiness and there ain’t no business like it. At the end of the day, Vince McMahon had to make a split second decision. With the power of hindsight we can look back to May 23rd 1999 and say that he probably should have stopped the show but at that moment in time he didn’t have that option and he went with his gut instinct – to entertain a troubled audience.
Wrestling Observer journalist Dave Meltzer said on his radio show with Bryan Alverez that had Lawler died, he believe they would have stopped the show but I have my reservations. Having grown up watching McMahon’s unique brand of entertainment, I get the feeling that he believes in one thing – entertaining his audience. On top of that, major sporting shows have injuries that lead to fatal outcomes which also continue to the final whistle, so why is pro wrestling under a different form of media scrutiny?
It’s hard to make a true call on this because we have never been in that position. And having not had those life experiences, are we best judged to criticise someone for making a particular call? I guess for me I just have that one question that hangs over this whole horrid ordeal – what does it take for a show to not ‘go on’?
Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.
Originally published September 13, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
