MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - “The King” returned to Memphis on Monday, September 17. Wrestling legend Jerry Lawler was released from a Montreal hospital, one week after suffering a heart attack during a broadcast of the WWE ‘Monday Night Raw’ event.
And of course, Lawler flew home to Memphis in a private jet fit for a king. It is what everyone had been waiting for, Lawler returning to his kingdom.
Getting news out of Montreal, where he suffered the heart attack was tough; he spent seven days in a Canadian hospital.
But, his return home created quite a change in the mood of the wrestling world.
“I have absolutely incredible, fantastic news to report tonight,” shouted WWE announcer Michael Cole on the September 17 broadcast of “Raw”, “Earlier today Jerry 'The King' Lawler touched down in his home town of Memphis.”
“We got home about two thirty this afternoon,” said Lawler’s girlfriend, Lauryn McBride. “Vince McMahon was kind enough to let us fly back on his private jet.”
McMahon is the owner of World Wrestling Entertainment.
What a difference a week makes; on Monday, September 10, Lawler was carried from a Montreal arena on a stretcher.
“This is not part of tonight’s entertainment,” Cole told the audience that night.
It wasn’t; it was real. So was Lawler’s week recovering in a Montreal hospital.
“I’ve got more wires coming out of me than AT&T,” said Lawler in a brief videotaped message, “I would just like to thank everybody in the WWE world for their thoughts and prayers.”
Lawler’s trip back to Memphis included one special companion.
“The doctor that actually saved Jerry’s life flew back with us,” McBride said.
That doctor’s name is Michael Sampson.
The message was completely different on the most recent ‘Raw’ telecast.
“Jerry, how you doing buddy,” Cole shouted into the cameras, “I wore this t-shirt for the occasion. I can’t wait to see you back here.”
Written on the t-shirt was the message: Long Live the King.
Lawler’s Memphis fans couldn’t wait to see their hero back in the Bluff City.
“So, he’s back home,” McBride told abc24.com, “He’s well. He’s just very exhausted. It’s been a very exhausting week for us.”
Understandable, but as a very public figure everybody wanted to hear from Jerry Lawler.
“He’s just asking that everybody kind of give us our privacy for at least the next 24 hours,” said McBride, “and let us get settled in at home and get everything taken care of.”
While all wasn’t quite right in the Memphis wrestling world, it was on the way.
“The King is home and he is recuperating,” Cole told the world on ‘Raw’.
McBride told abc24.com that Jerry was anxious to communicate with all his Memphis fans; after taking the night to rest from his trip home, he hoped to meet with the media sometime on Tuesday.
