MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Memphis wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler says a sore chest and raspy voice are the only symptoms remaining after his heart attack last week. Despite suffering the attack on live TV, Lawler believes it was the best place he could have been.
The WWE's doctors and paramedics were at the wrestling match in Canada when he collapsed. They started working on him almost right away and kept the situation from being worse.
"If you're going to have to have a heart attack, mine has as good an outcome as you can have," the wrestler says.
Comfortable and at ease sitting on a throne in his East Memphis home, Lawler talked about the last time the public saw him being wheeled out on a stretcher in Montreal.
"Thank the good Lord it happened where it did." A WWE doctor started CPR on Lawler immediately. "That's really what saved me." He says he has no permanent damage; none of his major arteries were blocked.
"It was two small arteries at the bottom of my heart. One required a stent to open, the other a balloon angioplasty. There was minimal damage. The doctors say that part of the heart can heal itself and get back to normal."
He can't remember the moments immediately before his heart attack, or even the wrestling match, which by the way, he won. "It's like watching a match that's taken place ten years ago. I don't remember a bit."
He was at the broadcast table when he passed out. "My broadcast partner says he knew something was wrong when I started snoring in the middle of the show," he laughs.
Lawler feels blessed, saying he felt no intense pain. He blames the heart attack on genetics, adding he's never tasted alcohol, smoked a cigarette or done drugs.
"My father had seven heart attacks. He passed when he was 59 years old. His funeral was on my 19th birthday. My brother's had open heart surgery, a quadruple bypass. My attack was probably something that was going to happen."
During the last week he's been encouraged by fans' concerns and well wishes. "It's been crazy. Literally. With my WWE exposure they've been reaching out from all corners of the world."
And he's especially touched by the support from fans in the Mid-South. "When you have that many people thinking about you, you know you live in a special place."
Lawler met with a local cardiologist this morning. He says his blood pressure is the lowest it's been in his life.
Doctors are telling him to change his diet -- he loves fried chicken -- and he needs more exercise.
It may take a few months, but Lawler vows fans will absolutely see him back in the ring.
