Legendary wrestling broadcasters dealing with health struggles

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The two were an iconic broadcasting duo in the world of professional wrestling. Jim Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler spent years together broadcasting weekly for WWF/WWE programming. In recent years Lawler has spent time semi-retired while Ross has become the lead commentator for Jacksonville-based All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Ross moved to Jacksonville Beach in the past few years.

Let’s start with Ross. This past weekend the legendary play-by-play announcer announced on Twitter that he had a fall and got a bad black eye.

But that didn’t stop him from broadcasting at the AEW Collision event in Chicago. “Bad fall this morning. Still headed to Chicago for Collision!” he tweeted. But the image shows a very noticeable black eye.

This comes following a recent battle with skin cancer for Ross for which he’s received treatment. Following the event in Chicago Ross followed with another tweet apologizing for his voice.

He wrote: “I apologize for the way I sounded tonight. Going to step away to heal. Thanks for your support.”

Well wishes from the wrestling industry have poured in. One came from Victoria Crawford who wrestled for many years under the name “Alicia Fox” in WWE. Crawford graduated from Nease High School in St. Johns County.

For Lawler his health concerns have come due to a stroke he suffered several months ago. He suffered a stroke in February but did appear to make a strong recovery. However, another longtime wrestling name, Dutch Mantel, recently spoke publicly about Lawler’s condition on the “Story Time” podcast.

“I have heard, this is news on Jerry Lawler. You know, his recent stroke that he had in February that put him in the hospital almost killed him, and he’s had some more mini strokes along the way. He is much better, but still not recovering as well as they would hope. He has trouble finishing sentences. I mean, he talks well. His voice has changed somewhat. He talks, but when he gets to the end of the sentence, he starts searching for words to end the sentence and he gets frustrated,” said Mantel.