Video has been making the rounds today (March 13) of a scary scene that unfolded last night in Ohio Valley Wrestling.
After a planned ref bump took out the first official in a multi-man tag match on the show, referee Dallas Edwards ran in to call the action. Edwards was took a flying forearm in what looked to be another planned spot, and stayed on the mat without moving for several seconds. At one point, Edwards seems to try to move but then begins convulsing. His limbs are locked as he continues
to shake rapidly, at which point two of the announcers seem to notice Edwards isn’t just selling. Even though it seems obvious at that point something’s gone wrong, one of the wrestlers drags the still-rigid referee out of the way for his next spot. At that point, everyone seems to realize Edwards is “in serious trouble” as the play-by-play person says. He eventually informs the audience there was a medical emergency in the ring before signing off.
You can find video without looking too hard, but unless Edwards shares it himself, we won’t either.
An OVW wrestler did post a picture of a smiling Edwards giving a thumbs up on Facebook, and another a message from someone else close to the ref who wrote that Edwards was “stable and being looked over at the hospital… he is awake, coherent, and in good spirits.” Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp received a statement from Edwards’ girlfriend which reads:
Please keep Dallas in your thoughts as your day begins. I am not going to provide much more information at this time except to the parties who already know, but last night resulted in a brain injury that is being monitored and will continue to be monitored by doctors here.
Seeing all the support you guys have already given is amazing and I didn’t want to leave everyone without some kind of update.
Gnarls Garvin, who wrestles for AEW and Ring of Honor as Beef, is one of the pros commenting on what happened to Edwards in OVW, calling it “ complete total negligence and 100 % avoidable” in a Facebook post:
This is a very serious post from me.
Dallas Edwards is one of my best friends in this world. I spend time with him almost every single day.
What happened last night at OVW Wrestling was and is complete total negligence and 100 % avoidable.
I am beyond anger right now and everyone involved with not helping him while having a seizure, needs to burn their boots or go back to training day one.
Accidents happen, what we do is very dangerous. I am very ashamed in all of the wrestlers who didn’t put safety first of all involved.
Say a prayer for Dallas today.
WWE referee Jason Ayers is among many commenting on Garvin’s post. Ayers wrote:
Absolutely infuriating. I sent him a message but if you talk to him please tell him I’m sending prayers for a speedy recovery
OVW Rise streams weekly on the Creator Sports Network from the Hotpoint Davis Arena in Lousville, Kentucky. The incident aired live. Just a short time ago, OVW issued a statement. It does not mention how Edwards’ brain injury was handled in the moment at all:
Last night during Rise, referee Dallas Edwards – a member of our OVW family – experienced a medical emergency during the broadcast. OVW takes the health and well-being of all our performers extremely seriously, and as a company we are all distraught to see an injury to one of our own.
Dallas is alert and doing much better. We ask everyone to keep him in your thoughts and prayers and respect his and his family’s privacy at this time.
We will provide an update as soon as it is avaliable, but in the meantime, we wish Dallas a speedy recovery and we can’t wait until he’s back with our OVW family very soon.
Given the clear issues with what happened after Edwards fell, and especially after he began to convulse, you’d expect some acknowledgement of a problem and the need to address it.
We’ll see if they try again, or if turning the comments off on that statement is a sign of how OVW plans to handle this.
