In January 2024, Marty Jannetty shared in a since-deleted Facebook post that doctors said he might need to have his leg amputated due to complications from 2020 ankle reconstruction surgery.
Shawn Michaels’ former Rockers tag team partner didn’t provide specifics. And sadly, because Jannetty has shared a lot of things on his social media accounts over the years, and not all of them have been true — even if you saw a headline about him possibly losing a leg, you might not have given it much credence.
But a friend of Jannetty’s, former wrestler Eddy Mansfield, told the Monte & Pharoah podcast:
“One of my dearest friends ever on the face of this earth, and was a great wrestler, had his foot amputated. His name is the Rocker Marty Jannetty.”
While Jannetty’s addiction-driven exploits have limited his career and tarnished his legacy, Mansfield is controversial for a different reason. He wrestled as “The Continental Lover” during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but he’s known for his appearance on the same 1984 20/20 episode that lead to a lawsuit against the then-WWF because David “Dr. D” Schultz shoot slapping reporter John Stossel in the head multiple times. Mansfield gave a detailed demonstration of how pro wrestlers “blade” on the program, which led to his being blacklisted from the business.
Now, Mansfield is calling out WWE — and Michaels — for not doing more for Jannetty:
“I have high praise for Shawn Michaels, I really do. Shawn is dear to me. He’s really a good guy. But where in the hell was WWE to help Marty Jannetty? Hell, he made them millions of dollars, and you can’t help him when he’s in the biggest need of his life, fighting for his life? I don’t understand that.
“That’s where I’ve had trouble with promoters the whole damn time. These guys in WWE can get all these pay raises and all this other crap, screw the wrestling fans out of a bunch of damn money for tickets. But you can’t take care of the guys who make you the money.”
