The permanent sleeper

Famed pro wrestler Verne Gagne, the father of my beloved AWA, was apparently involved in a death by pile driver last week. A man, who was living in the same assisted living facility as Gagne, died of complications from one of Gagne’s wrestling moves.

According to local media sources, the geriatric grappler has been battling dementia and Alzheimer’s for the past couple years. While in this state, he’s been relegated to an assisted living community in Bloomington. At the facility, Gagne’s hallucinations have apparently involved titanic matches against The Mad Dog and The Crusher. He was removed from the facility for body slamming a patient and applying a choke hold on another, but despite this he somehow was able to return to the facility. The most recent Gagne outburst proved fatal, however.

He had a history with the patient. According to one account, he had applied the Gagne sleeper on this 97-year-old before workers were able to extract the former heavyweight champion. No one knows what provoked the most-recent incident, and Gagne is not expected to be charged with any crime.

After reading about Gagne’s dementia, I was thinking back to the time I was covering a football game from the Metrodome press box when then-Governor Ventura took an open seat next to me to watch the game. The former member of the East-West Connection had a bout of uncontrollable shaking while sitting there and I remember being unnerved by his behavior. I suppose that even though those turnbuckles are padded, the physical toll those guys took was considerable.

I’ll have to remember next time I saddle up next to Jumping Jimmy Brunzell at the counter of Al’s Breakfast to be polite when asking for the salt. I wouldn’t want a flying dropkick to the sternum.