Concussions? I Don’t Remember No Concussions.

Q Are you aware of any incident where a wrestler in a match received a concussion?

A No.

Stephanie McMahon Levesque to the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, December 2007

*****

(Thanks to Keith Harris and David Bixenspan for this information. It is in their comments on a previous post but merits its own post.)

At World Wrestling Entertainment’s SummerSlam show in 2000, Linda McMahon’s son-in-law Paul “Triple H” Levesque knocked fellow wrestler Kurt Angle unconscious with the former’s “Pedigree” move. The injury was caused by the failure of a gimmicked prop. Linda’s daughter Stephanie was a central figure in the storyline and saw everything first-hand and at uncomfortably close range.

For details, see http://www.youtube.com/user/SonicbRich2#p/c/CBF3BA686C992E16/4/mwJt8Jne6o8.

In his memoir It’s True! It’s True!, Angle recounts the incident in full. You can view the relevant excerpt at http://books.google.com/books?id=J1y-stFGESwC&lpg=PA266&dq=%22kurt%20angle%22%20summerslam%20concussion&pg=PA266#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Irv Muchnick