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ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC INCIDENT ON OVW RISE LAST NIGHT

An absolutely horrific incident played out in real time for everyone watching and streaming Ohio Valley Wrestling's weekly series Rise last night from Louisville, Kentucky.

During a multi-man main event, OVW Rush Champion Brendan Balling came off the top with the idea that he was going for a flying forearm on heel Tony Evans. Evans pulled referee Dallas Edwards into the fray, and when Balling connected with Edwards, he struck his head on the mat and was legitimately knocked out, with his body seizing up and going into convulsions.

For some reason that seems insane in hindsight, Balling and Evans continued performing around Edwards, whose arms and legs were now twitching.

Then, in an absolutely disgusting and inexcusable moment for even the smallest independent promotion, but much worse because of Ohio Valley Wrestling's history and legacy, Evans grabbed Edwards by his pants and rolled him completely over and away from the talent, then used his foot to push him further.

There is no way to downplay this.  For Evans to have been that reckless in the moment was mind-blowing to watch and could have easily caused further, perhaps permanent injury had there been a spinal cord or neck issue. Even if he was portraying a heel while grabbing Edwards, it showed a complete lack of common sense and compassion, in my opinion.

At this point, someone hit the ring and the match was stopped with cameras kept off Edwards.  The promotion then announced they were going off the air due to Edwards' medical situation.  

The incident can be seen at this link, but be forewarned: it is frightening and was the absolute worst moment in the history of Ohio Valley Wrestling, which has achieved trade school certification in Kentucky and is overseen by Al Snow.

Fightful.com's Sean Ross Sapp tweeted out the following statement from Edwards' girlfriend:

"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."

OVW has not yet commented on the incident.

St. Louis Anarchy tweeted the following:

PWInsider.com sends our best to Dallas Edwards and his family at this time.

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