Perry Saturn Gives an Update on His Brain Injury, Talks the Origin of Moppy

– Perry Saturn spoke with Sports Illustrated for a new interview talking about his diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury and more. Some highlights are below:

On being diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury: “Last January, I got a migraine, and it was the worst pain I ever had. I went to the hospital, and they ended up keeping me in extensive care for three days. They did a bunch of tests on me while I was there, and the doctor told me that he thought it was T.B.I.—a traumatic brain injury. Since then, I’ve seen neurologists, and that’s the diagnosis. The actual diagnosis is moderate traumatic brain injury, but moderate is a lot worse than how it sounds. If anybody’s ever had a migraine, they know it’s not a headache. I get them quite frequently now, and I’m starting to have memory loss. I get confused—I don’t notice it, but my wife does, and then she’ll talk to me about it. Later, I won’t even know I talked to her about it and won’t remember any of that. This is still new to the doctors, so I don’t know about recovery. They have treatments for it, but I don’t know if there is really hope for recovery yet. It’s all from my work in the ring and all the concussions I’ve had. Concussions are very common for the wrestlers. You don’t take days off, so I’ve wrestled with concussions—that was part of wrestling. I’ve had more than ten, but I don’t know the number. Figure ECW, WCW, and WWE when I did their hardcore s—, I was always getting hit in the head with chairs.”

On the origin of ‘Moppy’: ““Moppy started as a punishment, but it worked out because the character got over. I worked with a guy named Mike Bell, and he accidentally put me on my head twice in the match. He did not do it deliberately, but it just knocked me out on my feet. I blacked out and just beat the sh– out of him and didn’t even realize it. WWE was pissed, and when I explained to them what happened, I explained that I was out on my feet and I didn’t really know what I did. “Moppy” came out of my explanation to where they used it like a punishment-type thing. I didn’t want to do it, but you have to do what they want to do, but it ended up getting over for them.”

On being grateful for the report he’s received: “I’d be lost without the people helping me, and that starts with my wife Lisa. If I hadn’t listened to her, I would not even realize I had this problem I have. I wouldn’t realize I was doing things and not know I was doing them. With the fans, they have nothing but kind things to say to me, which helps when I feel so lost dealing with this problem. I can’t say thank you enough.”