Referee Dallas Edwards suffers medical emergency during OVW match, OVW and co-owner Al Snow issue statements on incident

Referee Dallas Edwards was taken to the hospital on Thursday night after taking a bump during a multi-man tag match during an Ohio Valley Wrestling show. Edwards took a Phenomenal Forearm from one of the wrestlers in the match in a spot that was part of the match after another wrestler shoved him in the way to take the move.

Edwards hit the mat hard and stayed down on the mat. He began convulsing on the mat as the match continued around him. At one point, one of the wrestlers moved him with their foot so that he wouldn’t be in the way of the next planned spot. The match was eventually stopped and the broadcast of the show was stopped.

OVW issued the following statement after the incident:

Last night during Rise, referee Dallas Edwards – a member of our OVW family – experienced a
medical emergency during the broadcast,” OVW said. “OVW takes the health and well-being of all our performers extremely seriously, and as a company we are all distraught to see an injury to one of our own.

Dallas is alert and doing much better. We ask everyone to keep him in your thoughts and prayers and respect his and his family’s privacy at this time.

We will provide an update as soon as it is available, but in the meantime, we wish Dallas a speedy recovery and we can’t wait until he’s back with our OVW family very soon.

Dallas Edwards also issued a statement on March 13 on his X account saying that he suffered a concussion and a subdural hematoma during the match. He was scheduled to have a CT scan on March 14. Edwards said he did not have any animosity towards anyone involved in the incident.

Al Snow, who is a co-owner of OVW, issued the following statement on his X account on the incident on March 14 promising new safety protocols for the company:

Hello everyone, this is Al Snow. I want to speak directly to our fans and the wrestling community regarding the incident involving Referee Dallas Edwards at last week’s event.

Professional wrestling has always carried an inherent risk of injury for everyone who steps into the ring. On March 12th, during a live OVW television event, Dallas was involved in a planned moment of physical contact with a wrestler that resulted in him suffering a head injury.

Traditionally, when an in-ring injury occurs, the referee is the central point of communication, assessment, and decision-making. In this unprecedented situation, the person who would normally make that assessment was the one who needed assistance. That unforeseen breakdown in communication contributed to a delay in stopping the match and concluding the show.

We are relieved to hear that Dallas is recovering and receiving the medical care he needs. Our thoughts are with him, and we’re hoping for his continued improvement.

At OVW, the health and safety of our performers and officials has always been our top priority. We are proud of the standards we’ve maintained over the years, but we also recognize that there is always room to strengthen and improve. With that in mind, we are reviewing our existing procedures and updating several of our in-ring and ringside protocols to ensure we continue to meet the highest expectations for performer safety.

These updates include enhanced communication systems, additional referee training, and expanded ringside response measures to help ensure that a situation like this is identified and addressed as quickly as possible.

We appreciate the concern and passion from our fans, and we understand the importance of transparency during moments like this. We will continue to share updates when appropriate, and we ask everyone to keep Dallas in your thoughts as he continues his recovery.

Thank you.