Raven has opened up about his health struggles after a brutal wrestling career.
The ECW legend spoke to Chris Van Vliet for a new interview recently. He discussed things such as being part of the controversial crucifixion angle with The Sandman, the chairshot heard around the world, his time in WWE and more.
The 61-year-old also detailed the various health struggles he has to deal with after making a career out of extreme spots. He first revealed that he cannot get proper sleep at night. While the medical professionals don't have a name for the disease, Raven noted that he knows another person who deals with similar issues. You wake up many times throughout the night and still feel exhausted in the morning because of it:
“So I have to wear a special CPAP that makes me breathe the air. I’m sure, from years of drug abuse and chair shots to the head and stuff like that, and abusing my body, I’m sure this is the price I’m paying. So I go to bed, I can fall asleep, no problem. But then I start waking up. After about two hours, I’ll wake up, and I’ll wake up like every 20 minutes for the next six to eight hours. So when I wake up for good, I’m exhausted, so I’m waking up like 15-20 times a night.”
Raven Details Struggle With Parkinson’s
When asked about his overall health, the former ECW World Champion revealed that he is also struggling with Parkinson’s disease. Raven noted that he has not put enough effort into getting diagnosed properly but he has been feeling tremors in his body for the last 10 years:
“I got the early onset Parkinson’s, which I’m of the mind to say that I don’t have it. But it’s why I have the tremor, and that’s what they think it is. There’s no 100% proof tests, so I didn’t [get tested]. The test they give to prove it only proves it like 90% and there’s a lot of false positives and negatives in it. So there’s no reason, because he said he would treat me the same way, which is nothing as of now, because nothing’s bad enough, although my tremor is really bad right now.”
When asked if he believes all this is caused by his wrestling style, Raven replied positively. He mentioned how at one point he used to be proud of his ability to handle drugs, but now he is embarrassed by how much abuse he put his body through.