Raven gets candid about his health.
Throughout the fall of 2025, cinemas will air Nevermore: The Raven Effect, a documentary following the life and career of hardcore wrestling legend Raven. While appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Raven addressed whether he had any hesitations about opening himself to the documentary project.
According to Raven, he didn’t, largely because he knew it wouldn’t expose every aspect of his life like a reality show would. In his current life, though, Raven did reveal that he had been diagnosed with early on-set Parkinson’s disease.
“I would never have a reality show. Not that anybody’s asking, but I would never do a reality show where they came to your home and they exposed your whole life because my current life is really, you don’t see much of it in the documentary, it glimpses it, but it doesn’t go into the details of everyday life, which would be really boring to begin with. That’s beside the point, but I think it shows me and it shows all my complexity throughout my life. But now that I’m content, or basically as content as I’ve ever been other than the stupid tremor I got from the Parkinson’s. I got early on-set Parkinson, so if you see me tremoring, that’s why. But other than that, I don’t think [the documentary] really touches on enough of my current life to do any damage to it.”
Raven Opens Up About Parkinson’s Disease
When asked how the PD tremors have impacted his daily life, Raven noted that they seem to have an overall moderate effect. “I’m lucky. It hasn’t affected me too bad. Just when I get anxious, the tremor gets worse or when I’m really tired. I have a sleep disorder, but look, you got to pay the piper sometimes. For all the drugs and alcohol and chair shots I took to the head, got to pay for the damage at some point.”
As for whether his Parkinson’s can be linked to his career as a professional wrestler, Raven believes that it “absolutely” does. Still, the former ECW World Heavyweight Champion insists that he is happy with who he’s become, and at the end of the day, that’s what truly matters.
“I would rather be happy with who I am at the end of my life than be happy earlier in my life and not happy at the end. So many people’s lives, they come to misfortune at the end and that would be the worst thing you could have happen. I want my golden years to be golden, and not sh*t.”
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