Referee Dallas Edwards has announced that he’s cleared to return after suffering a seizure in the ring.
Dallas Edwards suffered a seizure during an OVW Rise taping on March 12, 2026, after wrestler Brendan Balling collided with him when he attempted a flying forearm on his opponent, Tony Evans. In a planned spot, the latter pulled Edwards in front of him, but Balling landed hard on the official.
The wrestlers faced severe backlash for continuing the match after kicking the referee out of the way. Dallas Edwards’ girlfriend later issued a statement, revealing that he suffered a brain injury. Now, the official took to Instagram to announce that he’s cleared to return to the ring.
“I have been fully cleared recently and am back to reffing! The recovery hasn’t been an easy one. But there have been some amazing people in my circle that went above and beyond to make sure that I wasn’t alone. You all know who you are.
“I want every one of you to know that I am eternally grateful for your love, and support through a really tough time. With that being said, I will be resuming my schedule from before and taking additional bookings accordingly!!” the referee posted.
OVW co-owner Al Snow revealed why he doesn’t react to the referee incident
Following referee Dallas Edwards’ scary medical emergency, OVW released an official statement on the incident. The promotion’s co-owner and lead booker, Al Snow, explained he had two reasons for not responding to online criticism about the incident during an interview with Vince Russo on The Brand podcast.
“For two reasons. One, in order for me to get upset or offended, do you (the online fans) know what I need to do? I need to respect your opinion. I don’t. You’ll never offend me, you’ll never upset me, because I don’t care what you think or say, because it’s your opinion. And that’s fine, you can have it. You can say that I should never work in wrestling again because of this, etc. Go ahead. I don’t care,” Al Snow said.
“It don’t mean anything to me. It doesn’t bother me, and I’m not gonna respond. Why would I respond? Here’s the other reason I will never respond. You’re on social media for one reason. Just so that you can get external validation and you can feel like you’re more relevant than just inside your own personal circle. That’s it,” Al Snow said about the referee incident.
“And when I respond to you, I’m now making you relevant, I’m acknowledging your comment, which is giving you that gratification and that validation that you wouldn’t have gotten, and also exposes you to my audience that doesn’t know you even exist. So that’s why I don’t respond,” Al Snow concluded.
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