You may not have heard of Crazii Shea. He’s not exactly a big name on the indie scene. He’s been wrestling since 2003, but has spent most of his time fighting for promotions in Western Pennsyvania and West Virginia. This past Saturday night he was at a Code Red Wrestling show in Ellamoore, a tiny town outside of Buckhannon (which isn’t exactly huge either, but this is West Virginia), when disaster struck.
Shea, whose real first name is Erik, often breathes fire as part of his “crazy” gimmick. Like most people who perform that trick, he does it by filling his mouth with alcohol (Shea uses Everclear), spitting it out, and igniting the flammable liquid in the air. As reported by MyBuckhannon.com, at this particular show the alcohol blew back in his face, and the fireball came with it. Fortunately the show was taking place at the Ellamoore Volunteer Fire Department, and Fire Chief Jamie Pugh was on hand along with other firefighters. They immediately helped Shea, whose face was badly burnt, and got him into an ambulance. Ultimately, he was flown by helicopter to a burn center in Pittsburgh.
In a weird addendum to the story, Shea’s girlfriend, who wrestles under the name Alura O’Shea, was following him to the hospital in her car, when she hit a black bear that was crossing the road. Her car had to be towed, but Alura was uninjured, and the bear left the scene under its own power.
As for Erik Shea, he’s already been released from the hospital. Although he calls the experience “the most pain I’ve ever felt,” he expects to be back in the ring for his next show in three weeks.
This is my job. It’s how I feed my family. I’ve wrestled casted up to my knee 24 hours after breaking my foot. It never stops.
MyBuckhannon has a closeup photo of Shea’s post-injury face, which is badly blistered but not nearly as bad as it could have been.
