Professional wrestler and former reality TV personality Austin Matelson is recovering from a serious health scare. Matelson, who appeared on CBS’ Big Brother Season 17, was hospitalized on Sept. 27 after his fiancée found him following a collapse, according to Fightful.
The diagnosis at the time was that the 39-year-old, who wrestles in All Elite Wrestling as Killswitch/Luchasaurus, had pneumonia in both lungs. He was reportedly “days away from permanent lung damage.” Doctors placed him on oxygen after evaluation.
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Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez (as transcribed by @DrainBamager on X) would later report that Matelson is recovering but is “at high risk for a relapse.” In addition to the pneumonia, doctors found “calcification in a heart valve and his body is not producing iron.”
Alvarez added, “It’s bad enough that he’s out of the hospital, apparently, but he still has to do oxygen.”
There is no timeline for an in-ring return for Matelson. He was heavily featured on AEW programming ahead of his illness, prominently featured as an enforcer for villain Christian Cage and the Patriarchy stable. He is a former AEW TNT Champion, AEW World Tag Team Champion and AEW World Trios Champion. Early in his AEW run, he was known as a member of Jurassic Express alongside “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry and Marko Stunt. Matelson also briefly wrestled in WWE under the ring name Judas Devlin.
In Big Brother, he was one of the top players in Season 17, and he finished fifth in the competition. He began a relationship with BB competitor Liz Nolan while on the show, though they broke up in the months after the season. He would go on to make a cameo in Big Brother Season 19, as well as on the Big Brother-themed episode of the Price Is Right.
