CHARLOTTE (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) — As he sped down I-77 toward uptown, all Brad Cain could think of was a wrestling icon.

“I’m like, ‘God’,” he remembers thinking. “‘Just don’t let me hurt anyone because we all know how Macho Man Randy Savage died.’”

The 52-year-old pro wrestler and Charlotte resident better known as Lodi, didn’t know what was wrong, nor did he realize just how close he came to sharing a similar fate with his former colleague.

“I was doubled over and driving one hand and trying to keep my eyes on the road,” he explains.

It all happened so quickly.

A wrestling veteran of 28 years including a stint in the now-defunct WCW, Cain was used to working in pain but this was different.

And after a match last month in Mooresville, even his opponent could sense something was up.

“I asked him what was wrong and he said nothing was wrong at the time,” said Cope “Lucky” Ali.

Cain could have asked for help and should have asked for help. But instead, he tried to tough it out.

“I never said I was smart but I’m hard-headed,” he remarks.

Fifty-two excruciating minutes later, Cain at last arrived at the hospital. After undergoing test after test, doctors finally figured out what was wrong.

“They showed the three major arteries. The first two were blocked at 100%. The last one, they call it the Widow Maker. If that gets blocked, you are more than likely going to die. It was blocked at 90%”

Just like the late Macho Man, Cain too had suffered a heart attack. And now he needed to go under the knife.

“It was serious. And it was scary,” he admits

However, it wasn’t terminal. Even after doctors discovered problems with two additional arteries, Cain survived a five-hour quintuple bypass surgery. It was a major relief but there was still something that Cain felt had to be addressed.

“Without me even questioning her, my nurse looked at me and said, you know you’re going to wrestle again,” he pauses before adding an emphatic, fist pump.

Just as he had so many times in his matches, Cain had kicked out at two. 

“I know God was with me through all of this,” he says. “I’m going to rehab and work on getting me better.”

His career will go on. But more importantly, his life will too.