Actor-wrestler Nathan Jones, the hulking star of Somtum, was sideswiped by a cement mixer while he was on an early morning jog last week in Bangkok, according to a statement by his manager today.
Jones suffered nerve damage to his left arm. As is customary in Thailand, the driver fled the scene. "There is no report of what damage was done to the truck in its collision with the 6ft 11 in, 320 pound Jones," a statement by Sydney-based management firm Murray Weissman & Associates said.
The former WWE star had recently signed a deal with TNA Entertainment that would have seen him re-enter the wrestling ring, but the injury to his arm will sideline him for at least three months.
"It's a bit of a devastating blow to him but he'll get through it," his manager Russell Cunningham was quoted as saying by The Australian.
Jones wrestled with World Wrestling All-Stars in 2001-02 and then WWE until 2003. Dyslexia and the rigorous touring schedule became too much for him.
In his teens, he was convicted of a string of armed robberies and sentenced to 16 years in prison. There, he learned powerlifting, won a release after seven years and became National Powerlifting Champion of Australia. He also competed in the World's Strongest Man Competition. So furious a competitor he was, he actually broke his arm while arm wrestling.
In recent years, Jones has acted in films. In Troy, he faced off, however briefly, with Brad Pitt. He threw Tony Jaa around in Tom Yum Goong (The Protector), battled Jet Li in Fearless and was thrown off a cliff in The Condemned by Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was also featured in the French film, Asterix at the Olympic Games and is due to co-star in the video-game-to-film adaptation of Tekken (also featuring Tom-Yum-Goong co-star Lateef Crowder).
In the 2008 Thai film Somtum, Jones plays a gentle Australian tourist who is robbed in Pattaya, taken in by street urchins and then gets in touch with his inner rage with the help of spicy papaya salad, and foils some criminals (including 7-foot-tall Conan Stevens) who are stealing diamonds.
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(Via The Australian, MarketWatch, ProWrestling.net)
That's tagic news.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the truck driver could hit such a huge guy like Jones, couldn't he see him?
I think he will need lots of somtum for his recovery.
I just hope that Jones does not take revenge somtum style.. just kidding
Sunny