Haus of Wrestling has learned that long-time pro wrestling promoter, trainer, and manager Rick Bassman has been diagnosed with Stage 1 brain cancer. Bassman was made aware of the diagnosis by his oncologist a little under four months ago, and two weeks ago completed his first, and hopefully last, six-week, five-days-a-week radiation course. There were concerns that the cancer had spread to his stomach and prostate due to a 6.7 PSA reading, which is a “cancer danger” level. Ultimately, it was found the cancer had not spread beyond his brain.
The “big” tumor that formed on his brain is in a spot that makes it risky to operate on. If it goes wrong, it could result in life-long damage. So, the goal with the radiation treatment that he just finished is to make the tumor small enough to safely operate on or render it harmless. Bassman will have another MRI on February 9 and, at that time, will decide what steps to take next.
Despite what Bassman is going through, we are told he is keeping a positive attitude and is still active with his Metaphysic AI business. He is also dealing with some “higher level pro wrestling stuff than ever before” that sounds like it is AI-related. Last year, I had a chance to speak with Bassman about why he was backstage at WWE Backlash in Puerto Rico, and he said the following.
“I run all entertainment and sports industry relations for a company that does hyper-real synthetic media, which is often known as the dark, nefarious, deep fake,” he stated. “And we’re verifiably the number one company in the world doing this now. Far and away the number one, we’re called Metaphysic. And we recently did things like bringing Elvis Presley back to life to perform on America’s Got Talent, which was hugely viral.
“We create and produce and distribute ‘Deepfake Tom Cruise,’ which is a very viral thing on TikTok and YouTube and Whatnot, and just wrapped a movie in London with the director Robert Zemeckis, where we were aging Tom Hanks and Robin Wright up and back over a period of 50 years. So we’re at the pinnacle of that industry right now. And we’ve got a really cool activation potential underway with WWE. So we were there meeting with the top brass about that.”
Bassman is a two-time cancer survivor who currently hosts a podcast called “The Cancer Warriors.” In it, he speaks with fellow cancer survivors in order to give hope to those who are currently dealing with their own battles.
Bassman is credited with scouting and training some of the top names in the pro wrestling business, including Sting, The Ultimate Warrior, John Cena, Samoa Joe, and many more. Haus of Wrestling sends its best to Bassman as he battles through his latest diagnosis.