CLEVELAND — Wired up with tubes before his liver transplant five months ago this week, Bernie Kosar was hoping that he’d still be alive in five days— let alone in five months. And he can honestly say the furthest thing from his mind at that time would have been finding himself in a wrestling ring in front of thousands of cheering fans like he was last Saturday at the Wolstein Center. But that's where he found himself playing as part of TNA Wrestling's Rebellion showcase.
Kosar admits that while he looked cool on the outside, but on the inside?
"Complete fear, bro, you know complete fear. I mean here we are five months out from the liver transplant and as a young kid I was absolutely into the wrestling and I still pay attention to it and when they asked me I thought oh my God," he said. "To be able to be out there and be at an event like that for five hours and to be backstage and be out front and then be able to perform a little bit out there, never thought about that being at all possible a week before Thanksgiving in 2025."
It was November 17, 2025, that Kosar received the life-saving liver transplant. As he approaches the five-month mark, he told News 5 the long road to recovery is progressing nicely.
"I'm backed off now to having to only see the (doctors), instead of every week, once a month. Instead of having to do the bloodwork a couple of times a week, have to do just once a week. Blood numbers, besides me sitting here and saying I feel good, being able to have the blood panels and the scientific stuff behind it, it's actually showing improvement. It's been just absolutely game-changing," he said.
In addition, he's been able to put back on some weight.
"At my worst here, probably early December, I unfortunately was down to about 155 pounds," says the 6-foot-5-inch Kosar. "So to be back up around 190 right now is almost respectable."
We asked Kosar if there was anything that he hadn't been able to do that he now finds himself in a position to tackle.
"That's such a perfectly timed question, my brother," Kosar said with a smile. "As you say that my granddaughter's coming down and hopefully walking in the frame," at which point Kosar's granddaughter, Alia Rose, walked over to her grandfather.
"This is Alia Rose, the cutest rose in the garden."
Kosar said the instability of his health last year robbed him of time being a grandfather.
"To be able to be responsible enough to do this, I would have been mortified, John, to be in charge of my granddaughter six months ago. Matter of fact, it would have not been a smart stable thing to do," he said.
Now, Kosar embraces the role of grandpa and that of ambassador for the importance of organ donation, especially here in April, which is "Donate Life" month.
"You and me have talked on air and off air about really the responsibility and pride of really sharing this and being able to not just be an ambassador of it but actually now being able to share the message of the things that actually do give you life from within," he said.
Kosar knows how lucky he is and the importance of savoring each day that he has and moments, small and big, like stepping into a wrestling ring.
"So at 62, post a liver transplant, being early stage dementia with Parkinsonian symptoms. To be able to get in the ring the other day and take care of AJ Francis to keep our Cleveland guy Nick Nemeth getting the 'W' was awesomely a bonus," he said.
