'People should know they're never alone': pro wrestler encourages those suffering to reach out

After stopping a suicidal woman from jumping off a northwest Calgary bridge, professional wrestler Davey Boy Smith Jr. is encouraging others suffering emotionally to reach out for help.

"I feel really bad for somebody like her. I don't know what she's had happen in her life but the main thing people should know is they're never alone if they're in situations like this, and they should never be afraid to reach out," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday.

Smith — the son of legendary pro wrestler Davey Boy Smith, whose real first name is Harry — was returning from a trip to Edmonton with his mother on Sunday and was on his way to watch a WWE pay-per-view with friends when they saw the woman, who was distraught and crying on top of the bridge.

Riding in the passenger seat, Smith jumped into action.

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"I got my mom to stop and hurdled over the barricade, kind of like I would hurdle over the ropes in wrestling, and started to try and talk to her and reason with her," he said.

"When people are in that frame of mind, you can't understand them, they're just going a million miles an hour, crying, so I decided to take it into my own hands to grab her. She kept saying 'don't touch me, I'm going to go, I'm going to go.'"

Once close enough, Smith used his wrestling training to secure one of the woman's legs and pin it to the cement barrier.

"I knew as long as I had her anchored, she was going to be secure. Then she started threatening more… and she started trying to fight me off," he said.

But Smith stands six foot five and weighs 260 pounds, so that was a fight the woman wasn't going to win.

He then got her to the ground and pinned her there, but she continued to fight.

And said she had a gun.

"I had her arms pinned because she looked like she was trying to reach down for something in her pockets," he said.

"She was basically helpless and kept squirming and going 'get off me, get off me,' and I said, 'no, you're not going to move unless I want you to move.'"

That's when things got more emotional.

"She started to cry and said she just wanted a hug, and it was really emotional for me because I wanted to cry, too," he said.

"I said, 'I want to hug you but I can't because you said you have a gun.'"

The woman later admitted she didn't have a firearm.

Calgary police confirmed the incident happened just after 6 p.m. on the westbound side of the 16th Avenue bridge over Bowness Road N.W.

The woman was taken to hospital.

Smith received praise on social media for his heroic efforts, including from some big names in the wrestling business like Mick Foley, and Smith's uncle, Bret Hart.

The Calgary Distress Centre offers a 24-hour support line at 403-266-4357.