Professional wrestling is a dangerous enough game at the best of times.While the matches, outcomes and storylines performed by the men and women of WWE, All Elite Wrestling and across the globe are always predetermined, the risks are very real.Curtis Hughes was a villain in WCW before his move to WWEWWESerious injuries are sadly not uncommon, from torn muscles and concussions to paralysis, as stars put their bodies on the line to entertain their audience.It is, therefore, an industry in which you constantly need your wits about you and are well served to have lightning quick reactions.There are, of course, circumstances beyond the control of performers that can sometimes make pushing things to the limit harder for some than others.One such case might be that of Curtis Hughes, the bulging brute of a performer who starred notably as a menacing character in WWE during the 1990s.Hughes wrestled for years in WCW and ECW either side of his run in Vince McMahon’s organisation, where he first appeared in 1993, thrown quickly into a notably feud with The Undertaker.Then Mr Hughes, the strapping performer – billed at up to 370lbs at one point in his career – stole the Deadman’s iconic urn at one stage but never got the best of the legend.He nonetheless won the vast majority of his 60 or so matches in the company before leaving for ECW that year, returning in the Attitude Era to work alongside icon Chris Jericho.Wearing – and wrestling in – dark shades that he’d tape to his head to avoid them falling off, Hughes was a cumbersome athlete who used brute force to dominate his foes, rarely leaving the relative safety of the mat.The Kansas City native, now 60, has wrestled as recently as last year, establishing a significant career despite living with narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that significantly disrupts the control sleep patterns and can, in some cases, result in people falling asleep at any time.Wrestling legend has it that Hughes wrestled in the shades to hide any such instances, but there were moments when his condition created risk – once even giving him a brush with the WWE axe after a misunderstanding after one WrestleMania.Hughes was seen off by The Undertaker during a 1993 feudWWEHughes was present at WrestleMania 9 in Las Vegas and, waiting for a flight after the event, fell asleep at an airport – much to the anger of backstage boss, Chief Jay Strongbow.Strongbow was seemingly unaware of the grappler’s disorder and mistook his sleepy state, according to commentating legend Jim Ross, who told his podcast: “He almost got fired after WrestleMania 9 because he fell asleep at the airport.“Chief Jay Strongbow said: ‘He’s high. Oh, look at that guy. I’ve gotta tell Caesar (Vince McMahon)… We gotta get rid of this guy.’“He’d arrived to that conclusion by sitting across the way with his wife and me, ready to fly back to Connecticut, and there was Curtis on the other side dozing off.”Ross added: “[We] found out he had a sleep disorder, narcolepsy, whatever the hell it’s called, I’m probably naming it wrong. But Curtis battled through it…”Falling asleep in an airport is rarely likely to cause anyone hassle beyond possibly missing a flight, but wrestlers have claimed that Hughes has also fallen asleep during matches.Hughes closed in on 400lbs during the height of his career as a no-nonsense bad guyWWEHughes was spared the wrath of Vince McMahon after the airport incident and later returned to team with Chris JerichoWWEJericho in his autobiography Undisputed: How to Become World Champion in 1,372 Easy Steps, claimed Hughes: “could fall asleep at any time and once did in the ring mid back-drop.”Another Attitude Era colleague in WWE, Road Dogg, spoke of his first career match involving the veteran when the pair were working in WCW.He was facing Terry Taylor at non-televised live event when the finish for the bout involved the future tag team star – then working under his real name Brian Armstrong – chasing Taylor around the ring, only to eat a clothesline from the waiting Hughes.The on-screen villain Hughes, however, unwittingly missed his cue, Road Dogg saying: “We run around the ring three times because Curtis is asleep standing up. That is the truth. “He has narcolepsy, and he was just standing there asleep. Terry, as we ran by the second time, was like, ‘Curtis!’”It can’t be said Curtis Hughes’ condition blighted his career given it spans the decades, beginning in 1983 and boasted over 450 matches.Away from WWE he was a multi-time champion, too, holding world titles at multiple independent companies before going on to work as a trainer.