Wrestler Chris Kanyon found dead

[Adam]

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/7190.html

Believed to be an intentional overdose. So sad. 🙁

 

[SlaverTickler]

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/7190.html

Believed to be an intentional overdose. So sad. 🙁

Kanyon was pretty much black listed when he came out of the closet. This was a guy who had great charisma and incredible in ring skill and still nobody could seem to make use of him. More proof the the industry is run by idiots.

RIP Chris Kanyon.

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

Sucks! Very cool guy. What was his catchphrase? "Nobody's Better Than Kanyon!!"


Prayers and good wishes to his family.



🙁



Drew

 

[Lonestar327]

Honestly, hearing all these deaths and how they're coming about, makes you even wonder if its worth the trouble of getting in the business.

 

[Flatfoot]

I read this from Hurricane Helms' tweets. I'm very disappointed to hear about it. 🙁

I remember his early feuds with "Glacier" in WCW as "Mortis" (Mortal Kombat meets wrestling???), and his eventual matches as Kanyon. I always liked his electric-chair-slam finishing maneuver as one of my favorites. It's a shame he couldn't have been used more. I had no idea he ever came out of the closet, until I read it last night.

 

[Lilmissticklishfeet]

Sucks! Very cool guy. What was his catchphrase? "Nobody's Better Than Kanyon!!"


Prayers and good wishes to his family.



🙁



Drew

Actually, it was 'Who's Better Than Kanyon'! I liked him...he was an awesome wrestler. RIP Chris Kanyon!

 

[SlaverTickler]

I remember his early feuds with "Glacier" in WCW as "Mortis" (Mortal Kombat meets wrestling???), and his eventual matches as Kanyon. I always liked his electric-chair-slam finishing maneuver as one of my favorites. It's a shame he couldn't have been used more. I had no idea he ever came out of the closet, until I read it last night.

He was working for an indie promotion called "Blood Sweat and Ears" (no doubt named for Mick Foley's infamous match with Vader) up here in Ontario. He had a match with a guy named James Champagne and at the end they mentioned he was the first (active) openly gay wrestler. I can't remember what the relevance was, it was in the moment it was brought up.

I always wanted to see the Innovator or Offence have a feud with the Excellence of Execution. That would have been a classic.

 

[Tickle Fiend]

CHRIS KANYON, R.I.P
by Mark Madden

My tag-team partner, Chris Kanyon, committed suicide. Yeah, it was a terrible match, but that was a long time ago. I take no responsibility.

If you don’t laugh, you cry. The bi-polar Kanyon was certainly capable of both. Kanyon was in the closet when we worked together, but after his homosexuality was revealed, he struck me – in retrospect – as the classic self-loathing gay man, resigned to what he was but ashamed, too. Whether that contributed to his depression and suicide, only Kanyon knew.

Good wrestling teacher. Kanyon instructed Jay Leno before the 1998 Road Wild match pitting Leno and DDMe against Eric Bischoff and Hollywood Hogan. Anything good that happened in that bout was Kanyon’s doing.

When Kanyon and I tagged on Thunder against Buff Bagwell and Gene Okerlund, Kanyon laid everything out and walked me through it. It sucked, and I sucked, but Kanyon was an excellent instructor. Made everything seem simple. Two lasting memories of that match: 1) How loud the spots got called. I can’t believe the crowd couldn’t hear. 2) Kanyon screaming “Take it off! Take it off!” when I teased removing my Hawaiian shirt. “It would have got major heat,” Kanyon said after. Yeah, and been on the Internet forever.

Easily manipulated. Kanyon was feuding with DDMe, imitating him, wearing a wig, toting around his book “Positively Kanyon” (“co-authored” by me) and trying to assume DDMe’s life. DDMe didn’t get his way on something so, like the big baby he was, he stayed home for a few weeks. During that time, DDMe convinced Kanyon to continue his imitation, but to tone it down. For example, don’t flash the “diamond cutter” hand sign.

That served two purposes, both DDMe’s: 1) Continuing the imitation kept DDMe’s presence on TV. 2) Toning down the imitation made everyone aware that Kanyon was second-rate, that DDMe was the real deal. I pointed this out to Kanyon, urging him to either drop the imitation or continue doing it as he had. Do what’s best for you.

But Kanyon acquiesced to DDMe’s wishes, saying that “Page has done a lot for me.” I ask then, and ask now: What? DDMe’s idea of doing you a favor was usually letting you do one for him. Kanyon really, really wanted to be liked, even at the expense of his own career.

Not that he was ever going anywhere. Top-notch worker. Bad on promos. Zero charisma. The kind of hand that would have worked forever in the era of territories, but got weeded out in today’s semi-monopoly. Kanyon was best as Mortis; the gimmick superseded personality.

Wrestling is more gay-tolerant than most professions based on athleticism, possibly because a mouth is a mouth is a mouth, as a very famous WWE superstar once said. Kanyon wasn’t out when he was in WCW, but everybody knew, and I never once saw him victimized by homophobia.

Not so in WWE. As a rib on his homosexuality, Kanyon was booked to dress like Boy George and get beaten down by Undertaker in 2003. Like many others, Kanyon wanted so badly to be a star that he not only submitted to humiliation, he talked himself into thinking it was a good idea. Kanyon wasn’t on WWE TV again for two months, and then it was to do jobs on Velocity, the C-show of the day. The Boy George skit wasn’t part of a long-range plan. Vince McMahon just wanted to laugh at the gay guy.

It was almost as embarrassing as the Judy Bagwell on a Forklift match.

So, Kanyon’s dead. Good guy. He included me in the “Positively Kanyon” stuff, and I appreciated it. R.I.P. You really do get numb to it.

When Brian Pillman died, that affected me. Steve Austin was one of Brian’s best friends, but was too overcome to attend the funeral. I made it through the funeral OK but, a few months later, I spontaneously pulled over to the side of the road and wept for 10 minutes. People handle grief differently. But Brian, Eddy Guerrero and Brian Hildebrand (WCW ref Mark Curtis), those hit me hardest. Chris Benoit, too, but in a totally different way.

PS – Upon proofreading this article by way of reading it to Disco Inferno, he said, “It’s great that you used Kanyon’s obit to bury Page. That’s talent.”

Mark Madden can be reached at [email protected]

 

[SlaverTickler]

Anybody remember the greatest bump in wrestling history. When Mike Awesome threw Kanyon off the top of the triple cage, and when he landed they set the ramp up to look like he really smashed into it. Originaly they wanted him to go threw it, but he told them to set it up so it just caved a little. It looked allot more realistic his way.

RIP C.K.

 

[Lonestar327]

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[Texas_Tickle]

Kanyon was pretty much black listed when he came out of the closet. This was a guy who had great charisma and incredible in ring skill and still nobody could seem to make use of him. More proof the the industry is run by idiots.

RIP Chris Kanyon.

True, but how do you explain Rico? Or hell, how do you explain Pat Patterson? I mean he was gay before it was 'cool' to be gay.