Chris Kanyon dead at 40

[gmflex]

Chris Klucsaritis, who competed as Chris Kanyon, was found dead Friday night at his apartment in the Sunnyside section of Queens, New York. He was 40 years old.

Klucsaritis' death is believed to be suicide as a longtime friend reports that a pill bottle and several notes were found close to his body.

He had been vocal about suffering from a bipolar disorder and had threatened suicide many times in the past according to those close with him. He told one friend as recently as Monday that he was going through another bout of depression and contemplating suicide.

Kanyon also worked as a masked character named Mortis in World Championship Wrestling and had a run with World Wrestling Entertainment beginning in 2001 which resulted in reigns with the WCW United States Championship and WWF Tag Team Championship. He garnered headlines following his 2004 departure from WWE by going public with his homosexuality and claiming WWE fired him for being gay. Although he retired from wresting at one point, he returned to the ring and worked matches on occasion.

He, along with Scott Levy and Michael Sanders, attempted to sue WWE for "cheating them out of health care and other benefits" but a federal judge in Stamford, Connecticut dismissed the case.

[UPINTHEMGUTS]

"Who's better than Kanyon? Everybody!"


RIP. Good worker back in his day. Good interviews on Howard Stern, too.

[Montague]

It’s unfortunate what happened.

However, I can’t buy the accusations that the Fed let him go because of his homosexuality.
The old man's had more than a few queers work for him over the years – in high profile positions (no jokes), too.

[Earl1972]

i always thought he was entertaining

he was very open about himself and wrestling on the stern show, i didn't expect things to end well for him, guys like that can't handle being a regular guy after being a star

add another name to the long list in wrestling 

E

[Playboy]

Even more on this story...

Here are some more details on Chris 'Kanyon' Klucsaritis' death:

-- It appears as though he passed away from an overdose of pills.

-- Klucsaritis' death is believed to be a suicide.

-- He was at his apartment in the Sunnyside section of Queens, NY.

-- A pill bottle and several notes were found close to the body.

-- He had been open about suffering from a bipolar disorder and had talked and threatened suicide many times in the past.

-- According to a friend, he had once again been suffering from a bout of depression. On Monday of this past week, he had again talked about taking his own life. As sad as this sounds, it was not out of the ordinary to hear him talk about suicide.

-- He was just 40 years old.

-- Although he retired from wresting at one point, he had returned to the ring again recently and worked a couple of matches this year.

[Montague]

Somebody needs to compute the average age of pro-wrestlers' deaths over the last 20 years.
I'm guess-timating it to be around 40-ish.

Of course, your Monsoon's, Blassie's, and Albano's will skew the results a bit, but for every one of them there are at least 4-6 guys who died before 45.

[Playboy]

Somebody needs to compute the average age of pro-wrestlers' deaths over the last 20 years.
I'm guess-timating it to be around 40-ish.

Of course, your Monsoon's, Blassie's, and Albano's will skew the results a bit, but for every one of them there are at least 4-6 guys who died before 45.

IMO...Cause of death = two things...

Depression (example Mike Awesome)

Rec / pain pill abuse (example everyone else)

[Montague]

And, don’t forget this asshole.

The media’s favorite red-headed stepchild to whom they enjoyed comparing ALL pro-wrestlers, ALL performance enhanced athletes, and ANYONE using any kind of hormone treatment for any reason…

Because – as we all know – steroids turn anybody who takes them into a suicidal, cold-blooded murderer of women and children…according to the media.

[Playboy]

And, don’t forget this asshole.

The media’s favorite red-headed stepchild to whom they enjoyed comparing ALL pro-wrestlers, ALL performance enhanced athletes, and ANYONE using any kind of hormone treatment for any reason…

Because – as we all know – steroids turn anybody who takes them into a suicidal, cold-blooded murderer of women and children…according to the media.

The funny part about Benoit's case was that the media already started with the "steroids" before his toxoligy reports even came out.   

They were saying shit like he even injected them into his son's veins. Meanwhile, steroids are injected instrumusculary not intraveneuosly and he gave his son xanax to relax him before the phsycopath killed him.

To top that off they did a scan on his brain and came to the conclusion that he had the brain of an 80 year old suffering from dimensia from all the concussions and hard impacts to the head causing trama to the brain.

Benoit will always be a murderer and a coward for what he did...no doubt...but what did any of that have to do with AAS???

F**K the media.

[Montague]

Perhaps the media can explain why - if AAS use turns everybody using them into violent killers - why aren't 70-80% of NFL players, bodybuilders, baseball players, and German Olympic women powerlifters either locked up or awaiting trial?

[LurkerNoMore]

Kanyon was a great performer.  Dude could chain wrestle on the fly and improvise new moves out of thin air.   When all the WCW guys used to hang out at Chicago's Pizza watching the WWF's pay per views when aired, everyone always said that despite the majority of his high profile moves being shot down by the higher ups and never making it to the television because of perceived risk factors, no one ever said they wouldn't sell the moves for him simply because they were so far out.

His original finisher was going to be a move starting out like Tully's slingshot suplex with a drop and spring assist from across the top ring rope, when the opponent reached the vertical position, instead of a suplex Kanyon would move out from under him to the side and drop to one knee and bring the guy down across his other knee back breaker style.

[Playboy]

Perhaps the media can explain why - if AAS use turns everybody using them into violent killers - why aren't 70-80% of NFL players, bodybuilders, baseball players, and German Olympic women powerlifters either locked up or awaiting trial?

Exactly.

On a side note...they are now saying on the wrestling sites that an empty bottle of anti-depressants was found by his body. Shame. He was a good wrestler and no one utilized his talents properly.

[G.O.A.T.]

I seen him at a Ballye's in Houston one time. He was very tall, probably around the 6'6" mark.

[funk51]

 only ddp left from the jersey triad. bigelow and kanyon being dead.

[Montague]

In his tribute/commentary, Mark Madden made it sound as if DDP used Kanyon as a stooge of sorts.

Then again, Madden isn't at all a fan of Page.

[Earl1972]

In his tribute/commentary, Mark Madden made it sound as if DDP used Kanyon as a stooge of sorts.

Then again, Madden isn't at all a fan of Page.

where is his tribute?

E

[Montague]

http://www.wrestlezone.com/editorials/article/chris-kanyon-rip-99657

[Earl1972]

i didn't know madden still had a wrestling gig, i listen to his radio show all the time here in pittsburgh and not once did i hear him mention it

did raw have any sort of tribute to kanyon?

E

[Montague]

I missed the beginning of RAW.
I know that JR made mention on his blog, but I haven't even had a chance to read that, yet.

[Montague]

i didn't know madden still had a wrestling gig, i listen to his radio show all the time here in pittsburgh and not once did i hear him mention it

"All you bitches, take my shots!"

[Earl1972]

"All you bitches, take my shots!"

actually that's a big ben quote

E

[Montague]

That’s probably why you never hear Madden mention wrestling on air – he spends 2.75 hours per day defending Ben on the “X.”

The rest of the time is advertisements & music (piss breaks).

[Earl1972]

That’s probably why you never hear Madden mention wrestling on air – he spends 2.75 hours per day defending Ben on the “X.”

The rest of the time is advertisements & music (piss breaks).

you're in the burgh?

ben used to be his neighbor and he helped his sick mother

E

[Montague]

Oh, THAT’s the reason for the nut-bungee…
Okay, I believe it. I think Ben was an entirely different dude back then - much more humble & less prick-like than he is now.

I live S of Pittsburgh, but I’m frequently close enough during the week to pick up Clear Channel.

But, in regards to Mark’s minimal mention of wrestling…
With a three hour timeslot to fill every single day, you would expect to catch more.
Once in a rare, loooong while, will he sprinkle a few WCW names into the broadcast – Kevin Nash comes to mind, though I forget the context of the discussion. That was about two weeks ago.

More recently, “super-genius” fielded a listener’s question about TNA. I don’t agree with a lot of Madden’s insight, but I thought he was pretty on with the comparisons of the Hulk Hogan & Ric Flair of today vs. 10 years ago, and thus, the type of "impact" their presence would have on the product.

[Earl1972]

yeah madden is clearly thinking emotionally rather than with logic when it comes to ben

he mostly talks hockey

E