Becky Bayless: RIP Chris Kanyon. I'll always respect you for having the courage to be yourself in a world that doesn't always encourage that.

Matt Hardy: Kanyon was always really cool to me.. Hate to hear the sad news. My best goes out to his family & loved one..

Torrie Wilson: My bud Chris Kanyon died & my heart breaks for him. He was a good guy w/a big heart. so tired of my friends dyin like this. RIP cluster.

Jeremy Borash: So many memories. Kanyon loved wrestling more than anyone and shared his knowledge helping many along the way. RIP to a longtime friend.

The Hurricane: "RIP Chris Kanyon. He was a good guy that helped a LOT of people in this biz. He struggled with a lot of problems though. It's a sad day. When Kanyon "came out" he texts me with "I'm gay, that bother you?" My reply, "I'm not, does that bother YOU?" We laughed & stayed friends. He was unique that's for sure, we'd just texted a lil bit last week and he spoke again of his ups and downs with depression. That is a tough struggle!! But at least his struggles are over. He was a nutcase, good and bad, but I'll miss him nonetheless. RIP my friend. After being released fr WWE, Kanyon went to Vince & asked if Vince would do the "You're Fiiiiired" thing. Lol I believe at the Mania party."

Taz: Sad to hear about Chris Kanyon RIP. ...thoughts & prayers out to his family.

Kevin Nash: R.I.P Chris Kaynon prayers to his family and friends.

Billy Kidman: Saddened by the loss of my best friend...I've known him for almost 15yrs & we've been there for one another through thick & thin, we've both had demons & dealt with them together, and I love him like a brother...RIP Chris I will forever & always miss & love you & cherish the time

Shannon Moore: RIP Chris Kanyon!!!

Tara: Chris Kanyon was a great guy and wrestler. He will be missed by all.

Chris Jericho: God bless you Chris. We had some great times and you helped me alot during the WCW yrs. I never forgot...and I never will. Who better than Kanyon? Not many...

Jim Ross: "Too bad about Chris Kanyon. Troubled, talented guy. Sad."

Ken Anderson: "RIP Chris Kanyon. Hurricane Helms told me a very funny story involving him once. "are you wearing PANTS?!!!!"

Dixie Carter: "On behalf of everyone at TNA, our deepest sympathies go out to the family of Chris Kanyon."

Steve Austin: "yes i was sad to hear about chris. very nice guy. way too young to die."

Bill Goldberg: "Sad to hear about Chris...RIP"
Mick Foley Comments on the passing of Chris Kanyon:

Mick Foley has a new blog up on his official MySpace page where he talks about the passing of Chris Kanyon. "I felt like Kanyon had the potential to be among the best workers in the business. I once heard a great Tony Schiavoni call, something along the lines of "he's the best in the business, and he's going to destroy this kid." It didn't seem like wrestling hyperbole to me either - more a genuine reaction to watching one of the best at the top of his game. I enjoyed watching him in the ring, wondering what new gem he might debut that would be stolen overnight and given new life with another company. I last saw Chris at Wrestlemania in 2004. I may have seen him once since then. He looked good, but talked about packing it in, calling it a career. I never knew of his struggles; the bipolar disorder, the pressure of keeping his sexuality secret for so many years. I had a small mention about Kanyon in my upcoming book. A few weeks ago, in my agents office, I asked if I could tweak the story just a little to make sure it didn't come off as mean. Now, I'll have to lose it altogether. I wish he was still in the book. I wish he was still with us in this great big dysfunctional wrestling family. I wish him well in his next great adventure. Kanyon unfortunately, was a guy who gave alot more to wrestling than wrestling ever gave him back."
Today was former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Diamond Dallas Page's birthday. He turns 54 years old.

Chris Kanyon was a longtime friend of Page as he worked his first retirement match against him in 2004. The two also worked directly alongside each other in 1999 as members of The Jersey Triad. Page commented on his friend's passing on his Facebook page, writing:

"Ok I've been a little over whelmed by the All the response and I wanted to THANK everyone AGAIN for the Birthday wishes and for you Condolences about the lose of my good buddy Chris Kanyon... He was a true friend and an amaZing worker in the ring... This week on www.DaRealDDP.com "Wrasslin Wednesdays" I will be breakin...g away from the Macho feud to Honor Chris's memory... DDP."

A number of media outlets are covering Chris Kanyon's passing including FOX News, CNN.com, CBS News and New York Daily News.

The word amongst friends of Chris Kanyon is that an empty bottle of Seroquel was found near his body when he died on Friday night. This particular drug is used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. As noted earlier, his death is being investigated as a suicide.
Jim Ross:

"The apparent suicide of former wrestler Chris Kanyon raises many questions. Firstly, Kanyon was one of the guys who had a college degree and at one time was a skilled, physical therapist. However, his love of wrestling, perhaps obsession is a better or more accurate term, was something that Chris could never fully step away from even after he 'retired.' Soon after or around the time Kanyon retired/left the biz he 'came out' and told that world that he was gay. Leaving one's dream profession and then providing such significant, personal news is a ton of material for one to process. Obviously, Chris was unfortunately not successful in that mission. Point I'm making is that our society isn't long on preparing many of their 'people' for the next phase of their lives specifically after the stadium lights, ring lights, etc dim on one's career. More needs to be done and should be done whether it be in the NFL, the NBA, or pro wrestling. Granted, that it takes two to tango but better programs should be in place to help people transition from the world of show biz, pro sports, etc to the 'real world.'

Many of the most famous wrestlers from a multitude of decades are still battling today to stay relevant because they either need the money or they just can't walk away from the biz and 'smell of the popcorn.' Some times I see things on TV featuring wrestlers my age or older and it saddens me. Same goes when I read of older guys who are still having to wrestle where ever they can get a booking to help put bread on the table after having successful, multi year careers in which many did no long term, financial planning. This is not a problem only of the wrestling establishment but the talents themselves have to be held equally accountable for not having the self discipline to prepare for the future which includes putting money away in a protected area and certainly paying one's taxes.

Yes, one can easily blame it on the 'independent contractor' issue but I'm not totally buying that one. Lots of independent contractors have created their own retirement plans and benefit packages and there are a litany of companies out there that specialize in such. Would it help if all these talents were employees? Sure, to a certain degree. Would being full time employees guarantee that all those 'employees' were protected? Nope. It all starts with education at a young age where knowledge and discipline are both instilled.

I look at so many pro athletes, many that I know, that had all the benefits and money one would seemingly need and they still fell upon hard times because they simply were not prepared or did not have the education and info for their life after the game ended. "
Lance Storm Comments on Chris Kanyon.    Source: www.stormwrestling.com

"Chris Kanyon: 1970 - 2010
It is with great sadness that I offer my condolences to the friends and family of Chris Kanyon, who passed way over the Easter weekend. I wasn't close to Chris but I did have the pleasure of knowing him and getting to work with him in both WCW and WWE. I believe we only had one match against each other but we did tag on a couple occasions and he was always a lot of fun to be in the ring with.

Due to the fact that I did not know Chris well, I won't be doing an in depth Tribute style commentary, but I did want to mention his passing and offer my condolences, he will be missed.

Lance Evers"


Friend talks memories of Chris Kanyon
By John Johnson


I don't even know where to start. I met Chris for the first time when a good friend of mine and I traveled up to Pensacola to attend WCW Monday Nitro live on September 1, 1997. I grew up around the wrestling business and because of that knew some of the guys. For whatever reason me and my friend walked away saying what a cool guy “Mortis” was.

It was only a month or so later we saw him again at the WCW tapings at Universal Studios. We chatted again and hung out a little, comparing backgrounds of the wrestling we grew up with, him mostly WWF in NY and me NWA and CWF in Miami. We exchanged numbers because WCW was coming down to Miami for Nitro a short time later. Once again I just knew that we would be friends for a long time.

The time came for WCW to come to Miami and sure enough we had the chance to go out and hang out in Coconut Grove with him, Goldberg, and some more of the crew. He had such a good time he decided to change his flight and hang out a few more days. I introduced him to my then wife and my kids and showed him around Fort Lauderdale the next 2 days. After going home to Atlanta he called me and said you guys should come to Winston Salem for the War Games pay per view, will be a fun trip. Sure enough we did and it was one of the most enjoyable road trips of my life.

It was through that trip I became friends with several of his friends who I wont mention just because this is about Chris and not them, although I am proud to still be friends with them all. After a great time in NC Chris invited me and my friends on the trip to come hang out in Atlanta for a few days, which we did and once again – a great time.

Its not my intent to bore anybody reading this, so I will spare a lot more details. Just know that Chris was an amazing, genuine friend who would do anything for people he cared about – which there were many. There are so many memories. So many. I will only name a few.

One of my favorites was the last 2 weeks of WCW (which was a very hard time in our lives) but we somehow found a way to make it fun and a lifelong memory. We started out in Jacksonville, then spent a week in Panama City and just acted life the run would never end. If you ask any of the WCW talent that was around that week – I think they would tell you it was a hell of a time.

There was also the weekend in Mobile – but I will keep that to myself and my friends who have seen the home video ( :

The next chapter was WWE buying WCW and Chris going to work for them. It started off amesome! He held the US and Tag Team titles and all was looking bright – which it should have. But then he was hit with some really bad luck and tore his acl. Then after that he had a life threatening infection in his shoulder due to a weight lifting accident. After all was said and done it wasnt looking good for him in WWE.

WWE had a ppv in Denver, where my family and I were living at the time. Chris was our guest at our home, but I could tell he wasnt himself. We still had a great time, but I could tell he had a lot on his mind.
A short time later he was released by WWE and he confided in me he was diagnosed with being bi-polar and battling severe depression. I would have NEVER known this. But he couldnt fight it anymore.

We kept in touch weekly at least, and all was good, until my life caved in. Me and my wife of 9 years were getting divorced and my life, as I knew it was falling apart. Chris talked me through it, tried to keep me positive, and in an amazing act of friendship , flew me to Atlanta to hang out for as long as I wanted so I could get my mind off of things. During the 2 weeks I was in Atlanta we had a great time – you name it – basketball games, clubs , bowling , movies , dave and busters , whatever would get my mind off of things. This was also when he came out to me! Now I always had a feeling Chris was gay, but he never let me or anybody else know it. I have no problem with gay people. So when we were having lunch at Hooters of all places he said to me he was coming out to the world and he was gay, he asked me – what do you think? I said “I thought so” and he said “why” - I said...”you dont like women!!” funny at the time, I still smile, even now. I finally had the strength to head back to Colorado and face things and take care of them.

After that he moved to Clearwater and I moved back to Ft Lauderdale. We stayed great friends and hung out as much as possible – me going up there to play golf , hang out with mutual friends, and hang on the beach – and him coming down to South Florida to do the same. Unfortunately his battle was getting much harder as mine was getting better. There were many times he would call me and tell me he was struggling and I would talk with him 4-5 hours to try to help.

A little over 2 years ago he moved back to Queens (haha) and things started to get a lot better. He was with his family and childhood friends. But the ups were still outnumbered by the downs. For a while we had a UFC fantasy league which kept us in contact a lot – and I mean a lot. Because he ALWAYS won. And he let me know it!!! We stopped the league about 6 months ago because we were the only 2 that ever paid. Since then we would talk every 1-2 weeks. Sometimes for 5 minutes, sometimes for 4 hours.

I last talked to Chris about 2 weeks ago. Things seemed positive. He was finally going to open up a wrestling school to share his amazing talents. He had 2 other projects on the table. Things looked good.

But Chris just couldnt find the peace he was looking for, and that sucks – because he was one of the best people I ever met and would do anything for anybody. I sit here crying because I lost a huge part of my life Friday night, I hear his voice and laugh right now, and hate the fact I will never hear it again. My sons dont understand why they will never see Uncle Kanyon again. But this isnt about me, its about the pain that he was feeling, and for whatever reason, just once, Kanyon wasnt better then the depression he was facing.

Chris, I love you brother, and will never be the same without you in my life. But I know how hard you tried to get though life, im not mad at you, I just wish there was more that I could do. Love, Jerky