I continue to be way behind the curve. In hindsight it seems silly and cold-blooded to celebrate/mourn the ending of HBK's career without even mentioning the actual death of Chris Klucsaritis; better known to wrestling fans as Mortis/Chris Kanyon, on April 2nd.
He apparently took his own life at the age of 40.
I usually feel strange writing "RIP" and things like that on blogs and message boards for people I don't know because in some ways it feels selfish or something...I didn't actually know the man and I obviously can't comprehend or claim in anyway the real grief his family and friends are feeling and that's one of the reasons I choose not to write anything when I first heard the news.
I didn't have much to add other than:
It's sad how many of these men die so young (even though this situation is different from most of the other deaths in recent years).
Kanyon the wrestler was extremely underrated and fun to watch.
Hardly ground-breaking opinions.
Reading his obituary was the first time I encountered the information that he was gay and had outed himself in 2006 at an Indy show.
It's covered in more detail in this excellent Deadspin column.
Even though, as the column alludes, there have been many whispers and rumors about high-level WWE officials being openly gay, this is the first time I can recall a famous wrestler openly coming out while they were still active.
The fact that he was largely out of the limelight when he did so really doesn't make much difference.
The Masked Man (author of the Deadspin piece and fellow Parts Unknown native) writes that:
"He appeared a couple of times on The Howard Stern Show, where they played up his homosexuality and the seeming incongruity of a gay man in the pro wrestling business."
This level of publicity led Kanyon to believe he had been blacklisted by the WWE (a damn-near monopolistic entity) and had essentially ended his career.
The Wrestling Observer obituary noted cryptically that he "didn't have the look the WWE wanted." On what information they based that assertion I can only guess, but I'll never forget listening to Mark Madden's radio show on ESPN 1250 in Pittsburgh the day Eddie Guerrero died.
Double M went on a tirade about how Vince McMahon and the WWE brass had a "physique fetish" and that this fetish was having a drastic, destructive impact on the lives and health of men like Eddie. Madden, a former WCW employee, had known Guerrero personally and was speaking with raw, spur of the moment emotion that afternoon, but his words had a ring of truth to them, in my opinion, and have stayed with me ever since.
At any rate the Observer obit mentioned that Kanyon had been struggling with bipolar disorder and I can only try to fathom the anxiety of being gay in such a macho environment and the stress such anxiety might have put on his mental equilibrium.
Add to that the fact that if the Observer is right, despite having considerable in-ring talent he was suddenly cast-aside because he didn't match the invisible metrics of some inexplicable, unmeasurable "look."
To their credit, according to Deadspin many of his peers said that had they known of his sexual orientation they wouldn't have cared.
But what's more interesting and what made me want to write about this is Deadspin's mention of the lawsuit Kanyon filed with Raven and Mike Sanders against the WWE in 2009 challenging the "independent contractor" status that all wrestlers in the company must perform under.
I had absolutely no idea a suit of this nature was filed so recently.
The Masked Man characterizes the "independent contractor" arrangement as "morally suspect."
Honestly, it's hard to disagree with that characterization and there really doesn't seem to be any need for it nowadays that the WWE basically controls the entire business. Before they could and did argue, as he notes, that they couldn't offer deals and concessions to performers that competitors weren't willing to make. That argument realistically died in the rubble of WCW years ago, and maybe even before that when the AWA folded.
I think unionization may have been at the core of the the attempted suit and that has been a ruinous topic for years in pro wrestling dressing rooms.
Jesse "the Body" Ventura said in an interview that he was leading a drive to unionize performers back in the 80's when he was informed on by Hulk Hogan, which led to one of Jesse's numerous fallings out with Vince.
The "contractor" status and issue was mulled over and discussed openly by all forms of media in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit tragedy.
But just like that the genie was stuffed back in the bottle.
As a fan I'm certainly complicit in this system.
It was brought to my attention when Eddie Guerrero died and then again during the Benoit situation, but, unfortunately, it didn't remain in my thoughts long.
I'm going to try and keep it there this time.
Besides the absolutely ludicrous fact that being a "contractor" by nature precludes the WWE from supplying health insurance, the Masked Man mentions other ridiculous things inherent in this arrangement like the fact that these dudes have to file taxes in every state they work in, etc.
It's insanity.
Kanyon and company's lawsuit was rejected due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Presumably because none of the plaintiffs had worked for the WWE in years.
I highly recommend the Deadspin column I've linked to twice in this post. It's well-written, interesting and contains some video of Kanyon.
I sound like a broken record writing things like: how sad it is that it takes a man's death to make us look deeper into the dark corridors of this business called pro-wrestling that we love so much.
It's supposed to be about fun and escapism, but I really am going to try and not get carried to far away from the damage and havoc this business can wreak on the people who make it what it is.
Rest in Peace.
Chris Klucsaritis
He apparently took his own life at the age of 40.
I usually feel strange writing "RIP" and things like that on blogs and message boards for people I don't know because in some ways it feels selfish or something...I didn't actually know the man and I obviously can't comprehend or claim in anyway the real grief his family and friends are feeling and that's one of the reasons I choose not to write anything when I first heard the news.
I didn't have much to add other than:
It's sad how many of these men die so young (even though this situation is different from most of the other deaths in recent years).
Kanyon the wrestler was extremely underrated and fun to watch.
Hardly ground-breaking opinions.
Reading his obituary was the first time I encountered the information that he was gay and had outed himself in 2006 at an Indy show.
It's covered in more detail in this excellent Deadspin column.
Even though, as the column alludes, there have been many whispers and rumors about high-level WWE officials being openly gay, this is the first time I can recall a famous wrestler openly coming out while they were still active.
The fact that he was largely out of the limelight when he did so really doesn't make much difference.
The Masked Man (author of the Deadspin piece and fellow Parts Unknown native) writes that:
"He appeared a couple of times on The Howard Stern Show, where they played up his homosexuality and the seeming incongruity of a gay man in the pro wrestling business."
This level of publicity led Kanyon to believe he had been blacklisted by the WWE (a damn-near monopolistic entity) and had essentially ended his career.
The Wrestling Observer obituary noted cryptically that he "didn't have the look the WWE wanted." On what information they based that assertion I can only guess, but I'll never forget listening to Mark Madden's radio show on ESPN 1250 in Pittsburgh the day Eddie Guerrero died.
Double M went on a tirade about how Vince McMahon and the WWE brass had a "physique fetish" and that this fetish was having a drastic, destructive impact on the lives and health of men like Eddie. Madden, a former WCW employee, had known Guerrero personally and was speaking with raw, spur of the moment emotion that afternoon, but his words had a ring of truth to them, in my opinion, and have stayed with me ever since.
At any rate the Observer obit mentioned that Kanyon had been struggling with bipolar disorder and I can only try to fathom the anxiety of being gay in such a macho environment and the stress such anxiety might have put on his mental equilibrium.
Add to that the fact that if the Observer is right, despite having considerable in-ring talent he was suddenly cast-aside because he didn't match the invisible metrics of some inexplicable, unmeasurable "look."
To their credit, according to Deadspin many of his peers said that had they known of his sexual orientation they wouldn't have cared.
But what's more interesting and what made me want to write about this is Deadspin's mention of the lawsuit Kanyon filed with Raven and Mike Sanders against the WWE in 2009 challenging the "independent contractor" status that all wrestlers in the company must perform under.
I had absolutely no idea a suit of this nature was filed so recently.
The Masked Man characterizes the "independent contractor" arrangement as "morally suspect."
Honestly, it's hard to disagree with that characterization and there really doesn't seem to be any need for it nowadays that the WWE basically controls the entire business. Before they could and did argue, as he notes, that they couldn't offer deals and concessions to performers that competitors weren't willing to make. That argument realistically died in the rubble of WCW years ago, and maybe even before that when the AWA folded.
I think unionization may have been at the core of the the attempted suit and that has been a ruinous topic for years in pro wrestling dressing rooms.
Jesse "the Body" Ventura said in an interview that he was leading a drive to unionize performers back in the 80's when he was informed on by Hulk Hogan, which led to one of Jesse's numerous fallings out with Vince.
The "contractor" status and issue was mulled over and discussed openly by all forms of media in the aftermath of the Chris Benoit tragedy.
But just like that the genie was stuffed back in the bottle.
As a fan I'm certainly complicit in this system.
It was brought to my attention when Eddie Guerrero died and then again during the Benoit situation, but, unfortunately, it didn't remain in my thoughts long.
I'm going to try and keep it there this time.
Besides the absolutely ludicrous fact that being a "contractor" by nature precludes the WWE from supplying health insurance, the Masked Man mentions other ridiculous things inherent in this arrangement like the fact that these dudes have to file taxes in every state they work in, etc.
It's insanity.
Kanyon and company's lawsuit was rejected due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Presumably because none of the plaintiffs had worked for the WWE in years.
I highly recommend the Deadspin column I've linked to twice in this post. It's well-written, interesting and contains some video of Kanyon.
I sound like a broken record writing things like: how sad it is that it takes a man's death to make us look deeper into the dark corridors of this business called pro-wrestling that we love so much.
It's supposed to be about fun and escapism, but I really am going to try and not get carried to far away from the damage and havoc this business can wreak on the people who make it what it is.
Rest in Peace.
Chris Klucsaritis
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