Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Wrestling Deaths...the continuing story, 5/9: Shibuya

[jaderock]

Chris Klucsaritis, who wrestled as Chris Kanyon, passed away last night from an overdose of pills at his apartment in the Sunnyside section of Queens, NY, last night. He was 40.

Klucsaritis' death is believed to be a suicide. He had been open about suffering from a bipolar disorder and had talked and threatened suicide many times in the past according to those who are close with him.

He had been talking about going through another bout with depression and taking his life earlier in the week.

Klucsaritis was trained locally in New York by Bobby Bold Eagle, and later in Columbua, SC by Lillian "Fabulous Moolah" Ellison at her home gym in Columbia, SC, and developed into an innovative and underrated wrestler. He debuted in 1992, and wrestled the bulk of his career for WCW.

He started with Mark Starr as part of a tag team "Men at Work," and later developed the Mortis gimmick. His highest profile role, including holding the WCW tag team titles, came with Diamond Dallas Page and Bam Bam Bigelow as the Jersey Triad.

During that period, he also worked in Hollywood on movie sets during a boom period for pro wrestling when the movie industry was interested in films, including on "Ready to Rumble" and a made-for-TV movie on Jesse Ventura.

He was a victim of the demise of WCW, as WWE wasn't really a good fit for him stylistically. Even though he was 6-3, he did not possess the kind of look they wanted. He was also plagued by injuries during that period and was finally released in 2004.

He attempted to get back into the major leagues doing a gimmick as the first openly gay pro wrestler, later admitting to be gay in real life. He tried to garner publicity claiming WWE fired him for being gay, but the publicity went nowhere. TNA was also not interested in the gimmick. He had wrestled sparingly in recent years, had announced a retirement, but still on occasion wrestled.

He was part of a lawsuit with Scott Levy and Mike Sanders against WWE for misclassifying wrestlers as independent contracts, but the suit was thrown out of court because the statute of limitations had expired on filing such a suit.

[5toosweet]

Thats really sad to hear. I was a big fan of Kanyon/Mortis.

WHO BETTA THAN KANYON? NOBODY!

[osufan2383]

Sad story, as much as this sounds trivia. We gotta thank Dawn Marie for he work with Wrestler's Rescue. With the possibility of these independent contractors getting health insurance maybe we will finally see alot of these guys last past their 40's.

[Gsil84]

just plain sad to see alot of the guys I watched growing up die way to young.. On a better not. Watch for me on Monday Night Raw.. I will have a sign that says "Hi Brad"..

[dodgerblue38501]

Another sad wrestling story. Kanyon was always underrated as an in ring worker in my opinion. I hope he finds the peace he was searching for.

[dd316]

I just saw him at a con not too long ago.

[jaderock]

Gene "Big Thunder" Kiniski, one of the great pro wrestlers of all-time, passed away this morning at his home in Blaine, WA. Kiniski, 81, had been battling cancer for some time and his death was not a surprise.

Kiniski, a former college football player at Arizona, was a headliner from almost the start of his career in 1953. He made his name as a top heel in Canada through the nationally televised events in the 50s with a legendary feud with Whipper Billy Watson, the biggest star at the time in Canadian wrestling. He was also in the mix with names like Killer Kowalski, Yvon Robert and Edouard Carpentier when pro wrestling's popularity peaked in Montreal during the late 50s.

During his career he held the Montreal version of the world title, the AWA world title, the WWA world title and had his big run from January 7, 1966 through February 11, 1969, when he held the NWA world title. He was generally regarded as one of the best workers in the business during the 50s and 60s. He also had ownership in the Vancouver wrestling promotion until 1983. During the 60s and through the mid-70s, British Columbia had a strong local promotion featuring some of the best wrestlers of that era.

Two of his sons, Nick and Kelly, became pro wrestlers in the 80s.

Kiniski headlined a number of baseball stadium shows in many different parts of the world during his career, most notably a Montreal world title match with Kowalski, an NWA title match with Fritz Von Erich and an International title match at the old Budokan Stadium in Tokyo against Giant Baba, which is often considered the greatest match of Baba's career.

[yankeesjetsfan]

Sad news. I never got to see Kninski wrestle, just ref a few matches here and there.

Mike

[aceecards]

I saw kiniski live in person!

[aceecards]

at least he lived a long life!

[jaderock]

Robert "Kinji" Shibuya, who was one of pro wrestling's biggest stars of the 60s and early 70s in California, passed away this past Monday at his home in Hayward, CA, at the age of 88.

Shibuya was a San Francisco wrestling institution, headlining the Cow Palace on numerous occasions, both as a single as well as with tag team partners Mitsu Arakawa and Masa Saito. Shibuya & Arakawa were best known for matches against Nick Bockwinkel & Wilbur Snyder and Ray Stevens & Don Manoukian during the heyday of San Francisco wrestling when the Cow Palace was the hottest wrestling arena in the United States.

He also dabbled in acting, and was well known after his retirement in the late 70s for raising koi fish.

Robert Shibuya played the stereotypical Japanese heel role, but he was actually from Utah, and was a college football star in the 40s at the University of Hawaii.

During the mid-60s, when he held the United States heavyweight championship, he was generally considered one of the top ten stars in the industry.

[dodgerblue38501]

This thread hasn't been updated much recently. Over the last couple of months the wrestling world has lost Lance Cade, Luna Vachon, and Mike Shaw (AKA Norman the Lunatic and Bastion Booger).

[osufan2383]

bastion booger was not surprising he was a big boy and he looked the same a few months ago at LOTR. the others were though

[aceecards]

Lance cade died?

when and what of

[dodgerblue38501]

Lance cade died?

when and what of

I pulled this blurb that I wrote from another site:

Former WWE Star, Lance Cade, real name Lance McNaught, passed away Friday due to heart problems. He had been complaining that he wasn't feeling well lately to those close to him and had mentioned that he had been having trouble breathing. He was 29 years old. Doctors said he suffered from an enlarged heart and he had quite a lot of fluid build up in the days leading up to his death. He is best known for the tag team he formed with Trevor Murdoch that had a decent run including a couple of tag team championships. He was released by WWE last year after an incident on an international flight in which he was "in no condition to perform" at that night's event. He was re-signed this year and sent to WWE developmental in Florida before being released again a couple months ago. He is survived by his wife and three children.

[dodgerblue38501]

I also must mention that one of the legendary heel managers of the 70s and 80s, particularly in the Dallas based World Class Championship Wrestling territory, Gen. Skandar Akbar also passed recently. I still remember his heel stable feuding with the Von Erich boys in the mid 80s when I first discovered all these "other" wrestling promotions via our family's new satellite dish.

[osufan2383]

El Gigante or Giant Gonzales passed away this weekend at 44.

[dodgerblue38501]

El Gigante or Giant Gonzales passed away this weekend at 44.

That is sad to hear. He had a lot of health issues that lead to his retirement from the industry. I think he was either diabetic or had a kidney disease.