To a casual fan Chris Kanyon may have been just another wrestler of the Attitude Era. He got his fame from his time in WCW and even had a big role in the movie Ready to Rumble. To people that worked with Chris or fans that paid a little more attention he was so much more. Chris gleamed with excitement whenever he was on the screen and had a great mind for wrestling. However, Chris was ashamed of who he was and that ate at him his whole life. After being released from the WWE he became the first wrestler who came out as being gay, but was never really taken seriously or given another chance after that. I think that Kanyon truly could have been one of the best and could have helped teach this younger generation, not just with wrestling but also help them deal with all the obstacles that they have to face.
We open the show with DDP and The Young Bucks talking about how innovative Kanyon was. DDP talks about how everyone wanted to work with him and The Bucks state how much he influenced them and how he would completely fit in with the independent wrestling style of today. Kanyon was constantly coming up with moves that no one else had seen before. We are then introduced to an AEW executive, Rafael Morffi, who grew up with Kanyon in New York and later worked with him in the WWE. He talks about Kris’ love for wrestling and how he needed to hide his sexuality. Fr James Mitchell talks about how Kanyon was raised Catholic, and portrayed himself as being very anti-homosexual. Mitchell was the one that got Kanyon involved in wrestling and took him to the Fabulous Moolah’s school to learn to wrestle. Mitchell was his manager in WCW and was also the only person who knew he was gay and was tasked with keeping the secret.
They then talk about how wrestling has always had gay “characters” but no one that was out, and the characters were never portrayed in a positive way. The “gay” wrestlers were always the heels, either arrogant and obsessed with their looks or bumbling idiots. It was never anything that was seen as positive or even normal in wrestling. At the beginning of Kanyon’s career in WCW he was able to hide behind a mask as Mortis. This let him hide who he was on the outside along with hiding who he was on the inside. However, when he was alone with Fr. James Mitchell he would erupt in fits of rage from being Bi Polar and hiding his true self. His rage got so bad when he feared that his secret would come out, his best friend, James said that he was prepared to shoot him if he feared for his life.
Once Kanyon went to the WWE he was given a huge push with two championships and most thought he would have been happy, but he was in a constant state of depression. You can have all the fame in the world and the money to go with it but if you are not able to be your true self and are ashamed of who you really are, it does not really mean that much. After his injury it seemed pretty obvious that someone at the WWE discovered that he was gay, as the first thing that they had him do was come out of a box singing Boy George and proceeded to get absolutely destroyed by Undertaker for no apparent reason. After this he started getting moved down the card and eventually let go.
The Young Bucks talk about how they were teenagers when they met Kanyon and felt so lucky to become friends with him since he was someone that they looked up to growing up. Brian Cage also talks about working with him on an indie show and Kanyon making sure that he put Cage over.
Kanyon finally got mental help for his bipolar disorder and came out to Luke Hawx, the Young Bucks and Brian Cage. He was really scared that it would change people’s opinion of him. Cage admitted that he did hesitate for a second but then accepted Kanyon for who he was, just as the Young Bucks and Hawx did. Kanyon came out in public at an indie wrestling show and became the first openly gay wrestler. Kanyon said he wanted to be a role model for young gay wrestlers.
Once he came out, he was not getting any opportunities with the major wrestling promotions, so he tried to get some attention by making a scene at shows and in the crowd, but he was seen as a joke by a lot of the people in the industry at that point. He then became a regular on The Howard Stern Show, introducing himself to a whole new audience. On the show he says that he was fired because he was gay. This was disputed by John Cena and Ric Flair who said that he wasn’t very good at wrestling which is why he was not wrestling anymore. You could tell that this hurt Kanyon, especially coming from Flair, who is someone that Kanyon looked up to.
Even after coming out and his wrestling career being over, Kanyon still had internal issues with being gay. He did get some help for his bipolar disease but eventually overdosed on anti-depressants at the age of 40.
Kanyon inspired so many wrestlers with his innovative style and also helped a new generation of wrestlers be more comfortable coming out. If it wasn’t for Kanyon, would we have innovative wrestlers like the Young Bucks and the amazing group of LGBTQ wrestlers that we have today? You watch a wrestling show now, and you see all these people coming up with new moves and that is a Kanyon influence.
We have wrestling shows that celebrate being gay now like Effy’s Big Gay Brunch, Paris is Bumping and MV Young’s PolyAm Cult Party shows. Effy even has a clothing line called “Wrestling is Gay.” We have come a long way since Kanyon felt the need to hide who he was, but we still have a long way to go.
There are still people out there who are afraid that they will lose their spot or respect of their peers if they come out. There are so many extremely talented gay wrestlers on the independents right now but there are few in the major companies. Kanyon opened a door that he himself was not able to walk through, but I have faith this next generation will smash it open.