Chris Kanyon

Christopher Morgan Klucsarits (January 4, 1970 – April 2, 2010) was an American professional wrestler.

He attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, graduating in 1988.

After college, he began training under Pete McKay Gonzalez, Ismael Gerena and Bobby Bold Eagle at the Lower East Side Wrestling Gym in Manhattan at some point between December 1991 and January 1992.

In 1992 he graduated from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor's degree in physical therapy.

During his time there, he was a member of the Mad Turtles, the University at Buffalo Rugby Football Club.

Kanyon worked full-time as a physical therapist for three years before becoming a wrestler.

He wrestled his first match on April 5, 1992, in Levittown, New York at the Island Trees Junior High School, and wrestled one match as Chris Morgan before adopting the ring name Chris Canyon and later changing it to Chris Kanyon.

He was best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1994 to 2004, under the ring names Chris Kanyon, Kanyon, and Mortis.

He was given the nickname "The Innovator of Offense" during his career, and has been recognized by commentators as one of the most underrated stars of WCW.

As a youth, Kanyon played roller hockey, basketball, and baseball at school.

In late 1994, he made several appearances with the World Wrestling Federation as a jobber, facing wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels, Diesel, Tatanka and Bob Holly.

His friend and future manager James Mitchell saw potential in him and sent him for training with The Fabulous Moolah in South Carolina and with Afa at Wild Samoan wrestling School.

Kanyon debuted in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as a jobber.

He did win one upset victory over Disco Inferno on a Saturday Night taping.

After several months he was placed with Mark Starr in a tag team called "Men at Work".

Their gimmick was that they were two construction workers turned wrestlers who wore jeans to the ring, and that Kanyon would cause the team to suffer losses by taking measurements with his tape measure at inopportune times.

Kanyon was replaced with Mike Winner before the team disbanded altogether.

Kanyon worked as a physical therapist for the next three years, wrestling on weekends and in the evenings, before finally deciding to become a full-time professional wrestler in 1995.

Early in his career, Kanyon formed a tag team with Billy Kidman which saw both men wrestle in hockey uniforms.

In 1996, Kanyon donned a mask and was repackaged as Mortis, a Latin word meaning death.

Managed by James Vandenberg, Kanyon feuded with Glacier.

Kanyon faced Glacier at Uncensored on March 16 in his pay-per-view debut but lost to the undefeated Glacier.

Following the match, Wrath debuted, siding with Kanyon and assaulting Glacier.

Glacier defeated Kanyon in a second match at Slamboree on May 18.

After the match, Wrath and Mortis once again attacked Glacier.

However, Glacier was spared a post-match beating when Ernest Miller ran to the ring to defend him.

The four men fought one another over the following weeks, culminating in a match at Bash at the Beach on July 13 which was won by Mortis and Wrath.

Mortis and Wrath continued to team together until the angle was quietly dropped in early 1998.

In February 1998, Kanyon (still in his guise as Mortis) asked Raven if he could join Raven's stable The Flock but was told that he could only become a member if he defeated Diamond Dallas Page for the United States Heavyweight Championship.

Mortis failed to defeat Page for the title on the February 12 episode of Thunder, and he was DDT'ed on the entrance ramp by Raven as a result.

This event led to Kanyon discarding the "Mortis" persona and beginning a feud with Raven, in the course of which he was dubbed "The Innovator of Offense" by play-by-play commentator Mike Tenay due to his unique wrestling technique, which included multiple moves performed from a fireman's carry position.

His matches almost always began with him asking the rhetorical question, "Who Better than Kanyon"?

as the crowd would respond, "Everybody" (or "Nobody", if he was a face.) He formed an uneasy alliance with Perry Saturn in order to fight against The Flock, but eventually turned on Saturn and joined forces with Raven.

After Saturn forced The Flock to disband by defeating Raven at Fall Brawl, Kanyon and Raven continued to team together until Raven, in storyline, was sidelined with depression and Kanyon took time away from his wrestling career to work as stunt coordinator and stuntman on The Jesse Ventura Story.

In May 1999 at Slamboree, Kanyon helped Raven and Saturn defeat Billy Kidman and Rey Misterio Jr. for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

Later that month, Kanyon (substituting for Raven) and Saturn defended the titles against Bam Bam Bigelow and Diamond Dallas Page.

During the match, Kanyon turned on Saturn, enabling Bigelow and Page to win the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

Kanyon then formed a stable with Bigelow and Page known as the Jersey Triad.

The Triad feuded with Saturn and Chris Benoit over the Tag Team Championship, defeating them for the title on June 13 in the Baltimore Arena at The Great American Bash pay-per-view.

During their reign, they were given special dispensation by WCW President Ric Flair to defend the title as a three-man unit, granting them a numerical advantage over their opponents.