Chris Kanyon - Personal Life

Personal Life

As a youth, Kanyon played roller hockey, basketball, and baseball at school. Tall, lean, and strong, Kanyon spent most of his spare time lifting weights in the gym. He attended the highly prestigious Archbishop Molloy High School, located in Queens NY, graduating in 1988. 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 of Buffalo Rugby Football Club. Kanyon worked full time as a physical therapist for three years before becoming a wrestler.

In the early hours of October 16, 2004 he was arrested in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida for "disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence" after attempting to break up a fight. He was released that same day after fellow wrestler Altar Boy Luke provided a $750 cash bond. Kanyon publicly stated he did nothing wrong, and the case was thrown out of court.

Kanyon, along with Scott Levy and Michael Sanders, attempted to sue WWE for "cheating them out of health care and other benefits" but a federal judge in Stamford, Connecticut dismissed the case.

In 2006, after Kanyon's release from WWE, he began a gimmick in which he was an openly homosexual professional wrestler. This included a publicity stunt wherein he stated that WWE released him from his contract because of his sexuality. Kanyon later told reporters and radio personalities that this was just a publicity stunt and that he was heterosexual. However, he later retracted these statements and acknowledged that he was in fact homosexual.

Before his death Kanyon was working on a book, Wrestling Reality, with Ryan Clark. The book was released November 1, 2011, and it features Kanyon's struggles as a closeted gay man as a prominent theme (ISBN-1770410287).