10 most shocking suicides of WWE superstars

Suicide never was, is not and never will be a remedy.You would think professional wrestlers, being larger than life characters, would be aware of this fact, but there have been several episodes that prove otherwise. The wrestling business has seen a lot of tragic incidents of wrestlers taking their own lives, and each of those stories shocked everyone to the core.All the critics point towards the problem drugs and the hard hitting blows that a wrestler takes during his career as the reason for the suicides. And while these are valid reasons, we can never truly know what the motives are in the context of the bigger picture.There have been many such cases throughout WWE history, and here is a look at some of the most tragic ones from the lot.

#10 Chris Von Erich

You are going to see a lot of Von Erichs in the list. They were a prominent wrestling family back in the 80s just like the McMahons and the Harts, but tragedy struck them hard.

Chris was the youngest and wanted to become a wrestler just like most members of his family. He wasn’t as big as his brothers and suffered from asthma throughout his teenage years, but despite all the odds, Chris made his debut in 1990. By that time, three of his brothers had already passed away.

Chris grew increasingly sad about his brothers deaths and his career only lasted one year as he shot himself in the head just days before his 22nd birthday.

#9 Mike Von Erich

The second tragic story from the Von Erich family is that of Mike Von Erich. He was a solid wrestler but was nowhere close to the level that his elder brother David – who died due to a drug overdose back in 1984 – achieved.

Everyone expected Mike to fill in the boots of David but since Mike didn’t have the same skill set as his late brother, that never happened. There were also rumours of Mike never wanting to be a wrestler.

He slipped into the clutches of drugs and alcohol after suffering a shoulder injury. He behaved strangely in his last days and the curtain to his life came down in 1987 when he took an overdose of sleeping pills.

#8 Ludvig Borga

Borga was the Alexandre Rusev of 1993. He was from Finland and was portrayed as an anti-American character that got some good heel heat. WWE wanted to push him right into the main event and put him in an angle with Lex Luger.

Borga was also the one who ended Tatanka’s two year undefeated streak, but his career in WWE was cut short due to an ankle injury he picked up in 1994 before the Royal Rumble.

Borga tried his hand in MMA afterwards and also became a politician in his country. In 2006, he suffered from short term memory loss due to which he was admitted in a mental hospital. He took his life with a gun four years later and was reported to have had drug issues.

#7 The Renegade

Fans who followed WCW back in 1995 would know that Renegade was basically a rip-off of the Ultimate Warrior character. The idea was to produce an answer to WWE’s Ultimate Warrior, but the fans never bought the idea.

While the original Ultimate Warrior was average between the ropes, his spoof turned out to be even worse. So when the WCW decided to keep the Television title on him just a couple of months after his debut, it didn’t lead to much success.

His push soon died off but he managed to survive in the company for three years before he was released in1998. And just two months after his release, Renegade took his life which was believed to be because of him losing his job.

#6 Kerry Von Erich

Every company that allowed a stage for Kerry Von Erich was high on him. He was the perfect package that every promoter wanted, and no one hesitated in giving him a big push. But amidst all this, there was a big problem: his substance addiction.

The biggest point of his career came in WWE where he debuted as the Texas Tornado to become the Intercontinental Champion in 1990. But two years later, he was a mere jobber and was soon released.

He had to fight with his demons in the year that followed but gave up in the end, when he shot himself in the chest in 1993 – bringing the death tally in his family to four.

#5 Mike Awesome

Mike Awesome was an ECW original who was built up as a replacement for Taz. Taz was ECW’s main event player but when WWE scooped him up, Paul Heyman saw Awesome as his replacement. Awesome soon became the ECW Champion but WCW came knocking on the door.

He signed for WCW while he was the ECW champion, which turned into a big controversy. The ECW fans crucified him in his last appearance, where he dropped the title to a returning Taz.

The WCW run turned out to be a disaster and he was released soon after WWE bought the company. He made some independent bookings afterwards before making a major appearance at ECW’s one night stand on 2005.

Just two years later he was found dead from hanging inside his home.

#4 Chris Kanyon

Kanyon belonged to that rare breed of Superstars who could take up any gimmick and turn it into something entertaining. But he never got the push that his talent deserved, and his best spell came in WCW as part of Raven’s flock. He was a tag team champion but didn’t have the same luck when he joined WWE.

Kanyon was a great technician in the ring as well but his career took a big blow when he suffered an injury in 2002. He did have a few matches after that but was released in 2004.

Kanyon later shocked the world by announcing that he was gay, making him the first professional wrestler to come out. He reportedly threatened to commit suicide back in 2010 and he lived up to his word when he passed away in April after a drug overdose.

#3 Sean OHaire

O’Haire was supposed to make it big in wrestling. He was seen as an upcoming talent when he made his debut in WCW but things went downhill from there as the company soon went bankrupt.

However, despite that piece of bad luck, O’Haire managed to win the tag team championship thrice in WCW and moved on to Vince McMahon’s promotion when it bought WCW. His WWE career never took off though and he was released after a motorcycle accident.

O’Haire then went on to try his hand at kick boxing and MMA, but neither of those worked out. In September 2014, he was found dead at his home and the death was later ruled to be suicide by hanging.

#2 Crash Holly

Crash Holly will always find a place in WWE history as one of the most decorated Hardcore Champions. He held the belt a whopping 22 times, partly thanks to the 24/7 rules. His reign was certainly entertaining during the Attitude Era but Holly’s career didn’t stay positive for long.

He had some random feuds towards the end of his career and was released eventually in 2003 after his new teaming with Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore bombed. He then went on to have a short run in TNA but that didn’t turn out to be successful either.

On November 6th, 2003, Crash was found dead after an overdose of medication which was ruled officially as a suicide.

#1 Chris Benoit

There wouldn’t be a more tragic suicide story in professional wrestling history than that of Chris Benoit. The “Rabid Wolverine” was one of the most respected WWE Superstars during his career and no one expected such a tragedy to hit his family.

The truth will never be known but the official ruling is that Benoit murdered his seven-year-old son and his wife before committing suicide. There were a lot of conspiracy theories out there suggesting that the Benoit case was murder but then again, we will never know.

The murder-suicide took place over three horrific days and the blame for the tragedy was attributed to the frequent blows to the head Benoit took and also to the pain killers he consumed to stay afloat in the business.

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