But Kanyon acquiesced to DDMe’s wishes, saying that “Page has done a lot for me.” I ask then, and ask now: What? DDMe’s idea of doing you a favor was usually letting you do one for him. Kanyon really, really wanted to be liked, even at the expense of his own career.
Not that he was ever going anywhere. Top-notch worker. Bad on promos. Zero charisma. The kind of hand that would have worked forever in the era of territories, but got weeded out in today’s semi-monopoly. Kanyon was best as Mortis; the gimmick superseded personality.
Wrestling is more gay-tolerant than most professions based on athleticism, possibly because a mouth is a mouth is a mouth, as a very famous WWE superstar once said. Kanyon wasn’t out when he was in WCW, but everybody knew, and I never once saw him victimized by homophobia.
Not so in WWE. As a rib on his homosexuality, Kanyon was booked to dress like Boy George and get beaten down by Undertaker in 2003. Like many others, Kanyon wanted so badly to be a star that he not only submitted to humiliation, he talked himself into thinking it was a good idea. Kanyon wasn’t on WWE TV again for two months, and then it was to do jobs on Velocity, the C-show of the day. The Boy George skit wasn’t part of a long-range plan. Vince McMahon just wanted to laugh at the gay guy.
It was almost as embarrassing as the Judy Bagwell on a Forklift match.
So, Kanyon’s dead. Good guy. He included me in the “Positively Kanyon” stuff, and I appreciated it. R.I.P. You really do get numb to it.
When Brian Pillman died, that affected me. Steve Austin was one of Brian’s best friends, but was too overcome to attend the funeral. I made it through the funeral OK but, a few months later, I spontaneously pulled over to the side of the road and wept for 10 minutes. People handle grief differently. But Brian, Eddy Guerrero and Brian Hildebrand (WCW ref Mark Curtis), those hit me hardest. Chris Benoit, too, but in a totally different way.
PS – Upon proofreading this article by way of reading it to Disco Inferno, he said, “It’s great that you used Kanyon’s obit to bury Page. That’s talent.”
Mark Madden can be reached at [email protected].
