I remember the first time I saw Chris Hero. He came in to the IWA Mid-South dressing room in 2000 and he didn’t look like the prototypical professional wrestler. He wasn’t muscular. He wasn’t tanned. He looked overweight and slow. Then he stepped into the wrestling ring. Hero was a natural. He could move with the best of them and no one and I mean NO ONE had cardio ability like Hero. Chris was a student of the game. If he wasn’t in the ring training and working on getting better, he was watching video of the greatest in the business and studying their every move. It was just a matter of time before we were working together in a heel group called The Superheroes. BJ Whitmer. Rugby Thug. Chris Hero. All managed by me with Rugby Thug as the IWA Mid-South heavyweight champion. Eventually, CM Punk, Ace Steel and Dave Prazak joined the Superheroes. Inevitably, Punk and Hero had their eyes on the IWA title and the group turned on Chris Hero and myself. It led to me managing Chris Hero to his first IWA Mid-South heavyweight title and that led to the first series of matches between Hero and CM Punk. It was magic from the very beginning. Some of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen where those two going 55 minutes, 60 minutes, 93 minutes. It was unbelievable.

I don’t have to mention what CM Punk went on to become. If you’ve read this far, then you know damn well what CM Punk has accomplished in the WWE. Chris Hero didn’t have the same luck. He busted his ass to lose weight and streamline his body. He watched as his tag team partner and best friend Claudio Castagnoli got picked up by the fed and started receiving a push. He kept working and got himself a developmental deal and went to NXT in Florida. The WWE changed his name to Kassius Ohno. I didn’t watch a lot of NXT…as a matter of fact, I never saw Chris Hero work as Kassius Ohno until a few weeks ago. He was “coming back from an injury” inflicted upon him by the Wyatt family. He had a match against Luke Harper. A few weeks passed with nothing and then on this week’s episode, they did a rematch between the two. It was fantastic. Hard hitting. Dramatic. It was wonderful. I was so happy to see Chris living his dream. Of course, it was then announced that he was being let go from his contract and future endeavored.
I could rail all night about what a huge mistake the WWE is making but it doesn’t matter what I think. I am not their target demographic. I don’t care what a great guy John Cena is or how many wishes he grants for kids as part of the Make A Wish program. None of that makes him watchable in the wrestling ring. None of that makes him worthy of a Superhuman push and to always be a champion of some sort. He gets booed out of the building everywhere he goes no matter how hard Vince and company try to make the audience members above the age of 12 like him. Not once did the WWE put Chris Hero in the ring with CM Punk on television and let them go at it. No one else on the roster except for Daniel Bryan and maybe one or two others would have been able to compete and follow it if they did. Randy Orton sure as hell couldn’t. Big Show? Don’t make me laugh.
In the long run, I think Chris will be better off just like Colt Cabana. He can go back to actually getting to work longer than 10 minutes. He will be able to do his thing and get paid well for it since he was on NXT and better known than he was when he first got signed by WWE. I’m sure it will sting for awhile but if I know Hero, he’ll use it as motivation and come back even better than ever. If you see Chris Hero’s name on the lineup for an indy show near you, make sure you go out there and see one of the best do his thing.