John Kronus George B . Caiazzo ( January 13 , 1969 - July 18 , 2007 ) was an American professional wrestler , better known by his ring name , John Kronus . Caiazzo worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling , the United States Wrestling Association and Xtreme Pro Wrestling . He was perhaps best known as one - half of the tag team The Eliminators with Perry Saturn . He died due to a heart faliure . Career . Caiazzo ' s father , George Caiazzo , Sr . , played football with the New York Giants before suffering an injury . In the late 1980 s , Caiazzo met professional wrestler Perry Saturn when he began working as a bouncer in a Boston nightclub managed by Saturn . Caiazzo expressed an interest in becoming a wrestler to Saturn , who responded by directing Caiazzo to a professional wrestling school operated by Killer Kowalski . Caiazzo debuted in 1989 , briefly wrestling as " The Eliminator " . In the early 1990 s , Saturn offered to form a tag team with Caiazzo . The Greek equivalent of the Roman deity Saturn was Cronus , so Saturn chose the ring name " John Kronus " for Caiazzo . As Saturn and Kronus were their civilizations ' respective harvest deities , Saturn proposed that the tag team be known as " The Harvesters of Sorrow " . After promoter Jerry Lawler advised Saturn that the significance of the name would not be evident to many fans , Saturn named the team " The Eliminators " . The Eliminators wrestled their first match together at a United States Wrestling Association house show in 1993 . They were hired at a starting salary of $ 40 a week ( they later negotiated a 100 % pay raise ) , and shared an apartment with four other wrestlers . On May 2 , 1994 , The Eliminators defeated Brian Christopher and Eddie Gilbert for the USWA Tag Team Championship . They held the USWA World Tag Team Championship until June 13 , 1994 , when they were defeated by PG - 13 . In 1994 and 1995 , The Eliminators wrestled in Japan for the WAR promotion . The Eliminators debuted in the Philadelphia , Pennsylvania - based Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion in 1995 , jobbing to the Steiner Brothers . ECW promoter Paul Heyman quickly abandoned plans to give them a sadism and masochism gimmick and instead booked them as an unstoppable force in the ECW tag team division . Managed by Jason , The Eliminators won the ECW Tag Team Championship on three occasions between 1996 and 1997 , feuding with teams such as the Dudley Boyz , The Gangstas , The Pitbulls , Sabu and Rob Van Dam and the Steiner Brothers . On May 31 , 1997 , Saturn tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a match . After intense reconstructive surgery , he was given a recovery time of up to a year . Kronus briefly defended the ECW Tag Team Championship single - handedly before losing to the Dudley Boyz . In late 1997 , Saturn left ECW for World Championship Wrestling . Kronus competed in the singles division before forming a new tag team , " The Gangstanators " , with New Jack . The Gangstanators won the ECW Tag Team Championship in 1997 . Kronus left ECW in early 1999 , joining the California - based Xtreme Pro Wrestling promotion . In 2000 , Kronus aligned himself with the " Black Army " faction . He remained with XPW until leaving in 2001 . During this period , Kronus appeared in the 2000 softcore bondage film Violence on Violence . In 2002 , Kronus retired from professional wrestling , relocating to the Lakes Region in Sanbornton , New Hampshire . He temporarily came out of retirement in 2005 , making two appearances with the ECW reunion promotion Hardcore Homecoming .