Chris Candido

**Christopher Barrett Candito** (March 21, 1972 – April 28, 2005) was an American professional wrestler.

Candito is best remembered for his tenures with promotions such as World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name **Chris Candido**, as well as for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name **Skip**, one-half of the tag team The Bodydonnas.

## Professional wrestling career

Candito was the grandson of "Popeye" Chuck Richards, a wrestler for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, a precursor to the WWF. He started training at age 14 with Larry Sharpe and wrestled for Sharpe's World Wrestling Association. He began using the alternate spelling of "Candido" for his ring name.

While in high school, he met and fell in love with Tammy Lynn Sytch, and the two began a lifelong relationship. Sytch would later become his valet.

In the early 1990s, Candido was a part of Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). While in ECW, he was part of a stable called "The Suicide Blonds" with Johnny Hotbody and Chris Michaels. The trio had two stints as the Tag Team Champions; the first from April 2, 1993 to May 15 after winning them from Tony Stetson and Larry Winters. They lost the titles to the Super Destroyers, only to regain them the same day. They later vacated the titles when Candido left the promotion.

Candido became famous in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), alongside his manager and girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch.

On November 19, 1994, Candido won a 10-man tournament, defeating Al Snow, Dirty White Boy, and Tracy Smothers to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which had been won and immediately vacated by Shane Douglas and ECW that August.

Candido's reign came at a time when national exposure for the National Wrestling Alliance was at an all-time low, as there was no national television outlet for the organization. His title defense matches were mostly held in small independent federations and SMW. Candido dropped the belt to Dan Severn on February 24, 1995, whose subsequent reign lasted over four years.

In 1995, Candido and Sytch were signed by the World Wrestling Federation, with Candido renamed "Skip" and Sytch renamed "Sunny". Debuting on WWF television in May 1995, the duo were given the gimmick of a pair of arrogant fitness gurus who would mock their opponents and members of the audience for being unfit, with Candido performing push-ups during his matches.

In July 1995, Candido began feuding with Barry Horowitz, a career jobber, after Horowitz scored an upset victory over him on an episode of *WWF Wrestling Challenge* using a roll-up while Candido performed push-ups. Candido faced Horowitz in a bout at SummerSlam on August 27, 1995, with Horowitz once again defeating Candido.

In late-1995, the portly Rad Radford joined Candido as a "Bodydonna in training". At Survivor Series on November 19, 1995, "The Bodydonnas" (Candido, Tom Prichard, Radford and The 1-2-3 Kid) teamed together to defeat "The Underdogs" (Horowitz, Hakushi, Bob Holly and Marty Jannetty), with Skip personally eliminating Bob Holly with a schoolboy rollup.

On the December 23, 1995 episode of *WWF Superstars of Wrestling*, Sunny "fired" Radford after he and Candido lost to WWF World Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns. On the January 6, 1996 episode of *WWF Superstars of Wrestling*, Candido defeated Radford with the assistance of Prichard, who had been repackaged as Candido's cousin, "Zip". Skip and Zip began teaming together as The Bodydonnas, with Sunny as their manager.

On January 21, 1996 at the Royal Rumble, The Bodydonnas unsuccessfully challenged The Smoking Gunns for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. In February 1996, The Smoking Gunns forfeited the WWF World Tag Team Championship after Billy Gunn sustained a neck injury.

The Bodydonnas won a tournament for the vacant titles, defeating The Godwinns on March 31, 1996 in the finals of the WrestleMania XII pre-show, after Sunny ran interference. They held the titles until May 19, 1996, when they were defeated by The Godwinns. Following their loss, Sunny had a fit and ultimately left The Bodydonnas, briefly aligning herself with The Godwinns before she joined The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn).

Following the departure of Sunny, The Bodydonnas would eventually turn face, and announced that they were seeking a new manager. At King of the Ring on June 23, 1996, they introduced their new manager, the transvestite "Cloudy" (portrayed by Candido's friend Jimmy Shoulders aka James Haney), who was never acknowledged to be such on television.

In late-1996, Candido left the WWF and rejoined Eastern Championship Wrestling, which had since been renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling. Candido had also suffered from backstage politics during his stint with the WWF, as Sunny, his real life girlfriend, would begin having an affair with Shawn Michaels, who used the influence he held to demote Candido down the card.

After leaving the WWF, Candido joined ECW again, becoming part of the revived Triple Threat stable alongside Shane Douglas. While in the Triple Threat with the nickname "No Gimmicks Needed", he developed a rivalry with fellow member Lance Storm, who was soon replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow. However, Candido teamed with Storm to win the ECW Tag Team Championship. They won the tag title on December 5, 1997 from Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Despite being a reluctant team who hated each other, Candido and Storm had a lengthy championship run. The duo held the titles for approximately six months until they lost them on June 26, 1998 to Sabu and Rob Van Dam.

He also had a brief run in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which started when he was cleared to compete on March 16, 2000. During his stint there, he won the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. He won the title on April 16, 2000 in a six-way match at Spring Stampede against The Artist, Juventud Guerrera, Shannon Moore, Lash LeRoux, and Crowbar. He lost the title on May 15 of that same year. Later, the Triple Threat reformed in WCW, with Candido, Douglas, and Bam Bam Bigelow. However, the reformation was short lived, after Tammy was released from WCW due to backstage problems with Kimberly Page.

Candido had two runs with Xtreme Pro Wrestling. The first was in 2000, and he won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship before leaving for WCW. The second run was from late 2002 until the company's final show in 2003.

Candido debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in January 2005, and wrestled with them throughout 2005, until he died from a post-surgery blood clot. Because his last performance was taped to air later in the week, he was featured on an episode of *TNA Impact!* after his death.

In addition to wrestling, Candido also trained new wrestlers, including his brother Johnny Candido.

## Death

At Lockdown on April 24, 2005, Candito fractured both his tibia and fibula and dislocated his ankle during a steel cage match with Lance Hoyt against Apolo and Sonny Siaki. He underwent surgery the next day to have titanium plates and screws inserted into his leg. He was at the following *Impact!* tapings managing The Naturals to defeat America's Most Wanted to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

On April 28, 2005, Candito felt ill and his condition worsened during the day. He collapsed in the evening and was rushed to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was diagnosed with pneumonia. Doctors drained his lungs, but Candito died soon afterwards. He was 33 years old.

His brother Johnny, reported that Candito died due to a blood clot, a complication from surgery. In a 2016 interview, Johnny would reveal that Chris did not die from a blood clot, but rather acute pneumonia. This death had a profound effect on fellow wrestlers such as CM Punk, who in 2014 voiced his concern over the possibility of a post-elbow surgery clot similar to what had erroneously been believed to have killed Candito.

TNA subsequently held the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament in his honor in late 2005. In 2009, he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.