Another pro wrestler found dead

By John McMullen
The Phanatic Magazine

With possible congressional action looming, the pro wrestling world was shaken again this week when George "John Kronus" Caiazzo was found dead in his girlfriend's apartment in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Kronus teamed with Perry Saturn as part of "The Eliminators" tag-team in Extreme Championship Wrestling. The duo won the ECW tag-team titles on multiple occasions in 1996-1997.

Caiazzo was just 38 years old and his death comes just weeks after a murder-suicide involving longtime World Wrestling Entertainment star Chris Benoit. The cause of death will be determined by an autopsy but police are not treating it as suspicious.

Benoit, 40, strangled his wife, Nancy, and suffocated his seven-year-old son, Daniel before hanging himself on a portable weight machine sometime during the weekend of June 23 in Fayetteville, Georgia. Investigators later found extremely high testosterone levels, painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs in Benoit's body.

Republican representative Cliff Stearns of Florida has advocated that Congress, which has already investigated steroid use in baseball, football and basketball, now address allegations of "rampant" steroid use in professional wrestling.

"Between 1985 and 2006, 89 wrestlers have died before the age of 50," Stearns said earlier this month. "Of course, not all of these deaths can be attributed to steroid use. However, this abnormally high number of deaths of young, fit athletes should raise congressional alarms."