John Kronus

Infobox Wrestler
name=George Caiazzo


names=The Eliminator
John Kronus
height=height|ft=6|in=3
weight=convert|300|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on
birth_date =birth date|1969|1|13|mf=y
birth_place =Everett, Massachusetts, United States
death_place =Laconia, New Hampshire, United States
resides=
billed=Boston, Massachusetts
trainer=Killer Kowalski
debut=1989
death_date =death date and age|2007|7|18|1969|1|13
retired=2002|

George B. Caiazzo ("kih-ahtz-so"; 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.cite web|url=http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070730/CITIZEN_03/107300214/-1/citizen0101|title=George Caiazzo|publisher=The Citizen|accessmonthday=July 31|accessyear=2007|date=July 30, 2007]

Career

Caiazzo's father, also named George Caiazzo, played football with the New York Giants before suffering an injury.

In the late 1980s, 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.cite web|url=http://thesmartmarks.com/artman/publish/article_1177.shtml|author=Truitt, B.|title=Perry Saturn Shoot Interview|publisher=TheSmartMarks.com|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2003-09-15]

In the early 1990s, 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 rise), 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.cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/ttuswa.html|author=Duncan, R. and Will, G.|title=USWA World Tag Team Title History|publisher=Solie.org|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=1998]

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.cite web|url=http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/ttecw.html|author=Duncan, R. and Will, G.|title=ECW Tag Team Title / World Tag Team Title History|publisher=Solie.org|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2001]

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.cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2005/06/11/pf-1082775.html|author=Kapur, B.|title=Hardcore Homecoming a memorable night|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2005-06-11] cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2005/11/06/1295447.html|author=Kapur, B.|title=Storm interrupts November Reign|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2005-11-06]

Caiazzo was found dead in his fiancée Brandy Laundry's home in Laconia, New Hampshire on July 18, 2007, several days after he had undergone knee surgery. Caiazzo died in his sleep, with his death subsequently attributed to heart failure resulting from an enlarged heart. He was survived by his nine-year-old son, Gage Christian Caiazzo.cite web|url=http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=20243|author=Caiazzo, J.|title=Statement by family of John Kronus|publisher=Wrestling Observer|accessdate=2007-07-22|date=2007-07-22] cite web|url=http://www.411mania.com/wrestling/news/57389/Latest-On-The-Death-of-John-Kronus.htm|author=Associated Press|title=Latest On The Death of John Kronus|publisher=411mania.com|accessdate=2007-07-22|date=2007-07-22] cite web|url=http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/jul/19/pro_wrestler_kronus_found_dead10917/|author=Mooneyham, M.|title=Pro wrestler Kronus found dead|publisher=The Post and Courier|accessdate=2007-07-22|date=2007-07-19] cite web|url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=3397651&page=1|author=Schoetz, D.|title=Another Wrestler's 'Untimely' Death|publisher=ABC News|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2007-07-20] cite web|url=http://www.citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070720/CITIZEN_01/107200348&SearchID=73287975025579|author=Cunningham Jr., G.|title=Family mourns wrestler's death|publisher=The Citizen|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2007-07-20] cite web|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2007/07/18/4350742.html|author=Waldman, J.|title=Former ECW tag champ Kronus found dead|publisher=Canadian Online Explorer|accessdate=2007-07-23|date=2007-07-18]

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves
**Multiple 450° splash variations
***Diving
***Imploding
***Standing
**"Kronus Driver" (Pumphandle sitout scoop slam piledriver)
**"Kronus Driver II" (Inverted overhead gutwrench backbreaker hold spun out and dropped into a sitout scoop slam piledriver)
**"Air Kronus" (Diving elbow drop to the outside of the ring)
**"Hurricane Kronus" (Discus lariat or a handspring back elbow)
**"Kronus Kick" (Missile dropkick)
**"Kronus-Plex" (Swinging cradle suplex)
**Powerbomb
**Springboard leg drop
**Eastern stretch
**Superplex
*With Perry Saturn
**"Total Elimination"

*Managers
**Rob Black
**Lizzy Borden
**Francine
**Jason

*Entrance music
**"Real Solution #9" by White Zombie

Championships and accomplishments

*Extreme Championship Wrestling
**ECW World Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with New Jack (1) and Perry Saturn (3)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him # 382 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
**PWI ranked him # 89 of the 100 best tag teams of the PWI Years in 2003 with Perry Saturn
*United States Wrestling Association
**USWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Perry Saturn

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0472224|name=John Kronus