30.04.2005, 00:09
About eight years ago my mom gave me a great gift, tickets to the WWF Wrestle Vessel. Only problem was she didn’t book our trip through WWF travel so when the Wrestlevestle changed cruise lines last minute, we didn’t know about it because in actuality and without us knowing until it was too late, we weren’t part of the trip anyway and wouldn't have been even if we were on a Carnival ship rather than a Royal Caribbean because in order to have been part of the festivities we would have had to book through WWF travel.
So my mom and I were on a cruise together for several days, cruising the same islands and stops as all of my heroes were, but on separate ships and separate schedules. Now, there’s nothing wrong with vacationing with you mom in my opinion, she’s one of my best friends and I did enjoy the other son bonding…plus of course when she went to bed at night I sewed my oats anyway at the on premise casinos, bars and nightclubs. But any wrestling fan can imagine the disappointment that this blunder caused.
It was a big year for the WrestleVessel too…there was HHH, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Goldust and Terri, Mark Mero and Sable, even Jim Ross was there. But don’t let me forget about two very special people who were also on that cruise that year…there was Sunny and Chris Candido.
In the timeline of things Tammy was still working the Sunny gimmick, but Chris had already been released and was making a name for himself fast and furiously in ECW as part of the Franchise Shane Douglass’s impermeable stable- The Triple Threat. I’ll get back to that later, but before I go too far off track let me wrap up the WrestleVessel story.
So at the end of the cruise my mom and I headed to the Miami airport to catch a flight back to Newark International. I remember saying to my mom how I was going to be lucky and get to see all the wrestlers in the airport anyway…and she being the pessimist she was at the time she was encouraging me not to get my hopes up and reminding me how large the airport was. WELL MOM WAS WRONG! (hehehe)
I saw them all, one by one, I saw them all. First I saw Mark Mero who stopped to sign for me and as he was doing so I heard from behind me someone say, in a sarcastic voice…WOW LOOK AT THE BIG IMPRESSIVE WRESTLER! I turned around to see that it was the HBK, Shawn Michaels who also obliged my request at a signature and auto signing. Next was HHH and China, then Bret Hart. I literally bumped into them one by one, and all of them were kind enough, after hearing my horror story of a botched vacation…to not only sign and take photos…some of them even took down my personal information and assured us that they would pass my story on and see if they may be able to do something to make it up to me. And it wasn’t even the WWF’s fault…it was ours, but this is one of those stories where heroes, out of the kindness of their hearts, really become heroes.
The last stop was our gate, where we sat down to wait for our flight back to Jersey, and who shows up? The object of my every fantasy…the beautiful Tammy Sytch. My mom and I tell her the story and she writes down all of our contact info and promises to pass the story on like the others did. Then Chris shows up and Tammy introduces him to my mom and I. Tammy sits down and she and my mom start talking, I sit down next to Chris and he and I start talking. I tell him how I have a dream to be a wrestler and we talk about it for a while, he recommends some schools and writes out some numbers for me. The four of us sit there for what was probably just 45 minutes, but felt like forever…just talking. Tammy talked with my mom about how long she and Chris had been together and they chatted on and on like girls do. Chris and I chatted it up about the business, and about his new home of ECW . Owen Hart walked by and Tammy called him over to introduce us, it was just a surreal time. Here were my idols, right in front of me, treating my mom and I like old friends. Tammy and Chris were just two of the nicest people I have ever come across and that day they took the time out, like all of the afore mentioned talent did, to make a kids dream come true. We finally said our goodbyes and went to catch our separate flights…but the story doesn’t end there.
Six months later a large manila envelope showed up at our house. I opened it up to find a letter stating that some of the talent on the WWF roster had brought our story to their attention and that the WWF would like to invite us on the following years cruise…. fully paid. And as for my new friends…Tammy and Chris…they never forgot us. I became the ECW mark that I still am today and would attend every ECW show I could. And without fail every time I went to the show, Tammy would come right over to say hello and ask how my Mom I were doing. I used to sit with her in the bleachers before the show would start…and my friends were just in awe when they saw that all of my storytelling about the bond I had formed with Tammy and Chris was actually true. But I never saw Chris much- only during the shows. That is until one night, well over a year after the story I just told, he laid a beating on Dreamer in the ring and was walking back to the dressing room. I was front row on the aisle and as he passed, visibly beaten and in pain from the bumps…I called out to him. I called out to him amidst a chorus of boos and curses (Chris was one of the best at drawing heat). “Chris, It’s me Jay…from the Miami trip! I’m the Boat kid!”
He stopped midway down the aisle and turned around to look at me. He broke character and walked back down the aisle, smiled and put out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me in for a quick embrace and then turned and walked away. That’s the last time I saw Chris. I woke up this morning to a text message from my old friend Michael T, telling me that Chris had passed away last night. I kind of lay in bed for awhile, not really wanting to move and feeling more sad then I was prepared to feel. I hadn’t thought about Chris and Tammy, not for a while. I’m 25 now and not AS MUCH of a mark as I once was, but the recent resurrection of the ECW, has in a way, resurrected me. I bought tickets for the hardcorehomecoming, and I was looking forward to reliving those old days. But now I can’t really see them being what they were, not without those two, not for me anyway.
The name NO GIMMICKS NEEDED applied to no one better, than they did Chris. The guy didn’t need a gimmick to get over; he was that pure of a soul and that talented of a performer. That’s what Vince never realized and that’s why the Body Donnas were never really successful. Chris and Tammy became successful when they became themselves, and that’s a true testament to the kind of people they are. Did I ever have dinner at their house? No, but I feel close to them anyway…and I’m going to miss Chris, and my heart breaks right now for Tammy. Those two overcame a lot, A LOT, and I know right now-Tammy is suffering immensely without her other half. Their partnership was one of the strongest I’d ever seen. I pray for them both and hope all of you will too. This is my letter of thanks, a long over due letter of thanks, to two people who really cared enough to make a difference in peoples lives. Chris Candido, you will be sorely missed my friend and the wrestling world lost a great champion, a great champion in heart, compassion, skill, and spirit. God Bless you.
Jay "The Jay-Man" Scrimizzi
So my mom and I were on a cruise together for several days, cruising the same islands and stops as all of my heroes were, but on separate ships and separate schedules. Now, there’s nothing wrong with vacationing with you mom in my opinion, she’s one of my best friends and I did enjoy the other son bonding…plus of course when she went to bed at night I sewed my oats anyway at the on premise casinos, bars and nightclubs. But any wrestling fan can imagine the disappointment that this blunder caused.
It was a big year for the WrestleVessel too…there was HHH, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Steve Austin, Goldust and Terri, Mark Mero and Sable, even Jim Ross was there. But don’t let me forget about two very special people who were also on that cruise that year…there was Sunny and Chris Candido.
In the timeline of things Tammy was still working the Sunny gimmick, but Chris had already been released and was making a name for himself fast and furiously in ECW as part of the Franchise Shane Douglass’s impermeable stable- The Triple Threat. I’ll get back to that later, but before I go too far off track let me wrap up the WrestleVessel story.
So at the end of the cruise my mom and I headed to the Miami airport to catch a flight back to Newark International. I remember saying to my mom how I was going to be lucky and get to see all the wrestlers in the airport anyway…and she being the pessimist she was at the time she was encouraging me not to get my hopes up and reminding me how large the airport was. WELL MOM WAS WRONG! (hehehe)
I saw them all, one by one, I saw them all. First I saw Mark Mero who stopped to sign for me and as he was doing so I heard from behind me someone say, in a sarcastic voice…WOW LOOK AT THE BIG IMPRESSIVE WRESTLER! I turned around to see that it was the HBK, Shawn Michaels who also obliged my request at a signature and auto signing. Next was HHH and China, then Bret Hart. I literally bumped into them one by one, and all of them were kind enough, after hearing my horror story of a botched vacation…to not only sign and take photos…some of them even took down my personal information and assured us that they would pass my story on and see if they may be able to do something to make it up to me. And it wasn’t even the WWF’s fault…it was ours, but this is one of those stories where heroes, out of the kindness of their hearts, really become heroes.
The last stop was our gate, where we sat down to wait for our flight back to Jersey, and who shows up? The object of my every fantasy…the beautiful Tammy Sytch. My mom and I tell her the story and she writes down all of our contact info and promises to pass the story on like the others did. Then Chris shows up and Tammy introduces him to my mom and I. Tammy sits down and she and my mom start talking, I sit down next to Chris and he and I start talking. I tell him how I have a dream to be a wrestler and we talk about it for a while, he recommends some schools and writes out some numbers for me. The four of us sit there for what was probably just 45 minutes, but felt like forever…just talking. Tammy talked with my mom about how long she and Chris had been together and they chatted on and on like girls do. Chris and I chatted it up about the business, and about his new home of ECW . Owen Hart walked by and Tammy called him over to introduce us, it was just a surreal time. Here were my idols, right in front of me, treating my mom and I like old friends. Tammy and Chris were just two of the nicest people I have ever come across and that day they took the time out, like all of the afore mentioned talent did, to make a kids dream come true. We finally said our goodbyes and went to catch our separate flights…but the story doesn’t end there.
Six months later a large manila envelope showed up at our house. I opened it up to find a letter stating that some of the talent on the WWF roster had brought our story to their attention and that the WWF would like to invite us on the following years cruise…. fully paid. And as for my new friends…Tammy and Chris…they never forgot us. I became the ECW mark that I still am today and would attend every ECW show I could. And without fail every time I went to the show, Tammy would come right over to say hello and ask how my Mom I were doing. I used to sit with her in the bleachers before the show would start…and my friends were just in awe when they saw that all of my storytelling about the bond I had formed with Tammy and Chris was actually true. But I never saw Chris much- only during the shows. That is until one night, well over a year after the story I just told, he laid a beating on Dreamer in the ring and was walking back to the dressing room. I was front row on the aisle and as he passed, visibly beaten and in pain from the bumps…I called out to him. I called out to him amidst a chorus of boos and curses (Chris was one of the best at drawing heat). “Chris, It’s me Jay…from the Miami trip! I’m the Boat kid!”
He stopped midway down the aisle and turned around to look at me. He broke character and walked back down the aisle, smiled and put out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me in for a quick embrace and then turned and walked away. That’s the last time I saw Chris. I woke up this morning to a text message from my old friend Michael T, telling me that Chris had passed away last night. I kind of lay in bed for awhile, not really wanting to move and feeling more sad then I was prepared to feel. I hadn’t thought about Chris and Tammy, not for a while. I’m 25 now and not AS MUCH of a mark as I once was, but the recent resurrection of the ECW, has in a way, resurrected me. I bought tickets for the hardcorehomecoming, and I was looking forward to reliving those old days. But now I can’t really see them being what they were, not without those two, not for me anyway.
The name NO GIMMICKS NEEDED applied to no one better, than they did Chris. The guy didn’t need a gimmick to get over; he was that pure of a soul and that talented of a performer. That’s what Vince never realized and that’s why the Body Donnas were never really successful. Chris and Tammy became successful when they became themselves, and that’s a true testament to the kind of people they are. Did I ever have dinner at their house? No, but I feel close to them anyway…and I’m going to miss Chris, and my heart breaks right now for Tammy. Those two overcame a lot, A LOT, and I know right now-Tammy is suffering immensely without her other half. Their partnership was one of the strongest I’d ever seen. I pray for them both and hope all of you will too. This is my letter of thanks, a long over due letter of thanks, to two people who really cared enough to make a difference in peoples lives. Chris Candido, you will be sorely missed my friend and the wrestling world lost a great champion, a great champion in heart, compassion, skill, and spirit. God Bless you.
Jay "The Jay-Man" Scrimizzi