Widely considered one of the best in-ring performers and kindest souls in the professional wrestling industry, a surgery gone awry ultimately killed Chris Candido, and what makes it as scandalous as it is painful is that its something that could have VERY easily been avoided. Wrestling for TNA at the company's Lockdown pay-per-view on April 24, 2005, Candido fractured both his tibia and fibula and dislocated his ankle during a steel cage match. After undergoing surgery to repair the injuries, he appeared - as scheduled - at TNA's Impact! tapings. Four days later, a stricken with unknown illness Candido collapsed and was rushed to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Mis-diagnosed with pneumonia, doctors drained his lungs, but Candido died. Only 33 years of age, Candido's brother Johnny reported to the press that Chris died due to a blood clot, on his leg, a complication from his multiple surgeries.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
