The Wrestling Factor: Quick Thoughts on Brian Adams

Yesterday, the wrestling world was stricken with another death of a wrestler under the age of 45. Already, mainstream media outlets such as FOX News are running with the story of the death of Brian “Crush” Adams. Coming less than two months after the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide, FOX News is running the headline “WWE Wrestler Brian Adams Found Dead”. Despite the headline, if you actually click it to the read the article, you’ll see that they now say Adams last performed for WWE in 2001. I’m going to assume they got a few emails from folks, because initially they seemed to be running with it as if here were a current WWE superstar. Media coverage aside, it is another sad time for wrestling fans.

Crush was no favorite of mine, and to be honest, I haven’t missed him since his failed WWE run in 2001. However, the man did have some talent and was part of a tag team that I really did like in WCW; KroniK.

I look back at him becoming the third member of Demolition, turning into the baby face Kona Crush, to the man that was in the final three of the 1995 Royal Rumble and a man that was a member of the famed New World Order. Despite all his runs in WWE and WCW, I’ll always remember his time as one-half of KroniK as being the one time I was really behind him.

KroniK was a WCW highpoint during their troubled times at the end, as far as I’m concerned anyway. They (Adams and his friend Bryan Clarke) were a dominating power-house tandem who tore through the WCW tag division on their way to becoming WCW World Tag Team Champions. The fact that I liked the KroniK team so much towards WCW’s end, is probably why I was really disappointed with KroniK’s run in WWE after WCW was bought out.

I said earlier that I haven’t missed Brian Adams since his failed run in 2001, and I meant it. KroniK was a team I really liked, and I remember thinking they would be huge back in WWE (this is Crush and Adam Bomb after all). When they came in, I was happy, thought that was exactly what the Invasion needed. Sadly, they had a really bad match against the Brothers of Destruction at the Unforgiven pay-per-view and was released from WWE in about twenty days, so they didn’t even get a month.

And now, Brian Adams is dead at 43 and the cause is still unknown at the moment. Another wrestler has left us way too early. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

- Stinger