Who better than Brian Cage? The Machine will tell you one person worthy of such a nod: the late Chris Kanyon.
A new article by Bleacher Report‘s Jonathan Snowden hypes up Cage’s AEW Title match against Jon Moxley tonight at Fight For The Fallen, but also gives details behind Brian Cage’s trajectory of a fan turned student of the former WCW star. Cage first saw Kanyon as a 16-year old at the infamous RAW in which Kurt Angle drove a milk truck through the Sacramento venue and shared brief interactions with Chris before the two began having an online correspondence.
“We developed more and more of a friendship,” Cage remembers. “He knew I always wanted to be a wrestler and helped me out with plenty of ins and outs in the wrestling world. And then in 2006, he got me into Deep South Wrestling (a WWE developmental territory at the time) and I actually stayed with him for a while. I give a lot of credit to him as far as how he influenced my wrestling style. How he helped me get some extra opportunities.”
“He was so underrated, so underutilized. He trained like every celebrity who’s ever worked in WCW. He had so many great ideas. He has a bunch of little unknown accolades. And he was such a nice dude. There’s not a lot of nice guys in the wrestling business. He helped out so many. And helped so many people break into the businesses, and get jobs or get opportunities.”
Cage also mentions how hard Kanyon’s suicide in 2010 hit him.
“He was the first person, significant in my life, to ever pass,” Cage said. “When I started wearing gauntlets, I found a way to put his symbol on them. Of course, he’s where the catchphrase ‘Who better than Cage’ comes from. A lot of my moves are his, or variations of his. He was a really good dude, really phenomenal talent. I owe a lot to him.”
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