The following statement was sent to PWTorch.com by Chris "Kanyon" Klucsarits...

Chris Klucsarits, the person who has portrayed the Wrestling character of Chris "Kanyon" since 1992 has come out of the closet.

I revealed myself to be legitimately openly gay this past Sunday in Orlando Florida at the Universal City Walk Hard Rock Live venue, at a national Pay Per View taping after a match with former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, DDP, Diamond Dallas Page, which I believe will air nationally on PPV in April.

Once the date is known for sure, I will post it. WCW was an AOL Time Warner/Ted Turner owned wrestling group named World Championship Wrestling, which aired on TBS and TNT and was ultimately bought by the WWE's Vince McMahon in 2001. 

The match went very well, and, the announcement was handled with a tremendous amount of class and respect by both DDP and by the fans in attendance. It was a very emotional night for me, and I am glad I was given the opportunity to do this and I definitely have no regrets at all about anything I have done or said in the past month concerning this topic.

The main reason for the month long ambiguity between the sexuality of the character, Kanyon, and the sexuality of me, Chris Klucsarits, the person portraying the character is as follows: I initially made the announcement of Kanyon, the character, being gay to get the buzz started and to try and get some anticipation built up.

I was hoping to sign with Vince McMahon's WWE or Spike TV/ Jeff Jarrett/Panda energy's NWA TNA wrestling group before making the official announcement that I, Chris Klucsarits, the person playing the wrestling character Kanyon, was gay, so that I could possibly get more attention/publicity for the company I was working for, and on the flip-side, that the announcement itself would get more publicity/attention by doing it thru one of the 2 promotions. And, if I did not get signed to a contract by the 3-5-06 PPV taping, than it was always my plan, from the beginning, to make the announcement at that taping.

Now some people felt that I was making a mockery of the serious issue that I was dealing with or that I created a circus-like atmosphere or that I was deciding all along if I was going to really do this or not. None of that was ever my intention or my plan. I was hoping to sign with one of the companies prior to the announcement to maximize the impact of the announcement, but either way, I was going to come out. 

However, like they say, timing is everything. I did speak with both the representatives of the WWE and of TNA prior to 3-5-06 about potentially signing a contract. Unfortunately, with the WWE's biggest show of the year, their WrestleMania 22 PPV, coming up on April 2 and all the storylines already set and planned for that show, they told me that the timing just was not right for the WWE to introduce such a potentially controversial character or to sign such a potentially controversial wrestler at this time. When I talked with TNA, there seemed to be definite interest, although since then I have heard that Universal Studios and/or Spike TV may have had a problem with the nature of what we would be attempting to do.

So, 3-5-06 came, I had no contract with the WWE or TNA, so I decided to officially make the announcement that I, Chris Klucsarits, the person who has been playing the wrestling character of Chris "Kanyon" since 1992, was in fact a legitimate homosexual. In doing so, to make things finally less confusing, the entire sexual history, sexuality and sexual preference as well as the wrestling career and wrestling history of Chris Kanyon and that of Chris Klucsarits are now identical, they are the same. From this point on, anytime I refer to myself here I will be referring to both Chris Kanyon and Chris Klucsarits, unless I otherwise note it.  

If I confused anyone or upset them or offended them, please know and understand that that was never my intention. I want to continue to raise awareness and thus spark discussion and interest, as I feel I have done the past month, in issues of homosexuality, celebrity fame vs. privacy, journalistic integrity and reporting vs. knee jerk reaction and opinions as well as political, sociological and psychological issues that come along with all these topics and issues.

If possible, I want an opportunity to help and to educate kids as well as adults on some aspects of all of this and to discuss with them all these issues and topics and perhaps be a role model or an inspiration to young, closeted or confused kids or adults who are able to find very few, if any, masculine athletic homosexuals in the mainstream public eye. If I can help anyone who is struggling or dealing with these topics and issues or with any of the topics, issues, problems and dilemmas that I dealt with up until now, I want to be able to do that in as many ways as possible.

The journey this past month has been intriguing, entertaining and interesting as well as emotionally and physically draining. But it is far from over. And now, I look forward with anticipation to the fact that this journey will continue..

P.S.: I will be on 104.1 FM in Orlando Florida tonight, 3-7-06 at 8 PM. Tune in if you get a chance.

This message is also available on the website, www.ChrisKanyon.net and on his MySpace Blog at www.myspace.com/ChrisKanyon and http://blog.myspace.com/chriskanyon.

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