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"Freakshow" Crisstopher Crow In Fatal Car Accident

Posted: Jun 23rd 2011 By: CMBurnham

Oklafan is saddened to report the death of Crisstopher Crow, who was in a fatal car accident late at night on June 22, 2011. He was 21 years old.

Crow made his debut on August 19, 2007, just 4 days after his 18th birthday. He teamed with Damien Morte as the newest member of Nemesis in a Hardcore Rules Tag Team Match against X-Rated. He would be victorious in that encounter and would spend most of the the next 4 years in SWCW. Almost immediately, he was swallowed up in the fued between X-Rated & Nemesis. 2 months after his debut, X-Rated again challenged Morte & Crow to a specialty match, this time a Ladder Match, which Kevin James Sanchez & Shane Sanchez won.

One of the things Nemesis was best known for was how they entered federations other than SWCW. They would purchase tickets and sit at ringside, mocking the wrestlers and drawing attention to themselves. This was how they entered MSWA, although the result wasn't quite what they expected as Crow's first official MSWA match on March 16, 2008, saw him teaming with Se7en and losing to the team of Jason Kirby and fellow Nemesis teammate Damien Morte as part of the Lethal Lotto Tag Team Tournament going on at the time.

Crow's first truly high-profile one-on-one match was a Barbed Wire Casket Match against Kareem Sadat in SWCW on May 31, 2008. It was absolutely brutal match that went all over the arena and although Sadat came out victorious (after a chokeslam into the casket on Crow), it proved that Crow could be considered a hardcore icon in SWCW. Much of his SWCW career had been spent in Hardcore or specialty matches at this point and that would continue as the feud between Nemesis & X-Rated erupted even further. One more time, the teams met each other in a specialty match, but this time it was all 3 members of Nemesis (adding Rage Logan to the mix) against Nemesis in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs match. Again, X-Rated walked away with a vicory, essentially bringing an end to the feud, but it wasn't easy to gain and all 5 men walked away with a little more respect for each other.

On November 22, 2008, Crow made his official debut in IZW, defeating Randy Price. Price would be one of 2 people who he had programmes with in IZW, the other one being Austin Tacious. The Crow/Tacious feud was Crow's first long-term venture as a fan favourite and it resulted in a Dog Collar Match between the two on January 31, 2009, which Crow was victorious in. Unfortunately that was the last success he had in IZW on that run as he went on a losing streak for the next 4 months before leaving the company on May 9, 2009.

Crow's impact in MSWA was always minimal as he never seemed to be high up on the card. The one exception was when he was a key player in T. M. S. winning the MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Title on January 4, 2009. In the opening match, Max McGuirk & Crow had a match which Max won by DQ. This prompted then-Mid-South Tag Team Champions The Forsaken to come to Crow's rescue and propose a 6-man match for the main event, but T. M. S. only agreed if the tag team belts were on the line. Even though Crow wasn't a member of the championship team, T. M. S. still won the belts when he was pinned in the course of the match. Crow would come and go over the course of the next 2 years in MSWA, but was never much of a major player until a couple of months ago when he and his brother Drake Gallows were the first team to challenge The New Age Syndicate for the MSWA Tag Team Titles.

After spending the end of 2008 and the first 5 months of 2009 exclusively working for IZW, Crow returned to SWCW where he teamed with Jason Kirby (a partnership that had been on and off over in MSWA as well) and lost to old foes X-Rated. Now committed to SWCW, he set his eyes on taking some championship gold. He came close in June 11, 2009 when SWCW ran a show in Chandler and he faced SWCW Cruiserweight Champion Sage for the title. The match ended in a double pin and was ruled a draw, but fans who saw it knew that Crow had a legitimate chance at winning that belt.

Fate had different plans for Crow, who was solidly a member of Nemesis at this point. In one of the most complex set of circumstances to happen, Crow ended up winning the SWCW Tag Team Titles. But instead of winning it with a fellow Nemesis member, he became champion with Shane Sanchez, who was part of X-Rated. This came about as a result of a 6-Team Elimination match, where wrestlers were taken out one at a time by pinfal or submission. Crow & Sanchez were 2 of the final 5 people left and at that point, whichever 2 could scale the ladders and grab the belts would become champions. Crow & Sanchez, who had spent much of the previous 2 years in battles against each other, now found themselves having to work together as the newly christened "Rated N".

Meanwhile, Crow had reentered IZW with Rage Logan, bringing Nemesis into the tag team picture down there. The quickly faced off against Tag Team Champions Arrogant Money, then defeating BLK-OUT to become the #1 contenders to the IZW Tag Team Titles. They were supposed to receive a title shot at Chaotic Christmas that year, but that match never happened both men were taken out and replaced by the New Age Syndicate, who would go on to win the titles.

Crow's partnership with Shane Sanchez did help him get into another high profile match as the championship pair faced off against The Canadian Red Devil & Sage, with the winning team advancing to the Ultimate X Match at Ultimate Xmas. As with the show in Chandler, Crow & Sage ended up pinning each other simultaneously so both men advanced to that match, which was ultimately won by Damien Morte.

Crow & Sanchez would lose the tag team titles at the next show to the team of Locked & Loaded. But Crow quickly rebounded, challenging Xavior for the Cruiserweight Title. He defeated his former Nemesis partners Damien Morte & Xavior in a Handicap Match for the opportunity, then 2 weeks later, on February 28, 2010, defeated Xavior for the title in a match officiated by Rage Logan. Crow would hold on to the Cruiserweight title for about 3 months before Morte cashed in the Sure Shot Title contract he had from winning the Ultimate X match and won the belt on May 23, 2010. It was the last championship gold Crow ever held.

Crow had one last major push for a title when he was one of the 4 people in a "3 Stages of Hell" match at the Ultimate Xmas event on December 18, 2010. Crow, Rick Russo, Kevin James Sanchez and Maniac Mike all competed to for the Sure Shot Contract at this year's event. After Russo & Sanchez were eliminated, the match became a Ladder Match, with Crow coming ever so close to winning, but ultimately Sanchez grabbed the contract, which he would cash in in 2011 to become the SWCW Champion.

In an interesting twist of fate, April 2 saw Crow face off against old foe Austin Tacious in Tacious' return to wrestling after several months off. Bad luck seemed to follow as Tacious suffered a major ankle/leg injury in that match, which Crow won.

Like many brothers, Crow & Gallows longed to compete against each other, but only got to do so one time, at the SWCW event on June 4, 2011. Gallows won that confrontation and Crow praised his little brother for having come such a long way in a short time.

Crow's last match was June 11, 2011 where he was chosen in a "Pick Your Poison" stipulation to face John E. Stone. He defeated Stone and earned a spot in the "6 Sides of Sickness" Fatal 4-Way match for the SWCW Title that also featured Rick Russo. But Crow never got to take that championship opportunity. Late at night on June 22, Crow's car hit a ditch and flipped, killing the young star just 2 months before his 22nd birthday. Friends in the wrestling industry have posted tributes to Crow all day. BYEW management has stated that all the procedes from their show on Saturday as well as the money from sales of merchandise will go to Crow's family to help defray the cost of his funeral expenses. In slightly less than 4 years and 97 matches, Crow managed to touch an entire state, working in 8 federations. The young father loved his family and his fans. His last Facebook status simply said "Everyone has a purpose. Stop and think, what's yours?" Few better epitaphs could be written on purpose.

Oklafan extends its condolences to Crow's family and friends at this time