Heartbreaking
My heart is heavy and sad. I can’t believe I’m writing another ‘wrestler retiring’ post so soon after UltraMantis Black. This one hurts even more for me though.
Kris Travis is a brilliant British wrestler, more importantly he’s an exceptional human being. He wrestles in pink and black gear, he’s recognisable for the cluster of star tattoos on his right pec and his ripped body and for his funny antics during matches. He wrestled as a singles star and also notably as half of the highly successful tag team Project Ego with Martin Kirby. They were so very funny in the ring together - I remember him offering a larger wrestler a Happy Meal during a match, literally bringing a Happy Meal out from under the ring - while they were famous for being incredibly entertaining, they were also terrific highly-thought-of wrestlers, Kris got to the finals of TNA’s British Bootcamp 2 series (having to pull out due to his medical diagnosis) and won singles titles as well as multiple tag team titles.
Last year, the news emerged that Kris had stomach cancer. It was a huge shock for everyone; the British wrestling industry, and many from around the world, rallied round him, sending positive energy and raising money for cancer charities. Kris was as open as he could be about his struggles with a disease that meant an operation to remove a massive chunk of his stomach and treatment that left him thin, without hair, and without the ripped body he’d worked so hard for. He was often updating everyone via social media, posting pictures despite how negative he often felt about his own changed appearance. It was a long struggle of many months but eventually, he had the energy and strength to attend wrestling shows again, not to compete but to be with his friends and fans and to raise money for the organisations and hospital that had helped him. He was an inspiration, never shying away from revealing the pain he was in, how down he felt sometimes. He embraced the love that surrounded him and we embraced him in return.
Then, less than a year since his chemo treatment, he made his in-ring comeback in several British wrestling companies, for example he won the Southside Tag Team Championships with Martin Kirby, he fought Drew Galloway for the ICW World Heavyweight Championship at one of their Edinburgh Fringe shows and he came back to Progress Wrestling last month to face the villainess Marty Scurll, a real-life close friend. We nearly blew the roof off the Ballroom, cheering Kris on when he made his entrance. It felt like a miracle to see him there, knowing what he’d been through and that less than a year before he still undergoing chemotherapy. Watching the match again later, I saw he was actually crying during the start as we chanted and cheered for him and he and Marty embraced. He was clearly overwhelmed by the noise and love, the tangibility of it, at finally being back in that ring.
After that match, he had to spend time in hospital due to the stomach pains he was having - his girlfriend, concerned about the amount of pain he was in, insisted. After some funny Tweets sent when he was on morphine for the pain, he went quiet online. Then on Monday this week, he tweeted the news - he had to retire from wrestling, due to medical reasons. Completely devastating. The Tweets sent from wrestlers and fans around the world in response, detailing their love for Kris and all he’d done in the ring and out of it, were immensely moving, in particular the tributes written by Lionheart, El Ligero, Martin Kirby and Progress Wrestling. Kris won’t get a goodbye match, a retirement match, one last one to cap off his career. He did have his comeback matches though, he had the chance to thank us all for our support around the UK and we had a chance to welcome him back and fill so many rooms with our love and admiration for him. That was something.
Kris Travis is an incredibly inspiring man. He has been through so much, it’s incredibly unfair that he has been forced to step away from being such an active in-ring part of the industry he loves. He fought so hard to get back into in-ring shape, to be able to wrestle again when at least one doctor told him it wasn’t possible. It’s so breathtakingly cruel that that’s all been taken away from him now. I can’t imagine him not being part of the wrestling industry - he could train people, he could commentate, he could manage, there is more he could do. But would he want to do that when he can’t be doing what he wants most, wrestling? It’s going to be a process now, once he’s recovered from the operation he’s recently had, as Kris works out what he wants to do and what he can do next. There is a lot of love out there for him, love and support and I know there will be people out there offering him work in their companies.
Thank you for everything, Kris. For making so many of us laugh and smile and for entertaining us so thoroughly, thank you for giving everything in the ring and being such a lovely guy out of it. I hope it’s not the last I’ve seen of him in Progress or any other company for that matter. Thank you, Kris.