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Who's your Hero?

Chris Spradlin (born December 24, 1979) is an American Professional Wrestler from Dayton, Ohio. He has wrestled in no less than sixteen different promotions stationed across North and South America, Asia, Australia and Europe and is best known for his work in Ring of Honor and CHIKARA as Chris Hero. The German westside Xtreme wrestling is his home promotion away from home.

He debuted in 1998 and traveled to receive further training from Tracy Smothers, Johnny Saint, Skayde, Les Thatcher, Dave Taylor, Dave Finlay, Dory Funk Jr. and others, wrestling in various Midwestern indies. His first standout role came from Ian Rotten's IWA Mid-South in Indiana. In 2002, he debuted in CHIKARA, teaming with CM Punk and Colt Cabana as the Gold Bond Mafia. He turned heel on his SuperFriends partner Mike Quackenbush in the finals of the 2005 CHIKARA Tag World Grand Prix, costing his team the match against Claudio Castagnoli and Arik Cannon. This led to Hero, Castagnoli and Cannon forming The Kings of Wrestling and effectively shaped CHIKARA for the foreseeable future. Hero and Castagnoli would defeat Milano Collection A.T. and Skayde to win the 2006 Tag World Grand Prix and become the inaugural CHIKARA Campeones de Parejas. Hero left CHIKARA at the end of 2007 over what remains to this day completely mysterious circumstances. He has also competed for various National Wrestling Alliance members, CZW, TNA, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH and Pro Wrestling Guerilla.

Between 2012-2013 he was in WWE's revival of Florida Championship Wrestling and later, its developmental system NXT as Kassius Ohno before getting released, though it was far from being the end of Chris Hero's wrestling career, as he would go on to win the EVOLVE Wrestling Championship title and the All Pro Wrestling World Wide Internet Championship belt.

In January of 2017, recordings of an NXT taping surfaced on the internet, revealing that Chris Hero had appeared on the show as Kassius Ohno. WWE uploaded footage as well and broke the news on social media, making the announcement of his re-signing with the company all but official. He would be released in 2020 during WWE's cost-cutting mass releases. In 2023 he signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer.

He's also won the Heavyweight Titles of the Alternative Championship Wrestling, Coliseum Championship Wrestling, Hard Core Wrestling, Grand Pro Wrestling, The Northern States Wrestling Alliance, Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling, Impact Championship Wrestling, IWA Mid-South, IWA East Coast, westside Xtreme wrestling as well as many other titles in those and many other promotions.


"Knockout Tropes"

  • Acrofatic: His prominent gut does not affect his running and jumping ability, and he can even bust out hurricanranas.
  • Always Second Best: Thanks to the existence of AJ Styles, or depending on which channels you follow, Bryan Danielson.
  • Anti-Climax: He defeated Shane Storm at CHIKARA The Crushing Weight of Mainstream Ignorance by blasting him with a single right-hand punch.
  • Arch-Enemy: Eddie Kingston, as their feud covered CZW, CHIKARA, IWA Mid-South and ROH.
  • As Himself: In Born Ruffians' "The Ballad of Bruce Moose" video.
  • Bash Brothers: Claudio Castagnoli the most. At other points, Arik Cannon, Necro Butcher, Sara Del Rey, Marc Roudin, Porno The Clown, John Caesar, Danny Blackheart, Colt Cabana, JT Dunn and Tommy End.
  • Beard of Evil: Especially when teamed up with Arik Cannon. Then Kassius Ohno really grew it out.
  • Big Bad: For 2005-2007. Specifically, the Kings of Wrestling were the dominant heel stable in CHIKARA, and everything centered around them. The 2007 Torneo Cibernetico, at Cibernetico & Robin, September 22, 2007, was the KOW (Hero, Castagnoli, Chuck Taylor, Gran Akuma, Icarus, Larry Sweeney, Mitch Ryder and Shane Hawke) vs. Equinox, Incognito (Hunico/Sin Cara Negro), Lince Dorado, Magnonote , Las Chivas (Chiva III and Chiva IV) and Los Ice Creams (Ice Cream Jr. and El Hijo del Ice Cream). The way the match works is that it is an elimination tag match where there can be only one person left, even if that means one team has to fight each other after the other team has been eliminated, which is exactly what happened here. Ryder had eliminated Dorado, leaving only himself, Hero and Castagnoli. Castagnoli eliminated Hero and Ryder to win.
  • Blood Is the New Black: There have been times he's bled all over except for his head. And of the Wife Beaters, this guys was the less garbage of the two.
  • Blood Knight: As Kassius Ohno, he loved to hurt people and to knock them out. Anyone can get a lucky cradle or submission. It was a man with real power to knock someone out, he reasoned.
  • Break the Haughty: The Kings Of Wrestling losing a two out of three falls match two falls straight to the Briscoes at ROH Domination.
  • The Bus Came Back: At ROH Final Battle 2013 against Adam Cole and Matt Hardy.
  • Calling Your Attacks: "Death Blow"
  • The Cameo
    • On the ABC network talk show Politically Incorrect due to his "Wife Beater" gimmick.
    • On Border Security: Australia's Front Line as he or a promoter had failed to secure the correct visa to work in the country for his scheduled defense of the PWG World Title at a Pro Wrestling Alliance Queensland show. The situation managed to be resolved in time.
    • Chris Hero was interviewed during the independent circuit period of CM Punk's WWE DVD.
  • Catchphrase: Kings Reign Supreme! It's where the name of the Kings Of Wrestling Finishing Move comes from. KRS1
  • Chest Insignia
    • Used to wear a "CH" patterned after the Superman "S".
    • In his early days, he wore a Superman suit with the "S" crossed out.
  • Collector of the Strange: Del Rey has mocked him for collecting t-shirts.
  • Combat Commentator: Initially served as one for IWA Mid-South, then for Chikara, then for Chikara and CZW's then join Wrestle Factory shows, then for Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
  • Combination Attack
    • Kicking people while Castagnoli spun them around.
    • One of Big In USA's is for him and Cabana to trip each other while running so they will fall on their opponents.
  • Complexity Addiction: So Claudio Castagnoli was apparently the mole for Chris Hero in Ring Of Honor who he had fight the CZW invaders until least convenient?
  • Cool Teacher
    • Given his position in Chikara and CZW, Chris Hero has trained or had a hand in the training of AKUMA, Ares, Claudio Castagnoli, Danny Havoc, Drew Gulak, Eddie Kingston, Hallowicked, JC Bailey, Larry Sweeney, Lince Dorado, Lucky tHURTeen, Mickie Knuckles, Orange Cassidy, Portia Pérez, Thumbtack Jack, Tim Donst, Trik Davis and many, many more.
    • Besides his various wrestling instructors, Hero was trained in boxing by Marshall Kauffman
  • Curse: There were suggestions Hero had been cursed after Lince Dorado, El Pantera, Claudio Castagnoli, Mike Quackebush and Equinox all defeated him with the Chikara Special in 2007. He seemingly broke the curse by instead making Equinox submit to the hold in a rematch.
  • Cursed with Awesome: While his physique would not suggest it, Chris Hero's natural testosterone are elevated much higher than the average man's. Unfortunately, this causes him to fail steroid tests, as many don't take this little medical tidbit into account when testing him.
  • Darker and Edgier: Downplayed, as it's hard to get much edgier in a promotion that would rather have pure wrestling matches when your entry into it is heavily associated with CZW, but it was in ROH that Hero dropped the Superman stuff and became obsessed with knocking people out.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Mocked Bryan Danielson for responding to his challenge for an ROH World Championship match by mailing Hero an open contract. Whose to say Hero would sign even if he got it? Imagine all the ways that could go wrong!
  • The Dragon: As the centerpiece of Sweet N' Sour Incorporated's ROH branch. Obviously Larry Sweeney called the shots but Hero was his most important wrestler.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: The storyline justification for his obvious "gatekeeper"note  role in NXT. It drove him nuts that he continually gets passed over for every new face that debuts in NXT, so he just decided at one point that he's going to pick fights with all of them as a way to stay in the spotlight.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: He had a much less elbow centric offense prior to 2008. After losing the PWG World Championship belt, he started to bring back more of his old moves, to see if they would help him win it back. They might have against Danielson but since he left for WWE, Hero ended up against sometimes ally Davey Richards, who knew him too well to fall for his old tricks, including the "title shot right after the tournament" trick he pulled on Ruckus.
  • Enemy Mine: Enacted a brief truce with Eddie Kingston for the sake of the war against Ring of Honor. Once that was ended, they were enemies again.
  • Evil Duo: With Claudio Castagnoli, who is the more direct of the two, usually.
  • Evil Minion: Shane Hagadorn was taken up as one, once Chris Hero truly rededicated himself to the Kings Of Wrestling in Ring Of Honor.
  • Expy: Of ECW's Super Nova, being a similar long-haired superhero wrestler with a highly technical moveset.
  • The Face: John Zandig sent Hero to represent CZW in IPW:UK and at the 2007 King of Europe Cup.
  • Finishing Move: Hero's Welcome, the many Hangman's Clutches, Rubik's Cube (electric chair lift into pile driver), Stretch Plum Alpha, Cyclone Kill (Discus big boot), By his 2014-2016 indie run, these were mostly replaced by various elbow strikes and piledrivers, in particular the Hangman's Elbow/Death Blow, Diving D (sliding Death Blow), the standard sitout piledriver, and Gotch-Style piledriver.
  • Foreign Wrestling Heel: In NXT UK, he talks about how he, an American, has to show the Brits how to do things right.
  • Friendly Enemy: He and Castagnoli in Ring Of Honor. Even after Hero broke up the Kings Of Wrestling to follow Larry Sweeney he'd team right back up with Castagnoli if allowed. This was in drastic contrast to their breakups in Chikara and Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
  • Friend Versus Lover: His relationship with Candice LeRae became a point of contention between the Kings Of Wrestling after Castagnoli betrayed Chris Hero to BLKOUT and tried to help Human Tornado get his hands on LeRae. Don't worry, they made back up... Hero and Castagnoli that is.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: During the early stages of the CZW invasion, he and Necro Butcher were repeatedly thrown out of the venues Ring Of Honor was holding their shows in for harassing their contracted wrestlers.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Hero already thought he was at the top of EVOLVE but felt threatened by newcomers such as Matt Riddle and Cody Rhodes, feeling the need to beat them to prove his was still the GOAT.
  • Heel–Face Turn: The result of his feud with William Regal, combined with issues with The Wyatt Family shortly thereafter.
  • He's Back!: Returned to WWE NXT in January 2017 as Kassius Ohno.
  • The Heavy: Hero was front and center of the CZW Invasion of Ring of Honor. Hero instigated the hostilities before Zandig and Necro Butcher's later involvement. Zandig was ultimately responsible, due to negligence causing the antipathy between promotions, and when Zandig did act, Hero and Butcher quickly became subservient to him. However, for most of of the "feud" he was nowhere to be seen, leaving Hero and Butcher to do all the heavy lifting and between the two, Hero acted as leader more often than not, had the most to say, had the most grievances, did most of the planning, etc.
  • How Much More Can He Take?
    • As far as punishment goes, he fell to CM Punk in a fifty five minute tables ladder and chairs match. As far as length goes, he and Punk went to several hour long time limit draws. He did beat CM Punk for the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Title, two falls to one, and it took Hero ninety two minutes to do it.
    • The SuperFriends wrestled Swi$$ Money Holding to a time limit draw, resulting in their mutual elimination from the 2003 Tag World Grand Prix of Chikara.
    • The Kings Of Wrestling wrestled Davey Richards and Super Dragon for fifty minutes at PWG's 2008 Card Subject To Change 2.
    • At SMASH Chris Hero's ALS Challenge he was in seventeen back to back matches wrestling three hours and ten minutes straight, a length decided by charitable donations, Hero having pledged to wrestle thirty minutes for every 500USD (even though it was in Canada) in what he called an "infinity gauntlet" (he won 12, lost four and drew with Rich Swann).
  • Improbable Weapon User: A golden elbow pad, or really, any combination of metal and elbow pads. He claimed his first weighted pad was a gift from Mitsuharu Misawa, who also used the rolling elbow as a finisher, in NOAH.
  • Jobber: Basically his role in TNA. Hero did get his own card in their Pacific Trading Card Lame and defeated X Division Champion Christopher Daniels in a non title match at a PWG show though.
  • Knight of Cerebus: His turning shaped the very future of all events of CHIKARA to this very day.
  • Large Ham: Not many people can follow Dr. Cube, but not even his ramblings can overshadow the disdain Chris Hero has for you hipster trash! And here is another example.
  • Leitmotif
    • KoW by Cody B. Ware for the Kings Of Wrestling in Ring Of Honor
    • "Chris is Awesome!" by Viro the Virus
    • "Hero's Welcome" by Cody B. Ware for his second NXT run.
  • Lonely at the Top: Subverted, and not just because he and Claudio were a tag team. Their work to stay on top is apparently what allowed them to meet Sara Del Rey in the first place, according to Remix Pro Wrestling.
  • Loser Leaves Town: Sent out of Chikara by Claudio Castagnoli and out of CZW by Eddie Kingston. The latter didn't stick but the former did.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain
    • Ian Rotten-Chris Hero-Trik Davis(and Mickie Knuckles and Bryce Remsburg) in IWA Mid-South
    • Dave Taylor-Chris Hero-Claudio Castagnoli in CHIKARA
    • Presumably Finlay or William Regal-Kassius Ohno-Antonio Cesaro would have been highlighted sometime in WWE\FCW if he had stuck around.
  • Messianic Archetype
    • Chris Hero started claiming to be the savior of CZW after he became a regular roster member in 2003. Exactly what he is saving it from and whether the crowd agrees...varies. They seemed to agree in 2005 when he claimed himself to be the David against the ROH Goliath and later in the case of the Gulak Campaign.
    • To drive the point home, his theme, "Chris Is Awesome" is a remix of Mesías's AAA theme(though only the first version).
  • Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: At the end of February, when CZW's roster had achieved its biggest breach of ROH yet. Enter Samoa Joe to eject them.
  • Older Hero vs. Younger Villain
    • Briefly played the younger villain to William Regal's older don't-call-me-a-hero in a feud referencing the fact that Regal had trained him in his career's formative years.
    • The older hero vs Anthony Nese, Caleb Konley and Trent Barreta in EVOLVE
  • One-Hit KO: Was the victim of this in NXT from an incoming Matt Riddle.
  • Only Sane Man: Was much more likely to question the insanity of IWA Mid-South than Dave Prazak, who would bring things up as a matter of fact.
  • One-Steve Limit
    • He's actually one of two Wife Beaters wrestling around the same time, him being of IWA Mid-South while the other was more associated with CZW.
    • He and Crash Holly both had moves known as the "Crash Landing", but while Chris Hero's was a rolling release suplex, Crash's was a Styles Clash.
  • Out-Gambitted: At IWA Mid-South No Retreat...No Surrender, January 21, 2006, he faced Garbage Wrestler Necro Butcher in a "European Rules" match, with the stipulation that if Necro survived both rounds Hero would have to face him in a Barroom Brawl. Hero imposed tons of rules on the premise that there would be no way for Necro to keep up with them. Instead, Necro managed to fight Hero to a 1:1 draw (Hero won Round 4, Necro won Round 5), meaning that Hero found himself in the situation he did not want to be in, a Barroom Brawl against Necro Butcher. Butcher won, of course.
  • Parts Unknown: "Metropolis"
  • Perky Female Minion: Lucy, as she is to most who accept her services. Candice LeRae for about two years in Pro Wrestling Guerilla.
  • Power Stable:
    • Larry Sweeney's Sweet 'n' Sour Inc.
    • The Kings Of Wrestling eventually became a stable with Chris Hero and Castagnoli using Mitch Ryder, Max Boyer and Shayne Hawke as henchmen in Chikara. Arik Cannon, Larry Sweeney, Icarus, Chuck Taylor and Gran Akuma outside of it until Castagnoli was forced back into the Chikara group and the rest were brought in for the reunion.
  • Power Trio
    • Resistance with Mark Wolf and Todd Morton in IWA Mid-South
    • The Kings Of Wrestling Started as one when Hero joined AC/CC (Arik Cannon/Claudio Castagnoli) but then Cannon left. Became a trio again with Sara Del Rey.
    • Friends In Similar Tights after Castagnoli was booted from the Kings due to his first (unsuccessful) WWE signing. F.I.S.T. kept teaming as a trio without Hero when they decided they'd rather team with Chuck Taylor and Hero went to NOAH for a stint as a result.
    • Few Good Men with Castagnoli and Blackjack Marciano in CZW
  • Pretty Fly for a White Guy: At Local Town Wrestling's July 11, 2009 event, he and Delirious lost to the LTW US Tag Team Champions The Set (J-Sin and Lance Lude). In their post-match promo, Hero referenced Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes and quoted Snoop Dogg's "Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)" and Delirious quoted the chorus of Dr. Dre's "Nuthin' But A G Thang."
  • Put on a Bus
    • Sent Castagnoli out of Chikara. Later, Castagnoli returned and returned the favor to Christ Hero.
    • While in NXT, he was taken off TV allegedly for a lack of commitment to physical conditioning. Whether or not it's true, his weight gain was certainly noticeable. He returned, but was then released not long after.
  • Red Baron: Dubbed "That Young Knockout Kid" by Larry Sweeney. Later, when he was not so young anymore, "The Knockout Artist".
  • Rescue Romance: After saving Candice LeRae from her pimp, The Human Tornado.
  • The Rival:
    • The H8 Club (Nick Gage and Justice Pain) in CZW to the Kings Of Wrestling.
    • The Kings Of Wrestling had QuackenSaw (Jigsaw and Mike Quackenbush) Lightning Storm (Shane Storm and Mike Quackenbush), ShaneSaw (Shane Storm and Jigsaw) in Chikara. Also Incoherence (Delirious and Hallowicked)
    • Generation Next in Ring Of Honor, particularly Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, who frequently acted as a tag team, though Matt Sydal too, as he teamed with Christopher Daniels to unseat them as ROH Tag Team Champions after The Kings Of Wrestling unseated Aries and Strong. Also, The American Wolves and The World's Greatest Tag Team
    • Team PWG (Super Dragon and B-Boy) in Pro Wrestling Guerilla
    • Brave in NOAH, particularly Takeshi Morishima and Mohammed Yone (AKA Captain NOAH), who acted as a tag team against Hero and Castagnoli
    • The Olsen Twins, Colin and Jimmy in 2CW
    • The Young Bucks (Nick and Matt Jackson) in ROH and PWG
    • Individually, he's wrestled to several draws with CM Punk in IWA Mid-South and the International Wrestling Cartel
    • He has a verbal rivalry with Lance Storm, but the two don't wrestle too much, due to Lance being mostly retired.
  • Run the Gauntlet: The theme of EVOLVE 25, 26 and 27 concerning Hero's involvement was him running one against the best of the promotion and of DG USA. Then there was the SMASH infinity gauntlet mentioned further up the page.
  • Separated by a Common Language: Pure Wrestling Commandment #2, thou shalt not speak British, lest thou forfeit all rope breaks.
  • Sequel
    • While "variations of" and theme naming have been in professional wrestling since the days of Lou Thesz, Chris Hero still deserves some mention for his Cravate Buster (Three-quarter chancery neckbreaker), Cravate Countdown (same three quarter facelock dropped) Cravate cutter(actually more like a somersault stunner), Cravate-O-Clasm (same chancery but into an iconoclasm), Hangman's Clutch (Stepover toehold inverted cravate), Hangman's Clutch II (Arm trap inverted cravat, also known as the Kassius Klutch), Hangman's Clutch III (Inverted cravate standing leg grapevine combo) and Hangman's clutch facebuster. For as much that is said about his elbows but he really likes that cravate, or in his own words, they call him "The Mack Daddy of the Cravate" "on the streets."
    • Chris Hero is also the innovator of the cravate suplex. Also, combining his two favorite moves, there is his "Hangman's Elbow" where he starts with a cravate and then hits them in the back of the head.
    • Hero's Welcome(rolling cutter), Super Hero's Welcome (Jumping rolling cutter), Death Is Welcome (lifting rolling cutter), Hero's Welcome: Championship Edition (Spinning Over the Shoulder Michinoku Driver)
  • Shout-Out
    • Chris Hero is the innovator of the "Rivera Cloverleaf", a reference to the birth name of Skayde.
    • He does a sequence of rapid double palm strikes to the chest in the corner he calls "Tracy Smothers".
    • He calls his Lady Of The Lake "The Johnny Saint Special"
    • Has a move where he crawls between an opponent's legs before rolling them up called "Russ Abbot".
    • The name Kassius Ohno comes from Cassius Clay and Olympic speed skater Apolo Ohno.
    • On a heavier note, Stretch Plum Alpha is a shout out to Plum Mariko, who died from injuries sustained in the ring during a JWP Project show.
    • After returning to NXT, he adopted Diamond Dust to his moveset specifically in tribute to Masato Tanaka.
    • He loves basketball and has gear based on many team uniforms, usually from 90s NBA; in NXT the collection includes the Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, Seattle Supersonics, Chicago Bulls, and (pictured at the top of the page) 1992 USA Olympic "Dream Team".
  • Signature Move
    • Favors a discus elbow (rolling elbow, roaring elbow if you want to be cute). Sometimes he sets it up with a wrist lock in a sequence he calls Rip Cord Rolling Elbow.
    • Also a Yakuza Kick he calls "The Mafia Kick", trapping suplex, hammerlock suplex, fisherman's belly to back suplex, various sentons sometimes preceded by a double foot stomp, sometimes a roll before a standing corkscrew senton, Hero DDT (Spinning lifting), Hero Sandwich (Swinging side slam backbreaker), Hero Sidekick (big boot in the corner), Topé con Hero (better known as con hilo or the Homicide Dive), Indian deathlock piledriver, double leg slam.
    • Hero's moveset evolves very frequently and dramatically compared to other wrestlers, so many of the above were eventually phased out. 2016-era signatures included: back senton, moonsault, pump kick, Cyclone Kill/Cyclone Boot (sometimes a Finishing Move), Ripcord elbow, many other slight elbow smash variations, Topé con Hero, standing cravate somersault neckbreaker, bicycle knee, Crash Landing (falling release vertical suplex), cravate suplex, cravate iconoclasm, Tombstone piledriver, snap piledriver, Hero's Welcome (largely a downgraded finisher). His NXT return saw him cut out the last handful of those and add Diamond Dust, with which he would win occasional house show matches.
  • Significant Monogram: Kassius Ohno and Knock Out(even though knockout is usually one word, it's still abbreviated KO)
  • Smug Snake: Basically his role in Chikara, though he was a very big deal at points. Also in CZW and ROH, though some of this can be blamed on the crowds of both egging him on.
  • Sore Loser
    • After losing to Arik Cannon in the 2005 Ted Petty Invitational, Hero kind of lost it, eventually turning on everyone and everything IWA M-S, culminating in him and destroying the Heavyweight title belt.
    • After Homicide put an end to the ROH-CZW "war", Chris Hero continued to be a disruption on the shows, crashing their following UK Tour and then stealing Generation Next's Tag Team Title Belts. After The Kings Of Wrestling actually beat Generation Next in a tag team match at Glory By Honor V Night 2 though, they got to keep the belts and Hero became a full time roster member. Keep in mind Hero vowed to "put on his best Jimmy Jacobs impression" and trash the first ROH title he won at a CZW event, though he did not follow through with it.
    • On NXT, where he lost to an incoming Matt Riddle in seven seconds. Predictably, he was cross about this and blindsided Riddle the next chance he got, starting an extended feud.
  • Spiteful Spit: Pro Wrestling Xplosion Lighting the Fuse he spat into the face of his opponent, Arik Cannon, who had busted Hero's mouth.
  • Student–Master Team: Besides his very successful team with Castagnoli, he's also teamed with another trainee, Nadia Nyce. She mainly just served as his manager though is notable enough in that Hero was in conflict with one of her other trainers, Dave Prazak.
  • Sublime Rhyme
    • His kicks concuss, his elbow KOs.
    • "Kassius bashes and leaves his opponents with gashes"
  • Tag Team
    • Super Friends with Mike Quackenbush
    • When the Kings of Wrestling are just a tag team, it is Hero and Castagnoli
    • Swiss Money Heroes with Marc Roudin in westside Xtreme wrestling and IPW UK
    • Sweet & Sour Incorporated Presents The ROH Undisputed Intergender Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Of The World, Chris Hero and Sara Del Rey!
    • After Castagnoli got on WWE's active roster, he new NOAH partner became Colt Cabana. The two are known as "Big In U.S.A."
    • Death By Elbow with JT Dunn in Beyond Wrestling
    • Heroes Eventually Die with Tommy End in EVOLVE
  • Technician/Performer Team-Up: When paired up with the highly technically skilled Claudio Castagnoli.
  • Third-Person Person: Kassius Ohno slipped into it from time to time
  • Time to Unlock More True Potential
    • Meeting Tracy Smothers in IWA Mid-South lead to further training and he later took a little departure from the IWA Promotions to hit the Blue Blood camps of the UK. Skayde came into to teach the Chikara roster in general Lucha Libre as practice in Último Dragón's Toryumon Mexico.
    • Trained in the NOAH Dojo after the till then dominant Kings Of Wrestling turned out not to be quite as good as they thought they were after facing the NOAH teams. It didn't help a whole lot as they still managed to lose most of their matches in NOAH.
    • The Kings Of Wrestling getting "seasoning" in NWA Pro's Inoki Dojo
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Self proclaimed example, saying the happy go luck Chris died at the start of 2006.
  • Tournament Arc
    • The first Chris Hero won was the 2000 IWA Mid-South Sweet Science Sixteen, defeating Harry Palmer in the finals.
    • Later in IWA Mid-South, he lost in the semi finals of the first ever Ted Petty Invitational (the successor of Sweet Science) to CM Punk, who traditionally lost every tournament he ever entered. CM Punk still lost in the finals to BJ Whitmer though. Hero also came up short against Chris The Bambi Killer in the finals to become wXw Heavyweight Champion that same year in Germany.
    • Defeated underdog Necro Butcher in IWA Mid-South's Revolution Strong Style Tournament of 2005
    • Gave up his spot in CZW's 2006 Best Of The Best Tournament to the Heavyweight Champion Ruckus in exchange for a title shot, then took it immediately after had won in the last round, going on to defeat him for the belt.
    • The Kings Of Wrestling won CZW's Last Team Standing and Chikara's Tag World Grand Prix in 2006
    • Defeated Ares in the finals of wXw's 16 Carat Gold Tournament and Matt Cross in the finals of the Ligenunabhängige Shows Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup in 2007. Hero then went on to win Ring of Honor's Survival Of The Fittest in six man elimination final (really qualifying matches for a six man final but it was originally an extension of Maryland Championship Wrestling's Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup) involving Human Tornado, Rocky Romero, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Claudio Castagnoli each eliminated by Hero.
    • He and Claudio Castagnoli later "won" Ring Of Honor's tag wars in 2010, though they did not actually compete in the tournament.
    • Won the 16 Carat Gold Tournament again in 2014, becoming the first person to ever win it twice, after beating Axel Tischer in the last round.
  • Trash the Set: An unintentional example. During his match with Claudio at the King of Europe Cup 2007, he suplexed Claudio so hard that the ring actually caved in from the impact. Considering that, unlike, say, the Brock Lesnar-Big Show incident on SmackDown! in 2003, these guys aren't superheavyweights, that says something about either how hard the suplex was or how poorly the ring must have been constructed.
  • Trouser Space: Where he often keeps his weighted elbow pad.
  • Unfortunate Name: Started his career as Wife Beater, named after the style of sleeveless white shirt he wore. He changed it after a women's organization threatened to protest a show he was wrestling on in Wisconsin.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: During the Die Bruderschaft des Kreuzes angle. Even though his last CHIKARA match was two years before the group formed, much of the stable had roots in Hero's machinations. Specifically, UltraMantis Black had sent Hero to work for Dr. Cube in Kaiju Big Battel in exchange for Cube giving UMB the Eye of Tyr, a Norse mythological artifact that can be used to control minds. When Ares and Tursas came down to the ring at the end of CHIKARA's 2009 Season Finale Three-Fisted Tales, Ares demanded that UMB give him the Eye of Tyr.note  The other significant event was Shane Storm giving Hero the counter to Quackenbush's submission hold the CHIKARA Special, leading to Storm turning heel and becoming STIGMA.
  • Versus Title: EVOLVE 2: Hero vs. Hidaka, EVOLVE 26: Hero vs Nese, EVOLVE 28: Hero vs. Baretta, EVOLVE 31: Hero vs. Galloway.
  • Weak, but Skilled: His efforts to win Pro Wrestling NOAH's Global Tag League haven't gone any better with any of his post Castagnoli partners, however he and Cabana did win the technique award two years in a row and the outstanding performance award in 2015.
  • The Worf Barrage
    • Just how many people haven't been knocked out by his elbow or rubix cube? At ROH Goldrush, Tyler Black endured several, the last time he didn't even fall down before flooring Hero with a super kick. Though in that case, Hero endured several super kicks without being pinned himself.
    • Realized this after Bryan Danielson beat him for the PWG World Title, his multiple elbows failing to knock him out.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru and Sumie Sakai say the Kings Of Wrestling definitely would. Larry Sweeney has also sicked Hero on Daizee Haze.
  • You Have Failed Me: Turned on Claudio Castagnoli and joined up with F.I.S.T, reasoning Castagnoli was the weak link of the team. Then Claudio came back under a mask and Hero decided he had gotten better, eventually forcing him to rejoin him as The Kings Of Wrestling. Claudio Castagnoli would eventually defeat Hero and disband the Kings Of Wrestling but the team would make up outside of Chikara in Ring of Honor.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: He made Nigel McGuinness tap out at Glory by Honor VI: Night One but did not win the championship belt as McGuiness had read the ropes prior and thus it did not count.

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