Despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world, Chris Hero has struggled to find success in the top companies.
After two stints in WWE, he never made it out of developmental and his runs ended in disappointment.
It was not a question of talent or work ethic. He was always known as one of the hardest workers in the business, as well as being a ring general that could work with anybody and have a good match.
While issues with his weight were said to be one of the reasons for his lack of push, it never stopped him working in the ring, and even at his biggest, Chris Hero could run rings around anybody else in the business.
What Happened To Chris Hero After Being Fired By WWE?
Chris Hero was fired by WWE due to the COVID pandemic, alongside a whole host of other WWE Superstars at the time.
During this period, Chris Hero was wrestling as Kassius Ohno in NXT UK, the former UK-exclusive promotion that featured a number of stars from the UK independent scene.
This ended a three-year run in the company, which began when he was signed to the NXT brand in 2017. His run was decent, with some good matches, but he was never seen as a star by Triple, and pushed accordingly.
However, this could have been by design. Chris Hero was reportedly signed to be a coach in NXT, wrestling only to help put over younger stars in the ring.
This is what happened, as he rarely picked up big wins in NXT, and usually worked with young stars and new signings to the brand.
Since being released from WWE on April 16, 2020, alongside a host of other stars due to the pandemic. He remained absent from the business for three years, until his return to wrestling in 2023.
Chris Hero returned to wrestling for the first time since his WWE release, showing up West Coast Pro’s West Coast Best Coast show.
Hero was revealed as the new official matchmaker for West Coast Pro Wrestling, although it was not revealed whether or not he’d return as a full-time wrestler for the promotion.
He also worked as a road agent at ROH Best in the World 2021, although it is not a role he sees himself doing full-time in the future.
Chris Hero’s Last WWE Match
The last match Chris Hero, as Kassius Ohno, wrestled in WWE was as part of the NXT UK brand.
The title at the time was held by WALTER, who now works on the WWE main roster as Gunther. WALTER held the title for 870 days, the longest title reign in WWE for years (until beaten by Roman Reigns).
Hero’s run in WWE ended anticlimactically. He was quickly thrown out of the ring by the entire pack, after failing to form an alliance with Flash Morgan Webster and Jordan Devlin.
He was the first man eliminated from the match, which was eventually won by the Russian superstar, Ilja Dragunov.
AEW Tried To Bring In Hero To Wrestle Chris Jericho
The three years off from wrestling for Chris Hero has been completely by choice – he has not been short of offers since leaving the WWE.
He had been contacted by All Elite Wrestling for an appearance in 2022, during Chris Jericho’s crusade against other former Ring of Honor Champions.
This storyline came about after Chris Jericho beat Claudio Castangoli to win the ROH Championship at AEW Grand Slam 2022. He faced the likes of Bryan Danielson, Colt Cabana and other ROH alumni in this run, but Chris Hero remained absent.
He also named PCO and Dragon Lee as wrestlers he would have loved to face, but ultimately could not get over the line, for one reason or another.
I wanted to do another match with an outside guy. We had a couple of ideas, one was PCO, once again, but he wasn’t available. The other idea we had was Chris Hero, but he wasn’t available either, couldn’t do the gig. Same thing with Dragon Lee, another idea that Tony had, but he couldn’t make it.
I was like, ‘Does anybody want to wrestle me?’ We were thinking that maybe we could use Chris Daniels, I suggested Samoa Joe or Jay Lethal, but they’re in different programs. Finally, Tony says, “What about Ishii?’ ‘That is great.
Is Chris Hero Retired?
Chris Hero is not retired from wrestling, although he admits that he is “currently inactive” from the wrestling business.
The former Kassius Ohno hasn’t wrestled since 2020, and now spends his time giving talks and seminars to trainees, helping to train the next generation of wrestlers in his spare time.
“If I was retired there would have been some kind of a celebration, a ceremony, a festival. A week long, month long thing. No, I’m not retired. I’m currently inactive. I just can’t stay away from wrestling in any way,” Hero explained.
“So as I bide my time and wait for the right thing to come back for and start having matches again, I have kept pretty active. I’ve done a bunch of seminars, I’ve done signings, of course.
Then I kind of dabbled into the world of producing. It’s funny, we use this term producing, but it’s kind of like directing. Directing is probably a better [term], but I’m not going to start calling myself a director,”
The Kings of Wrestling Reunited For The Last Time In 2018
Chris Hero is perhaps best known for his tag team with Claudio Castagnoli. As a duo, they were known as the Kings of Wrestling.
Together, they were one of the best tag teams in the world. Their chemistry was incredible, with their innovative tag team work effortlessly impressive as it was brutal looking.
The duo split up when they were signed to NXT, and WWE saw no value of them as a team. They did team up on very rare occasions, with the latest being in 2018.
In September 2018 at an untelevised NXT show, during an attack on Chris Ohno at the hands of The Undisputed Era, Cesaro (Claudi Castagnoli’s WWE name) ran in to even the odds against the attackers.
The pair double-teamed Adam Cole, giving fans a glimpse of what a Kings of Wrestling team in WWE could have looked like. The two celebrated and posed after clearing the ring.
Both men have since left WWE, so there is a chance that we could see a KoW reunion in AEW one day.