Kris Pavone On The Miz, Ohio Valley Wrestling, The Dudebusters, Life After WWE
Updated: 1 minute ago
Kris Pavone spent his younger years knowing exactly what he wanted to become: a WWE superstar.
As Chris Cage in Ohio Valley Wrestling and later Caylen Croft alongside Trent Barreta in The Dudebusters tag team, he turned that childhood ambition into reality. Getting there, however, involved a devastating setback and a second chance that he never took for granted.
Appearing on Wrestling Life with Ben Veal, Kris shared the stories behind his developmental years, the planned WWE debut with The Miz that never happened, and why leaving professional wrestling eventually led him towards teaching, creativity and a different sense of purpose.
The Childhood Dream That Led Kris Pavone To Wrestling
Growing up in Hubbard, Ohio, just outside Youngstown, Kris enjoyed a happy childhood with supportive parents and an older sister. Wrestling became a lasting fascination after Survivor Series 1990 and The Undertaker’s memorably eerie debut.
The Big Boss Man was an early favourite, with their shared birthday making the connection even stronger. Bret Hitman Hart and Shawn Michaels later inspired Kris to watch more closely, studying how matches worked.
By his late teens, becoming a professional wrestler was a serious ambition. With no suitable training school nearby, Kris concentrated on what he could do: working out, designing ring gear and learning from the television.
His parents supported his dream on one condition: that he stayed in education. A partial scholarship took him to Youngstown State University to study art, although wrestling remained his main focus.
That degree would become important in ways he couldn’t yet imagine.
Tough Enough Rejection And A Six-Hour Drive To OVW
Before becoming Chris Cage, Kris auditioned for the original Tough Enough, reaching the group of 250 finalists invited to WWF New York.
He performed a promo, completed basic athletic exercises and faced a panel that included the intimidating former ECW world champion, Tazz. Pavone progressed to further interviews, but ultimately wasn’t selected.
Fortunately, he already had another route in mind.
Ohio Valley Wrestling offered a beginners’ class on Saturdays, making training possible around university and work. The obstacle was distance: Louisville was roughly six hours away by car.
When his sister questioned whether he could really commute to Kentucky, Kris’s reaction was straightforward.
“Why not?”
He travelled down on Fridays, trained at weekends and returned for his weekday commitments. Looking back, he recognises that the certainty driving him wasn’t something everyone around him could share.
“The dream wasn’t in her, it was in me,” he explained.
Learning Alongside John Cena and Brock Lesnar
OVW gave Kris access to an extraordinary generation of talent.
Seasoned grappler Nick Dinsmore (the future Eugene in WWE) became an important mentor, allowing him to stay during his visits and explaining wrestling psychology while they watched matches together. Rob Conway also generously shared his knowledge.
Kris formed close friendships with Johnny Jeter and Marc Copani, three young men whose commitment to wrestling brought them together. Around them were performers including John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Shelton Benjamin and Randy Orton.
At the time, these were the people sharing the locker room rather than the future household names fans would later celebrate. Even so, Kris understood how fortunate he was to learn alongside them.
He remembers Cena drawing his attention to Orton’s natural instincts, pointing out small details in his movement that Kris hadn’t yet learned to notice.
Early opportunities also included wrestling Curt Hennig on an independent show near home. Spending time with Mr. Perfect, then sharing the ring with him, remains a memory he can still vividly recall.
What Jim Cornette Taught Chris Cage About Wrestling
Working under Jim Cornette helped Kris understand how individual matches fitted into a television programme.
He admired the logic of OVW’s storytelling: characters developed gradually, rivalries built on previous events and newcomers earned their place in the audience’s attention.
Only later did he fully appreciate the practical education he was receiving, from pacing a television match to responding to time cues from the referee.
One lesson arrived after Kris tried to adapt his wrestling too much for a particular set of opponents. The match became more complicated than it needed to be.
Cornette’s advice was simple: stick to what you know and do what you do best.
It was an approach that helped Chris Cage develop into an OVW heavyweight and tag team champion.
Teaming With The Miz: What Went Wrong?
Kris’ partnership with Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin began when he filled in for Matt Cappotelli on WWE live events.
By 2006, Kris and The Miz were preparing to debut together on WWE SmackDown. They had matching gear made and plans for a shared reality television star presentation. Then everything changed.
Kris spoke candidly about his drinking and partying becoming increasingly out of control. After a night out in Louisville, he was found unresponsive by fellow wrestler Cliff Compton and taken to hospital following an overdose. Doctors told him he had nearly died.
His planned debut was put on hold, and a conversation with John Laurinaitis ended with his release from WWE.
“I went from… about to debut on SmackDown and now I’m fired,” he recalled.
The loss was devastating because wrestling had become bound up with his identity and self-worth. Today, he also recognises that his actions affected other people, including the partner whose debut plans changed alongside his own.
He remains pleased to see everything The Miz went on to achieve.
The Dudebusters: A Second Chance With WWE
Kris says he became sober in June 2008. As he changed his life, he also worked towards accepting that he could be okay even if WWE never hired him again. When another opportunity came, he approached it with gratitude.
During a conversation with Laurinaitis, Kris apologised for the position he had put the company in and explained that he had changed how he lived. Soon afterwards, Danny Davis called him into his office with good news: he had his job back.
A move to Florida Championship Wrestling followed. Working with trainers including Tom Prichard and Norman Smiley, Kris enjoyed being part of the developmental environment again, this time with experience he could share.
Paired with Trent Barreta, he eventually reached WWE television as Caylen Croft in The Dude Busters.
Making it back to SmackDown carried a significance that went beyond the match itself. He had returned to the place he once thought he had lost.
Why The Dudebusters Never Reached Their Potential
Asked why more didn’t happen for the team, Kris’s answer was simple: “I really don’t know.”
There were encouraging matches, a European tour and suggestions that bigger opportunities were coming. A series of comedy segments around SmackDown’s move to Syfy seemed particularly promising, but the momentum didn’t last.
Kris and Trent offered ideas and continued working, yet a sustained direction never emerged. When Kris was released by WWE in 2010, his reaction was very different from 2006. He was in a different place personally, and leaving no longer meant losing his entire sense of worth.
“To be at peace with it and then think, man, I’m going to go do something else… to truly be okay with that is such a gift, too.”
From Being A WWE Superstar To An Art Teacher
The art degree Kris’s parents had encouraged him to finish now offered a route into another career.
After reflection and prayer, he decided he wanted to work with children. His fine arts qualification helped him secure an opportunity teaching art in Florida, and he completed the further requirements for his teaching certificate.
Starting again was daunting. He jokes that WWE felt easy compared with the responsibility of looking after other people’s children.
But, much like wrestling, he learned by doing, supported by people willing to help him.
Looking back, Kris is proud of the whole journey: working for the company he grew up watching, sharing moments with his heroes and helping younger wrestlers find their feet.
He still remembers a practice match with a very inexperienced Roman Reigns, whose natural ability immediately impressed him.
“If you stay on the right path, you’re going to be really good,” he told him.
For Kris Pavone, those memories remain a source of happiness. He achieved his dream, found the freedom to move on and kept his affection for the business along the way.
About Wrestling Life Online
Wrestling Life Online is a digital platform dedicated to celebrating the personalities, history and human stories behind professional wrestling. Through in-depth interviews, editorial features and the annual Wrestling Life Hall of Fame, it honours performers whose impact extends far beyond championship reigns.
Wrestling Life with Ben Veal shines the spotlight brightly and positively on those who shaped wrestling's past, drive its present and influence its future. The show features honest, open and inspiring conversations with many of the sport's biggest names and is presented by award-winning journalist and content creator Ben Veal, co-author of Marc Mero's bestselling autobiography, Badd To Good: The Inspiring Story of a Wrestling Wildman and author of Good Journeys: 25 Inspiring People & 75 Lessons Learned.
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