WWE News: Chris Hero gives farewell speech at EVOLVE 77

Kassius Ohno AKA Chris Hero

What’s the story? 

According to a story from wrestlingnewssource.com, Chris Hero gave a heartfelt farewell speech after the main event of EVOLVE 77 this past Saturday afternoon. Watch Hero’s farewell below:

In case you didn’t know...

Chris Hero was the independent circuit ring name of NXT Superstar, Kassius Ohno. Hero wrestled Zack Sabre, Jr. in the main event of EVOLVE 77. This was the last independent booking that Chris Hero was allowed to fulfil before his full-time return to NXT.  

The heart of the matter

After the match ended, Hero was handed a microphone and delivered a heartfelt speech and thanked everyone that helped him get to where he was. He thanked everyone who had ever bought a ticket, t-shirt, or DVD to see him wrestle, and stated that if he thanked everyone that deserved it by name, they would be there until next year.  

He intimated that you don’t make a living in professional wrestling for eighteen years without a hell of a lot of help along the way.

He spent a good portion of the speech thanking Zack Sabre Jr. for being one of his best independent wrestling opponents throughout the years. Hero put Sabre Jr. over as a tremendous talent and the best wrestler in the EVOLVE locker room.  

He finished his spiel about Sabre Jr. by stating that when people first learn about Zack, friends say, “He does some crazy armbars.”  Hero then assured Zack and the crowd that Sabre, Jr. was a lot more than just armbars.

At that point, they ran an angle with ACH, Stokely Hathaway and Timothy Thatcher regarding the EVOLVE Championship. Long story short, Thatcher pointed at Sabre Jr. and left. Zack told ACH that he would give him the first shot at the title when he took it from Thatcher, but in the meantime he was going to, “whisper sweet nothings,” to Chris Hero.

Zack spoke to Hero’s attitude and level of energy at the shows and how he was the standard for how things should be in independent wrestling. Hero was fighting back tears at this point, and Sabre, Jr. ended his speech by telling Chris Hero to go show the rest of the world how good he is.

Hero then talked about getting released from WWE in November of 2013.  He spoke about the staggering amount of overwhelming support from friends, colleagues, and fans. He talked about not having regrets about how that happened and attacking the independent wrestling scene instead of sulking.  

What’s next? 

Chris Hero is now going by the name, Kassius Ohno, in NXT.  He looks to be headed for a main event program with Bobby Roode for his newly won NXT Championship.

Sportskeeda’s take

When you view wrestling as a true fan of in-ring ability, there are very few wrestlers in the world better than Chris Hero. Hopefully, he’ll be able to continue bringing the masses his incredible in-ring ability on a more global level now.