Junior spends weekends rumbling in the ring

Whatcha gonna do when “Chaotic” Chris LeRusso runs wild on you?

LeRusso is Pitt junior… Whatcha gonna do when “Chaotic” Chris LeRusso runs wild on you?

LeRusso is Pitt junior Christopher Kenny’s stage name as a professional wrestler on the independent circuit.

Kenny – a double major in political science and communications – is a college student during the workweek and a wrestler for Championship Wrestling Federation and Keystone Championship Wrestling on the weekend.

Kenny leads a busy schedule that causes him to neglect some important areas of life.

“The most common sacrifice is sleep,” he said. “At times I feel myself being pulled in different directions.”

Like most wrestling fans, Kenny watched wrestling at a young age. He has fond memories of Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior at the shows he attended.

At 13, Kenny knew he wanted to become a professional wrestler someday.

So, after graduating high school in May 2003, he trained with wrestler Kasanova Kato for six months to make his professional wrestling debut.

The training he received was in an unconventional setting.

“I trained in a red barn that was converted into a wrestling gym,” Kenny said.

Kenny’s wrestling style – sharpened after nearly three years as a pro – is a mix of martial arts, high-flying maneuvers and technical maneuvers.

One of his contemporaries compares Kenny to a current wrestler in World Wrestling Entertainment.

“I can see a little of Rob Van Dam in Chris,” said Powerhouse Hughes, CWF’s most popular wrestler. “The potential is there and he’s getting more cheers from the fans in every building.”

Kenny is a crowd favorite in the CWF, but he’s a villain in the other promotions he works. The change in personality surprised former roommate Zachary Ransom.

“He’s normally so mild mannered,” Ransom said. “But he was wild and yelling and made the crowd really hate him. It was pretty interesting to see.”

With travel time being as much as four hours to and from shows, plus the eight hours spent at the show, Kenny’s Saturdays are busy.

His goal is to wrestle once a week, despite his body being sore through Monday. Kenny continues this balancing act of school and wrestling because of the enjoyment he receives from performing in front of an audience.

But don’t assume he wrestles because of the large paychecks.

“A wrestler once hit me with a top rope leg drop and cracked my nose, my cheekbone, ruptured my tear duct and gave my a concussion,” he said. “What I made that night wrestling didn’t cover the ambulance ride, let alone what I had to pay for the hospital visit.”

In spite of the pain wrestling inflicts on his body, Kenny plans to wrestle for as long as he can endure the punishment. Wrestling as “Chaotic” Chris, his next high-profile match will be at CWF’s April 8 show in Monessen, Pa., “Unfinished Business VI.”

“Life is mundane Monday through Friday, but what keeps me going is that wrestling is incredibly fun and different from what other people do,” Kenny said. “I get a rush from it and it makes me very happy.”