AS I SEE IT 8/13: Christopher Bauman 1982-2005
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It was nearly two years ago, on
Bob Magee
Pro Wrestling: Between the Sheets
PWBTS.com
August 18, 2005, that CZW wrestler Christopher "Chri$ Ca$h" Bauman Jr. was
killed as the result of a motorcycle accident near his home. Bauman had been
riding a motorcycle on Ellis Street in Glassboro, NJ when a Ford Taurus
turned in front of it from Higgins Drive, striking the car on the driver's
side of a vehicle driven by Daisy Gwin of Glassboro, NJ.
Christopher J. Bauman Jr., 23, died at the scene, as did his cousin 27 year
old Jeremy Bauman, 27, of Franklinville, NJ the driver of the motorcycle.
Gwin, 68, of Glassboro, died en route to Kennedy Memorial Hospital in
Washington Township, NJ.
Please keep the Bauman family in your thoughts and prayers as they go
through this painful time in their lives even two years later.
Chris was always genuinely friendly in a way that a lot of wrestlers aren't,
but had the wild side we all had at age 23. He was a nice young man, in
every sense that the phrase used to mean; and always felt obligated to call
me "Mr. Magee" when I came to a show (even when I told him he didn't have
to), would always say hello when I saw him at a CZW show and tell me he'd
seen something or another on my PWBTS.com site.
Bauman worked for CZW from 2001 through 2005, with many non-CZW fans even
taking notice of him at Cage of Death 5 in his absolutely psychotic ladder
match with Blackout's Joker (who left the promotion shortly afterwards to
serve in the US military over in Iraq).
The oddest thing is that this match wasn't even supposed to happen in the
way that it did; as it was originally scheduled as a tag team bout,
involving Deranged and Azriael, who were working the Jersey All Pro
Wrestling show in Rahway, NJ, then come down to Philadelphia for CZW.
But in an almost unprecedented moment for those who know CZW... the show was
actually running ahead of schedule. As a result, Deranged and Azriael were
not yet at the building. Another version of the story had the two calling
the building, telling CZW they were just leaving...and were told not to
bother, because they'd never make it in time.
In any event, this forced the promotion to go ahead with a singles ladder
match, which turned out to be the best thing that could have happened, as it
made two stars for CZW in one night with Cash and Joker nearly stealing the
entire show.
Psycho spots in this match included Cash bulldogging Joker while his head
was inside a rung of a ladder off the ropes onto a chair, a top rope
superplex onto a ladder stuck at a 45 degree angle into the rungs of another
ladder; ending with one of the sickest spots I've ever seen in my years of
shows at the ECW Arena, as Joker hit his Joker Driver (tiger driver from an
electric chair position) off the top of a high ladder with Cash through a
table for the pin. There's a three-minute highlight video on You Tube of
this match, including the spot in question at
Cash also main evented Cage of Death 6/War Games, as part of the babyface
Team Ca$h (Nate Webb, Sexxy Eddy, Cash, JC Bailey) against heel team (turned
babyface and heel again) Blackout (Ruckus, Sabian, Kingston, and Jack Evans.
As usual, the match featured the daredevil spots for which Cash was known
throughout his all-too-short career; including dumping Jack Evans via
backdrop off the COD to the floor, and giving Sabian a Cashflow off of the
scaffold through four tables, landing in the second row of the ECW Arena.
All I could think when I heard the news was: God...Chris was easily young
enough to be my son. Sons aren't supposed to die before the parents...or
their contemporaries. At the same time, I can't imagine Chris as a 40 or 50
year old. His spirit was too free and wild to have ever been anything but
young.
So now... it's nearly 2 years later. Here's the memorial video done by CZW
for Bauman:
Watching it as I did this column this weekend still gets me choked up...even
two years later.
In Chris's memory, Combat Zone Wrestling will present its annual Chris Ca$h
Memorial Show with a scheduled 8:00 pm belltime.
For tickets, go to
Whatever you think of CZW...their style...or anything else, take a moment to
come and honor Chris's memory on September 8.
Until next time...
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