Former WWE Tough Enough star Matt Cappotelli has passed away at 38.
Lindsey Cappotelli, the now-widow of Matt, made the announcement today on Facebook that her husband has passed after his battle with cancer.
Hey Team Capp…I’ve been struggling with what to say and how to say this, and I’ll probably end up rambling, but here goes. Today my love-my strong, sweet, beautiful love-took his last breath at 3:30 a.m. and went Home to be with Jesus…exactly one year after his brain surgery. You think you can be prepared for this when you know it’s coming, but you just can’t. The only person who’s comfort I want right now is the one who can’t give it to me. I miss him so much. I know where he is now is so much better, but it doesn’t change how much I miss him.
On January 23, 2003, Cappotelli impressed the judges enough to become a co-winner of the season three Tough Enough competition. After John Hennigan was announced, Maven announced Matt as the co-winner of the competition. Matt thanked God, his family, and his fans, mentioning his grandpa and Joe, two people who Matt said were watching from above.
Cappotelli made a few appearances on WWE television, but really found his home while competing for Ohio Valley Wrestling. On August 3, 2005, Cappotelli won the OVW Heavyweight Championship after defeating Johnny Jeter. Cappotelli held the championship for three months. While the typical way of ending one’s title reign comes after being defeated by their opponent, Matt had a much more severe opponent to fight. Unfortunately, for Cappotelli, a tumor was found in his brain. As a result, he had to relinquish the championship on February 8, 2006.
After successful surgery to remove 90% of the tumor in 2007, Matt announced 10 years later that the tumor has returned, larger and more aggressive. He received an operation to remove most of it, which was successful. However, the portion that was inoperable due to being too close to his brain stem, gave him severe complications. Matt would find out that he had Grade 4 glioblastoma, the deadliest form of cancer according to doctors. To make matters worse, this form of cancer has a rate of five percent of people surviving five years. Still, Matt stated that “it will in no way deter me from continuing my fight.”
We send our condolences to Matt’s family.
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