Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Potential is a word used often when it pertains to young wrestlers in the business of professional wrestling. They could have potential for their particular look, charisma, skill set and athleticism. In the 1980’s, there was an up and coming tag team with many of those aforementioned qualities. Sean Royal and Chris Champion aka The New Breed were being fast tracked to superstardom in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Then one day, it all came to a screeching halt.
Both wrestlers started out their careers in 1984 as individual competitors with Sean Royal being trained by Hiro Matsuda and Chris Champion trained by the Malenko family. Royal started out his career in the Florida territory, while Champion wrestled for various “outlaw” groups at the time. In 1986, Champion joined Championship Wrestling from Florida and was eventually paired with Royal. Sean Royal’s trainer Hiro Matsuda was against his protégé teaming with Champion. Matsuda felt that Champion was not worthy to team with Royal because he wrestled for outlaw promotions outside of the NWA which was heavily frowned upon.
The idea for the two becoming a tag team came from Mike Graham who named the team ‘The New Breed.’ Graham told the two youngsters to come up with a gimmick for their new team. Royal credits Chris Champion who was a big fan of the movie Back to the Future, with coming up with New Breed’s gimmick. Champion’s wife made their outfits. They were time traveling wrestlers who came from the year 2002 back to 1986.
The New Breed were immediately pushed and won the Florida tag team titles. After holding the titles for a couple of months, Jim Crockett Jr bought the territory. Crockett booker Dusty Rhodes was a big fan of the New Breed and decided to bring them up to the Carolinas to work up there. As was the case in the Florida territory, the New Breed were immediately pushed hard. They were booked to feud with one of Crockett’s top tag teams…the Rock N Roll Express.
While the New Breed came into Crockett’s territory as heels, they really got over with the fans. Their futuristic outfits, them referring to Dusty as “President Rhodes” (Apparently, Dusty was the President of the United States in the year 2002) and their Beastie Boys entrance music of ‘Fight for your Right’ helped these two heels become cool to NWA fans. They even had a robot as a manager which was named XTC -1.
As the New Breed were becoming stars in the ring, outside of it, they were partying like stars. Sean Royal recalls all the late nights sleeping with groupies and partaking in recreational drugs…something Royal said Chris Champion became more interested in. The New Breed were essentially living the Four Horsemen lifestyle making money, sleeping with various women and enjoying the finer things in life. Their partying started to rub some NWA veterans the wrong way. While Royal recognized the team getting “heat” from the boys and slowed down a bit….Chris Champion apparently did not.
With the New Breed booked to wrestle the Rock N Roll Express all throughout the Summer of 1987 during the Great American Bash tour…big money was headed their way. Then, an unfortunate accident happened that changed all plans. In late June of ’87, the New Breed were scheduled for a small spot show in a town in North Carolina. The team was running late and they were traveling in the middle of a bad rain storm. Sean Royal recalled he was in the passenger seat smoking weed with Chris Champion driving the vehicle.
Royal said that Champion was acting paranoid and driving at a high rate of speed as to not be late for the show. Royal was screaming at Champion to slow down as he felt the car starting to slip and slide and not worry about being late for a small show. All of a sudden, the car hydroplanes and crashes off the road. The impact of the crash caused the car to catch fire and eject both Champion and Royal from the car. Neither man was wearing a seatbelt and according to police, that probably saved their lives.
Sean Royal suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his head and body, while Chris Champion broke his arm in two places as well as suffering burns. Doctors said that Champion would be out of wrestling for at least a year. Royal’s injuries were still serious, but less severe. Both wrestlers were admitted into the hospital and shared a room. Royal says while laying in his hospital bed, he realized that their big push was over. No more big money matches, no more high profile events….it was all gone. Royal said that while Champion was sleeping, Royal grabbed him by his throat and started choking him. Royal said his intent at that moment was to murder Champion who he blamed for ruining their careers. It took nurses and hospital security to tear Royal off of Champion.
Royal was the first to be released from the hospital and return to wrestling. He approached Dusty and asked that when Champion returns, he no longer wants to be his partner. He also asked Dusty to book him against Chris Champion in a singles match. Royal wanted to legitimately beat up Champion in the ring to take out his anger. Dusty was having none of that and insisted that when Champion returned, he would be paired up with Royal once again.
The New Breed eventually reformed in the NWA, but nothing was the same. They weren’t as over as once before and the hatred Royal had for Champion was just too much. Sean Royal decided to quit professional wrestling and walked away from the business for a number of years. He would return sporadically, but his career was never the same.
Chris Champion continued to wrestle for the NWA and various promotions under different names and gimmicks. In 2018, Chris Champion suffered multiple strokes and was placed on life support for 3 days..until he was removed from it and died at the age of 57.
An unfortunate accident ended a team with a promising career. What could have been with the New Breed…we will never really know.
david fullam
A beefed up Sean Royal would work in NWA Wildside with Rusty Riddle as the tag team of Total Destruction. And, yeah. It was not the same. Champion did form a great team with Mark Star, interestingly called The Wildside. But it too did not last. What could of been.