8. Lance Cade – Age 29
After training with Shawn Michaels, Lance McNaught faced the same personal demons that nearly ended Michaels’ career, but unfortunately for McNaught he was not able to conquer them. Working in the WWE as Lance Cade, he worked in tag team competition with Mark Jindrak and in the three-time WWE Tag Team Championship team of Cade and (Trevor) Murdoch. one half of the WWE tag team Cade and Murdoch, Lance Cade was given a big push as Chris Jericho’s flunkie, including a pinfall win over Shawn Michaels. However, like many of the names here, Cade’s personal demons got the better of him, or as Jim Ross noted in his blog, “Lance Cade was dismissed from the WWE because, like many humans, he made a major league mistake while utilizing bad judgment that cost him his job. This included Lance having a seizure on an airplane and having to have emergency medical care.” The seizure was rumored to have been caused by a drug overdose, resulting in Cade’s WWE release. Cade resumed his team with Murdoch outside the WWE and entered drug rehabilitation in January 2010. However, Cade died on August 13, 2010 with the Bexar County, Texas Medical Examiner’s stating, “The cause was ruled mixed drug intoxication, complicating a cardiomyopathy.” There was no mention of whether Cade’s use of anabolic steroids contributed to his cardiomyopathy (aka an enlarged heart) and the death was ruled accidental.
