The tight-knit wrestling community in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, was rocked by the news that Chase Pearce has died. He was 25.
Apparently, it was an accident, where he slipped coming out of the shower, hit his head and broke his neck.
Pearce was born Chace Little on September 29, 1999.
Pearce’s last Facebook post, with a photo by Dave Watling, on June 3, said, “Man, i love this. 🙌🏻”
Chase Pearce delivers a dropkick in June 2024. Photo by Dave Watling,www.davewatling.ca
Watling, a photographer, posted a long note to Facebook:
Absolutely gutted at the tragic news that our very close friend Chase Pearce suddenly and unexpectedly passed away yesterday. We’ve known Chase for 10 years and always saw him at every Special Olympics Calgary event, supporting his brother Nick. Chase finally attained his goal of doing what he loved and getting involved in CanAm Wrestling. We watched as he grew into his love, and competed. Seeing him just last month, at his last event, watching him do what he loves. The joy in his eyes. Curtis adored watching you compete and chatted with you on a regular basis, getting the scoop on the wrestling news. He is devasted. This is horribly sad. I still can’t believe it. I’m so sorry, Karen, and the rest of your family. Rest easy, Chase… we will miss you terribly.
A light heavyweight-sized wrestler, Pearce started at the Alberta Wrestling Academy in 2020.
“We gave him and another kid a scholarship,” recalled CanAm Wrestling promoter Otto Gentile, who considered Pearce like a son. “And he’s been with us since then.”
The pandemic and Pearce’s personal life kept him from pursuing wrestling full-time, noted Gentile. “He’s been in and out, in and out, in and out, but he seemed to finally be on track and everything was going right.” He added that Pearce had recently moved to a new place and that everything seemed to be on track. He was a “very charismatic young men that loved this sport, and wanted to do big things in it.”
After his training, Pearce helped on the ring crew and refereed. Over the past three years, Chase Pearce primarily wrestled around Alberta rings, as Chace Little and as CW Pearce, but was not a full-time wrestler. He took some time off to face some medical issues related.
In April 2024, Pearce returned to action in the ring, facing Bobby Sharp.
Gentile got the call from Pearce’s mother on Sunday night. “We don’t know what the cause of the death is yet. We have no idea until they released the coroner’s report,” he said.
Some of the notes of condolences after news of his death broke on the morning of July 8, 2024:
Bobby Sharp: “Absolutely crushed to hear the passing of Chase Pearce. I hope his family finds some solace in how much he was loved by our wrestling community.
I had many deep talks with chase over the years – I went to bat for him many times because I loved his passion, when we both were struggling with health issues, we found comfort in talking to each other – I got the chance to have a match with him a few months ago and he did great in the match / my comment to him was he had amazing instincts. I’ll cherish that match now. He was a good friend, he reached out to me a few days ago and I feel like him telling me he would always be there if I needed to talk is very sad, but also shows the type of person he was – he was always there for his friends and family. RIP my friend Godspeed”
Dan Jerome: “Completely shocked this morning to find out about the passing of Chase Pearce. You where such a nice guy to be around and am glad to had a match with u both as opponent and tag partner. Condolences to his friends and family for their loss.”
Kevin Farrell: “I can’t express how heartbreaking it is to hear about the passing of Chase Pearce. Every time that I saw him, it was with a smile on his face. He was full of kindness, eager to learn and excited too seize any opportunity put in front of him. My condolences to all of those closest to him. He is going to be missed by many people.”
TOP PHOTO: Chase Pearce. Photo by Dave Watling,www.davewatling.ca