“Rest well, my friend” - WWE star Corey Graves reacts to passing of popular wrestling figure

WWE star Corey Graves and the rest of the pro wrestling world are paying tribute to a respected veteran of the ring today. The international grappler has locked up with many top stars of the current era, and today's social media sentiments reflect how he was well-liked by fans and colleagues.

John 'Bad Bones' Klinger passed away today in Germany, just six days after he turned 40 years old. The German pro wrestler has worked around the world for various promotions, including TNA, CZW, and EVOLVE.

His home promotion was Westside Xtreme Wrestling, where he was a three-time Unified World Wrestling Champion, a two-time Shotgun Champion, and a two-time World Tag Team Champion. wXw is where The German Psycho had numerous battles with names like Gunther and Ilja Dragunov.

The self-proclaimed 'Best In Europe' made his pro wrestling debut in 2004, and wXw noted in today's announcement that he was planning to retire soon. Bad Bones made countless friends in the business over the years, including Corey Graves. The WWE commentator took to X (formerly Twitter) today to pay tribute to Klinger, reminiscing on their time together in New European Championship Wrestling (NEW).

"Man, I just heard the news about John “Bad Bones” Klinger. What a gem of a human. I had so much fun wrestling/traveling with John back in our NWE [NEW] days in Europe. My condolences to all of his friends and family," Corey Graves wrote.

You can check out his post below:

Bones had his last match with Gunther and Dragunov on March 10, 2018 at wXw's 16 Carat Gold 2018 event. The Triple Threat match saw Bones drop the Unified Championship to Dragunov. The following day, Bones and Da Mack captured the World Tag Team Championship from Gunther and Timothy Thatcher.

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Bad Bones wrestled top WWE Superstars

The late John 'Bad Bones' Klinger wrestled many top stars in his 20-year career and held championships in various promotions around the world.

The Lost Rebel's World Xtreme Wrestling matches with Gunther and Ilja Dragunov are legendary, but he had a famous rivalry with Malakai Black as well, in the same promotion. Also in wXw, Bones defeated WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in March 2017 and defeated AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland in October 2014 and September 2016.

NXT star Josh Briggs defeated Bad Bones in both their matches at EVOLVE 106 in June 2018 and also at CZW Dark City in June 2018. He defeated the late Brodie Lee in September 2010 at a Dragon Gate/wXw event and teamed with WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett in April 2016 for a win over Emil Sitoci and Jurn Simmons.

Klinger also teamed with WWE's Alba Fyre to defeat Simmons and AEW's Toni Storm for wXw in November 2017. Some of his other notable opponents include Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, Dijak, and Zack Sabre Jr., among others.