Lance Cade,1981-2010. R.I.P.

Lance Cade, who worked with World Wrestling Entertainment on and off for nearly a decade, has died of apparent heart failure. He was 29.

Cade (whose real name was Lance McNaught) is the latest in a growing line of professional wrestlers who have died before their 45th birthday. Like many other wrestlers who died before him, Cade had substance abuse problems.

His star was on the rise in 2008 when the WWE released him after he had a seizure on an airplane which required his removal. The seizure was believed to be as a result of excessive use of painkillers or muscle relaxants. The WWE did give him another chance but he never appeared again on television after he apparently had some kind of relapse which resulted in him enrolling in a drug treatment program only for the WWE to release him once more.

Don't be surprised to see Dick Blumenthal's campaign use Cade's death (and that of other WWE wrestlers before him) against Linda McMahon, the GOP Senatorial nominee in Connecticut and former CEO of the WWE.

Cade was the father of two girls and a stepfather to one boy.