Candito was the grandson of "Popeye" Chuck Richards, a Wrestler for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, as the WWF was known prior to 1979. He started training at age 14 with Larry Sharpe and wrestled for Sharpe's World Wrestling Association. He began using the alternate spelling of "Candido" for his ring name.

As a teenager, Candido and his friend Jonathan Rechner began working for independent professional wrestling promotions in New Jersey, setting up the wrestling rings. Candido and Rechner trained to wrestle at Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory in Bellmawr, New Jersey, with Candido making his debut in 1986.

In 1992, Candido and Sytch (billed as "Tamara Fytch") were signed by Jim Cornette for his Smoky Mountain Wrestling promotion.

Between September and November 1993, Candido won the SMW United States Junior Heavyweight Championship on three occasions, trading the title with Bobby Blaze. He went on to win the SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship in December 1993 and again in July 1994.

In late 1994, Candido formed a tag team with Boo Bradley (a parody of the To Kill a Mockingbird character Boo Radley). At "Christmas Chaos" on December 28, 1994, Candido attacked Bradley after they lost a bout to Tracy Smothers and Cactus Jack. In a controversial angle, Fytch kidnapped Bradley's pet cat, Boots, and brought a bag supposedly containing the cat to the ring, which Candido then leg dropped, (kayfabe) killing Boots. The angle led to a feud between Candido and Radley, which culminated in a loser leaves town dog collar match at Sunday Bloody Sunday II on February 26, 1995 that was won by Bradley. This marked Candido's final appearance in SMW before he and Fytch joined the World Wrestling Federation.

In late-1995, the portly Rad Radford joined Candido as a "Bodydonna in training". At Survivor Series on November 19, 1995, "The Bodydonnas" (Candido, Tom Prichard, Radford and The 1-2-3 Kid) teamed together to defeat "The Underdogs" (Horowitz, Hakushi, Bob Holly and Marty Jannetty). On the December 23, 1995 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Sunny "fired" Radford after he and Candido lost to WWF World Tag Team Champions The Smoking Gunns. On the January 6, 1996 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Candido defeated Radford with the assistance of Prichard, who had been repackaged as Candido's cousin, "Zip". Skip and Zip began teaming together as The Bodydonnas, with Sunny as their manager.

In late-1996, Candido left the WWF and rejoined Eastern Championship Wrestling, which had since been renamed Extreme Championship Wrestling.

After leaving the WWF, Candido joined ECW again, becoming part of the revived Triple Threat stable alongside Shane Douglas. While in the Triple Threat with the nickname "No Gimmicks Needed", he developed a rivalry with fellow member Lance Storm, who was soon replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow. However, Candido teamed with Storm to win the ECW Tag Team Championship. They won the tag title on December 5, 1997 from Doug Furnas and Phil Lafon. Despite being a reluctant team who hated each other, Candido and Storm had a lengthy championship run. The duo held the titles for approximately six months until they lost them on June 26, 1998 to Sabu and Rob Van Dam.

Candido had two runs with Xtreme Pro Wrestling. The first was in 2000, and he won the XPW World Heavyweight Championship before leaving for WCW. The second run was from late 2002 until the company's final show in 2003. Also Candido and Tammy Sytch wrestled in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council in 2003 feuding with Eddie Primo Colon and in addition held the WWC World Television title.

Candido wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2001 and 2002.

TNA subsequently held the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament in his honor in late 2005. In 2009, he was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.