The death of my trainer Jim Leon (Ricky Lawless) in 1988 was a significant moment in my life and one which I will never, ever forget. Our friendship came to a tragic end on the evening of November 30, 1988, the day before Jim and I were booked to start a tour in Bainbridge, Georgia for Star Cavalcade Wrestling. I was supposed to spend the night at his house so we could leave the next morning and drive to the shows, but because I lived so close to Jims place I told him, Hey, you know, I only live five minutes way. Im going to go home and sleep in my own bed. Ill see you tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. It was the last conversation we ever had. Later that night, two people showed up at Jims house, one armed with a shotgun and the other with a pistol and murdered him right there on his doorstep. What had happened was Jim had gone out to a strip bar bragging about being a pro wrestler and had got talking to one of the dancers there. She figured wrestlers made a lot of money so got pretty close to him, but her boyfriend - who was a complete and utter psychopath - got wind of it. He and another assailant showed up at Jims house later that same day. Jim was a big dude and a black belt in aikido so he could take of himself, but when he noticed one of the guys had a shotgun he knew better than to try and take them on. The two attackers proceeded to rip the door off its hinges, where the dancers boyfriend got a shot in and hit Jim right under the armpit. The bullet went right through his lung and into his heart. The second guy shot Jim in the hand and blew three of his fingers off, sending blood spattering all over the house. Even though he was fatally wounded, Jim still had enough presence of mind to walk across the street to get help, where he sat and rocked back and forth on his neighbours step, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. When the paramedics turned up they were so focussed on taking care of Jims hand, which was bleeding profusely, that they didn't even realise he had been shot through the armpit. There was no blood from the wound because he was haemorrhaging internally. By the time they realised there was nothing anyone could do. Jim was rushed to the shock trauma unit at the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival, his life snuffed out at the age of only twenty-seven-years old by two revenge-driven nutcases. The next day I went over to Jims house on Reynolds Street in Federal Hill to try and find out more information about what had happened. The first thing we saw was yellow tape across the door with the words, Police line, do not cross and Crime scene plastered all over it. Jims murder still hadn't set in yet. I was half expecting him to come running out of his front door laughing at me for falling for his most elaborate prank yet. But when a detective opened the door to his house and I saw blood splattered all over the white walls, it started to become all too real. Then I spotted blood on the sofa. The same sofa where I would have been sleeping while the murder was happening. I don't know why I randomly made that decision to go back to my house that night, but by the grace of God I did. If I hadnt then, in all likelihood, I would have been dead too.
The author of the highly acclaimed 'Titan' book series, James Dixon has been involved in the wrestling business for 25 years as a fan, wrestler, promoter, agent, and writer. James spent several years wrestling on the British independent circuit, but now prefers to write about the bumps and bruises rather than take any of them. His past in-ring experience does however give a uniquely more "insider" perspective on things, though he readily admits to still being a "mark" at heart.
James is the Chief Editor and writer at historyofwrestling.co.uk and is responsible for the best-selling titles Titan Sinking, Titan Shattered, and Titan Screwed, as well as the Complete WWF Video Guide series, and the Raw Files series.
