Why Shannon Moore Says He'd Be Dead Or In Prison If Not For WWE's Road Dogg

The bickering from fans notwithstanding, the wrestling community has always been a brotherhood/sisterhood where wrestlers look out for each other's interests both in and outside the ring. Shannon Moore recently recounted a story that shed light on the extent to which "Road Dogg" Jesse James went to ensure his well-being, at a time when he — like many others in the business — struggled with substance abuse.

Moore sought the help of James in 2013 when he admittedly hit rock bottom due to a myriad of personal issues compounded by a career-threatening neck injury that forced him to quit TNA. To make matters worse, Moore and his wife split after he cheated on her, forcing the veteran wrestler to vacate their house in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and move back to his home state of North Carolina, where he attempted to get his life back in order. 

"I went back [to North Carolina] and bought a whole block of commercial real estate [to start a tattoo store] for eight dollars," Moore recalled. "My lawyer negotiated and signed the paperwork, and I ended up with this commercial real estate — which had I been smart, would have made millions. But, I ended up having to sell it to one of my friends and then ended up in [drug] treatment."

The final week before he was ready to check out of rebab, Moore devised a devious plan to take somebody's life — either his ex-wife's or others he blamed for his predicament — or his own.

"That way I could go to jail for the rest of my life, or end up killing myself," Shannon Moore recalled. As part of the first stage of his plan, Moore borrowed his friend's truck, loaded it with ammunition, heroin, and his pitbull, and drove out to Florida. "As I'm driving, I'm thinking these are my final few days on the planet, or I'm gonna be in prison. As I'm driving, I'm thinking, 'Who would you reach out to, to say goodbye or whatever?'"

Moore proceeded to put together a list of people he wanted to apologize to and detail the personal anguish he'd endured for years. "Road Dogg was heavy on my mind the whole trip," Moore revealed. "Because I'm like, 'Road Dogg was able to get sober ... I've been to the shows and he's still Road Dogg. He's still laughing. How did he do that?' I'm thinking that during this whole trip."

As James kept popping in his head, Moore finally surmounted the courage to reach out to his old friend. "I think it was the last ditch effort of, 'Please help me. I'm not this person. I just need some help.' I reached out to Road Dogg on Twitter. I still got the messages."

That Twitter conversation set into motion Moore's road back to recovery after James set up a WWE-sponsored rehab program for his friend. "If it wasn't for him, I'd be either dead or in prison for the rest of my life," Moore said of James.