My heart feels so heavy..

It’s not every day where you feel like Shaq ripped out your heart and used it as a hacky-sack. Unfortunately, that’s what yesterday turned out to be.

I got a call around 2 p.m. yesterday from Doreen Gregory to tell me that one of the people I was closest to in the industry had passed away. Yesterday, James Gregory passed away due to heart failure.

I’ve been lucky in life thus far, as I haven’t ever had to deal with too much emotional trauma caused by loss. My great grandmother died when I was 4, so I was too young to remember it. My grandparents on my father’s side passed away 3 years apart when I was in my teens, but they lived on the East Coast while I was in San Francisco so I didn’t see them much. When I was a teen 2 of my uncles died but I didn’t know either of them very well either. A few gerbils and goldfish didn’t live long either. But this… this was different.

Once I got over the initial shock and convinced myself that this was reality and Doreen wasn’t crying on the phone to me as a joke, I broke down myself. All I could think about is how I’d never be on the road with him again. How he’d never call me at 4 in the morning to take a late night run to Denny’s. How I’d never walk into my dressing room to find all my ring attire had been stolen and replaced with a size more fitting for him. And I admit without a bit of hesitation, that I bawled my eyes out. Doreen and I sat on the phone unable to say anything for a solid 10 minutes.

After I finally got off the phone with Doreen, I started thinking and realized how difficult this would be for everyone. This wasn’t just about me losing one of my best friends; this was about everyone losing a really great man. James’s kids, Megan and Joshua, are still so young (7 and 12 respectively) and they won’t be able to live the rest of their life with their father. It really is unfair that now when James was finally done with the wrestling lifestyle and could actually spend time with his family, he wasn’t going to get a chance to. And Doreen, Doreen who had stood by James through his whole life in wrestling. Who had waited patiently for the day when he would step down and start his life completely with her, had all that taken away from her. We’ve all lost one of the greatest men I’ve ever met in my life.

Out of all the people who knew James best, I’d say I was up there as being of his best friends. His best was easily the Machine. Those two were damn near inseparable in the back and when they got together, you knew something was going to happen to someone. I remember one specific instance in particular.

Carnage had just come into XCW and he was kinda… well, let’s say he was cold to most people in the back. We know now that he wasn’t trying to be an ass, it was just his demeanor. I don’t think James and Kip cared either way, because they made it their mission to break the rookie in. James’s main goal in most of his pranks was embarrassment. I think it might have been because it was impossible to embarrass James and so he had some sort of fascination with making people feel that way. So when Kip and James had a target, they played this little game where they would one-up each other to see who could be more creative with the embarrassment.

So Kip started off calling a florist and having flowers delivered to Genocide in Carnage’s name. You shoulda seen the way Carnage stammered when Genocide asked him if this meant Carnage was coming onto him. Next, Assassin ordered a few dirty magazines and had them delivered to the GM of the company at the time under Carnage’s name. At this point Carnage had no idea what was going on and couldn’t figure out who was doing these things to him. The next prank was Kip’s turn. Now this prank needs a little back story.

About a month into Carnage being with the company, we realized he had a daily routine. An hour before his match he would go to the food display and eat one piece of each fruit (grapes he ate handful) and chug a bottle of water. Immediately afterwards he would go into the bathroom followed by dressing for his match. Well, as soon as Kip saw Carnage go to the fruit table, he ran to the bathroom doors and switched the women’s and men’s label. Perhaps any other day Carnage would have walked in and no one would have been in there and he could’ve gotten away unscathed so to speak. That day, fate intervened. That day, Carnage walked in on 3 girls half naked changing. Unfortunately I wasn’t there that day, but onlookers said Carnage’s face when he exited the bathroom was priceless. Well, then it became James’s turn. And James’s prank ended it all.

This prank was a bit premeditated. James’s has a good friend who’s a police officer in Charlotte. So we were down around the area for a show and James had his buddy drop by asking for Carnage and eventually asking him real vague questions such as “Where were you 2 weeks ago?” and “Have you ever seen this woman in your life?” and showing Carnage a picture of a woman Carnage had never seen in his life. The cop ended the conversation by telling Carnage they’d be in touch. About 3 weeks later the guy showed up with a few buddies dressed as cops and, in front of the whole locker room, proceeded to cuff Carnage. They checked his things and found a picture of the girl in Carnage’s luggage (courtesy of the Assassin). It wasn’t until they put Carnage in the car till the James admitted through the window it was him and they let Carnage out. To Carnage’s credit, he took it well.

James later took Carnage out for dinner and drinks on him. That was how they sort of broke him into the league. And that was how James was. He’d rib on you but then be the must stand-up guy in the world. And he’d have your back no matter what. And it wasn’t just XCW. He was the type of guy who made friends everywhere he went. It was nuts how many people he claimed he knew, which at this point I’m inclined to believe him. In addition to the XCW roster, he claimed to be friends or on good terms with: Kurt Stone, Shadow, Kage Stevens, Whiplash, Solstice, Kale Calloway, Hitman, James Moore, Anxiety, UWJ, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Brian Danielson etc. It went on and on. The guy just made friends everywhere he went… he was that type of guy.

In the ring, James made the best out of his size. He was quick and smart in the ring. I got in the ring with him once and I’m now glad I got at least that one time, because at the time he was a vet and I was still up and coming. I believe you can learn something from anything, and James taught me that it didn’t matter how big you were as long as you could put on a believable match. And we did. He even let me go over him, by tapping to the crossface. James was only 36.

I lost a good friend on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008. This world lost a great man. And even now, I can’t put into words exactly what everyone’s lost.

I’ll miss you friend. I’m gonna miss you with everything in my heart. And for the first time ever, Moore isn’t better. James is better.

Goodbye old friend.

James “the Assassin” Gregory R.I.P December 1963-January 2008.