JDC nearly lost his life during his WWE run as Fandango after a days-long stretch of partying ended with him alone in a hotel room and finally realizing he needed help.
The current TNA Wrestling star opened up about the darkest period of his career in a new episode of TNA’s “Immersed” documentary series. JDC explained that his drug issues had already started affecting his WWE career, including missing shows because he had been out partying all night.
Looking back, he admitted he should have gone into treatment before things reached a breaking point. That moment finally came in January 2019, while he was preparing to return to WWE television after spending roughly a year out of action following labrum surgery.
“There’s times when I started missing shows in WWE, because I was out partying all night. I should have checked into treatment then. But it was January of 2019, I was actually supposed to fly back to TV. I’d been out of the ring for about a year with a labrum surgery, and I had a ticket to go to Oklahoma City for Raw on Sunday, and I decided to go down to Tampa and party on like a Wednesday or Thursday.”
Instead of making his scheduled trip back to RAW, JDC said he spiraled for several days. He believes fear of returning to television and potentially failing played a role in the decision, describing it as another example of his own self-sabotage.
That stretch ended with a terrifying wake-up call in a hotel room.
“Like I just talked about, self-sabotaging. I didn’t wanna go back to TV and fail, or maybe I thought I would so, I decided to party for three, four days straight and then, I almost died in a hotel room, and made a call to Mark Carrano and WWE and said I was ready, and that was like the best night’s sleep I ever had — that night. I went into treatment for 60 days and it was the best 60 days of my life. Best decision I ever made, besides marrying my wife.”
JDC’s comments reveal just how serious things had become behind the scenes at a point when fans were waiting to see him back on WWE television. Instead of a comeback moment, he was dealing with a personal crisis that had pushed him close to losing everything.
Entering treatment became the decision that changed the direction of his life. JDC is now sharing that part of his story publicly while continuing his wrestling career in TNA, giving fans a much more personal look at the man they once knew as Fandango. The complete “Immersed” documentary on JDC runs more than 40 minutes and can be watched through the embedded YouTube player below.
What do you think about JDC opening up about the near-death incident that led him to enter treatment during his WWE run? Leave your feedback in the comments below.
