Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Stephen DeLeon
Stephen De Leon was trained by wrestler, referee and trainer Jesse Hernandez in the early 1980’s. DeLeon wrestled primarily on the west coast in places like California, Nevada and Arizona. He used different variations of his name as a pro wrestler including Stephan Deleon and Stefan Deleon. He was smaller, but was said to have great charisma and a good talker on the microphone.
When not competing on the independent circuit, De Leon was often used as enhancement talent for the World Wrestling Federation. He lost to top WWF stars like Bad News Brown, The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase and Brutus Beefcake. He also worked for Herb Abrams and his Universal Wrestling Federation where De Leon competed against wrestlers like Nikita Koloff and Dr. Death Steve Williams. Aside from wrestling, De Leon was a musician, a professional DJ and an Illustrator.
On April 6th, 2004…De Leon was riding his motorcycle in Los Angeles. A driver was apparently lost and looking at a map when his vehicle swayed into the next lane and accidentally sideswiped De Leon. Tragically, De Leon died from his injuries. Stephen De Leon was just 34 years old at the time of his death.