RIP Xavier

[Migs]

https://www.rohwrestling.com/news/roh-mourns-passing-former-world-champion-xavier

So sad that he was going to get another shot in ROH at the Past vs Present show that was cancelled right as COVID hit. He'd been looking for that shot for a while - I'd actually met him at one of the Hammerstein shows a few years back in the crowd, as he was there trying to get back in. Glad I got to meet him and tell him how much his work had meant to me.

I probably can't overstate what his ladder match with Low Ki in the Elks Lodge did for my fandom - it took me from someone who was there that night to see ECW guys to someone who was deeply into the independent scene for a number of years. There are those nights that change your trajectory as a fan and that was a big one for me.

[G. Badger]

Just saw this on the ROH site as well...I've been watching year One ROH lately so, this is especially shocking. To hear that he was going to come out of retirement to face Lethal makes this a real bummer. 

[cactus]

Sad, sad news. I've only seen a few of his early ROH matches, but 43 is no age. 

[joeg]

Damn. Saw him live probably a couple dozen times between 01-04. He always went all out no matter how small the crowd. I was thought he should have had more success in wrestling than he did.

[supersonic]

GoFundMe for funeral expenses - https://www.gofundme.com/f/john-xavier-bedoyas-memorial-fund?

The Lapsed ROHBot: Remembering Xavier (1977-2020)
https://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2020/08/17/the-lapsed-rohbot-remembering-xavier-1977-2020/
 

Quote

The Lapsed ROHbot takes a tragic detour, reflecting on the late Xavier’s time in ROH and chronicling his best work in the company.

 

[sek69]

Seems like his whole career was several cases of bad timing. 

Was part of the era of ROH right before they hit it big as the premiere super indy where far less people paid attention.

Was (according to Dave at least) was on the short list of several WWE front office employees to be offered a deal, but the timing was never right and eventually the people championing for him moved on to other companies.

Saw that MMA would be a big deal when it got legalized in NY and started training for it, only for it to get delayed and delayed and by the time it did finally pass he was too old to  really make a go of it.

Was set to be on the Future vs Present show ROH was going to do before everything got cancelled due to covid.

 

I won't pretend I was following ROH in the very early days, but it seems like Xavier was well thought of by everyone who was there at the time. I was always surprised that he never got a shot at least in TNA at some point.

[SirEdger]

I remember when he won the ROH Championship from Low Ki that a lot of people scratched their head as to why they picked him over Christopher Daniels (who was the leader of The Prophecy at the time) but by all accounts, I thought he did a more than decent job in that position. It was a gamble that was relatively low-risk for ROH because they weren't not at that level yet where they were expanding and growing. I've also wondered why he just fizzled out of wrestling after he left ROH as he really was a good worker overall. I also wished he'd had the chance to wrestle Jay Lethal like we were supposed to see before COVID hit us.