Stephen De Leon

Stephen De Leon was a smaller guy, but nonetheless effective as a wrestler. Operating out of California, he made various trips into the Phoenix/Flagstaff circuit, but was seen more often in the Los Angeles area, which can be understood. He was reportedly a student of Jesse Hernandez.

In the early days, De Leon was a fan favorite who was seen continually in the L,A. area. He was also brought into Phoenix in the late 1980s when the UAWA operated in Toolies nightclub. One of his wildest matches was a brawl with Tim Tall Tree

De Leon also worked for Gator Wolf, who chose to book him not as a hero to fans, but as a rulebreaker. It would be in this capacity that he would really catch on.

Not only would De Leon stomp, cheat and kick for the duration of his trips to Arizona, but would maintain the new personality with much success among the independents in California.

Where he had only been used sporadically before, De Leon became a mainstay as a villain for the AIWA run by Ahrens, which held shows for many years on a circuit of Los Angeles suburbs. He had a long feud with Alex Knight who was their promotion's champion.

Overall, while De Leon could wrestle as scientifically as anyone else, he was far better as one of the proverbial bad guys.

During his lengthy AIWA run, he proved very skilled on the microphone. One appearance on the Ed & Ron Show which was a public access program operated by the promoters in which they featured weekly guests giving interviews both in and out of the wrestling realm, saw him provoke so many call-in complaints he was not allowed back.

In Arizona also, De Leon was able to use his skills as a talker, even without the benefit of a televised product. All he had to do when wanting to provoke the crowd to hate him was grab the mike and say a few words about the local venue or audience.

De Leon was killed in a motorcycle accident in the Los Angeles area when he was sideswiped by another driver who was  not paying attention on where he was going and drifted into the other lane