Jeremy Laymon, who wrestled as Jax Dane, died on December 25h, “due to complications from a heart attack suffered in late November.”
The news broke late on December 26, and was confirmed by both the National Wrestling alliance — where he was NWA World champion from August 29, 2015 to October 21, 2016 — and by his family.
His stepson, Nicolas Villavicencio, posted to Facebook: “Fly high pops thank you for being there every step of the way and teaching me to be the best man I could be will forever be apart of my life and will take care of my mom for ya we will meet again”
“The Dane Event” bridged the ownership change in the NWA, being the last champion of the old regime — beating Hiroyoshi Tenzan at World War Gold in San Antonio, Texas, and losing the title to Tim Storm in Sherman, Texas, with Billy Corgan‘s Lightning One Inc. as the owner of the promotion.
In a release through the NWA, Corgan described Dane as a “friend, mentor, absolute professional in and out of the ring, and loyalist who went out of his way to support and rebuild the NWA of today.”
Corgan added that Dane “loved professional wrestling deeply and he certainly loved those he fought and rode with. I know I speak for all of the National Wrestling Alliance when saying Jax will be missed. We will do our best to honor him and make his family proud as we carry forth.”
Laymon was born on March 10, 1976, and grew up in the small community of Bakewell, Tennessee. The 6-foot-4, 296-pound giant was initially a basketball player, at Soddy Daisy High School and Martin Methodist College, where he obtained a degree in Business Administration. After college, he was working as an account executive when he decided that he wanted to explore another path: professional wrestling. A fan of wrestling through the Monday Night Wars, he trained under Dr. Tom Prichard, Rip Rogers and Nick Dinsmore in Ohio Valley Wrestling, debuting in 2009.
“Training was a grind,” Dane told SLAM! Wrestling in April 2015. “Nothing really prepares you for learning how to fall down. We spend our whole lives learning to walk right side up and then one day you have to learn to fall down and you have to fall down aggressively.”
Many fans will also know him from his time in Impact Wrestling in 2017, where he was known as Wilcox, as a part of the V.o.W, “Veterans of War” team with Anthony Mayweather (also known as Crimson).
Dane told the Shining Wizards podcast in May 2021 that it took some convincing for him to try the gimmick, since “I come from a military family. Both my uncles served in the military, and I have a lot of close friends that are military, whether it be marines or army, what have you. And I didn’t serve.” He found it tough especially at meet and greets where he was thanked for his service.
“I never did get comfortable being billed as a former soldier,” Dane said. “I have too much respect for the military and what goes on. Crimson really had to talk me through being ok with that. Outside of that caveat, to the time we spent at IMPACT, I had a great time. Those guys there, LAX, Ortiz and Santana. Fantastic dudes to work with. Homicide was there in some form or fashion. Low Ki was there. You go down the list of the dudes that were there, man, it was a lot of fun to be there. Eddie Kingston was around, so my time at IMPACT was fantastic, except for being billed as a former soldier. And that’s just something I wasn’t comfortable portraying and it was hard to do, man.”
The time in Impact followed a brief stint in Ring of Honor.
Besides being NWA World champion, Dane was also the NWA National Heavyweight champion twice, the NWA World Tag Team Champion with Rob Conway as The IronGodz, the NWA North American Heavyweight champion, and the NWA Texas Heavyweight champion.
He was also NWA Lone Star tag team championship with Raymond Rowe, who is currently in WWE as Erik in The War Raiders.
Daymon kept a day job throughout his wrestling career, working his way up to National Sales Manager at Rheem Manufacturing.
SlamWrestling interviewed Dane on two occasions, in April 2015 and in April 2023.
He is survived by his wife, Evelynda, who he married in November 2020, and stepson, Nicolas (“Nico”), and his father. Further details are not known at this time.
