“That way I could go to jail for the rest of my life, or end up killing myself,” Shannon Moore recalled. As part of the first stage of his plan, Moore borrowed his friend’s truck, loaded it with ammunition, heroin, and his pitbull, and drove out to Florida. “As I’m driving, I’m thinking these are my final few days on the planet, or I’m gonna be in prison. As I’m driving, I’m thinking, ‘Who would you reach out to, to say goodbye or whatever?'”

Moore proceeded to put together a list of people he wanted to apologize to and detail the personal anguish he’d endured for years. “Road Dogg was heavy on my mind the whole trip,” Moore revealed. “Because I’m like, ‘Road Dogg was able to get sober … I’ve been to the shows and he’s still Road Dogg. He’s still laughing. How did he do that?’ I’m thinking that during this whole trip.”

As James kept popping in his head, Moore finally surmounted the courage to reach out to his old friend. “I think it was the last ditch effort of, ‘Please help me. I’m not this person. I just need some help.’ I reached out to Road Dogg on Twitter. I still got the messages.”

That Twitter conversation set into motion Moore’s road back to recovery after James set up a WWE-sponsored rehab program for his friend. “If it wasn’t for him, I’d be either dead or in prison for the rest of my life,” Moore said of James.