Mexican pro wrestler dies during in-ring accident

MANILA, Philippines – Mexican professional wrestler Pedro Aguayo Ramirez, who wrestled under the ring name Perro Aguayo Jr., died on Saturday, March 21 after an in-ring maneuver went wrong in Tijuana, Mexico. He was 35 years old.

Aguayo, who wrestled for the Mexico based Asistencia Asesoría y Administración, was in a tag team match with Manik against former World Wrestling Entertainment star Rey Mysterio Jr and Xtreme Tiger.  

An amateur video posted to social media accounts shows Aguayo working the match fine until a drop kick from Mysterio hits him on the side of the neck and sends him onto the second rope in position for Mysterio’s 619 finishing move.

When Mysterio performed the move, Aguayo didn’t move and slumped to the bottom rope shortly after. The match continued as a 2-on-1 for several minutes.

From video posted on YouTube, former World Championship Wrestling star Konnan came over to check on him, as did Mysterio Jr., who broke character as his opponent to inform the referee of Aguayo’s injury. 

Aguayo was then stretchered out of the venue, where he was pronounced dead at Hospital Del Prado in Tijuana. One outlet has reported Aguayo’s cause of death to be cervical spine trauma.

Aguayo made his debut at age 15, according to Wikipedia. He also wrestled as El Hijo del Perro Aguayo and was the son of Mexican wrestling legend Perro Aguayo.

Professional wrestling, which is scripted, rarely sees in-ring deaths , but they do occur from time to time. Iron Mike DiBiase, the father of WWE legend Ted DiBiase, died of a heart attack in a 1969 match. Former WWE Intercontinental champion Owen Hart died during a pre-match stunt, falling from the rafters while being lowered into the ring during a 1999 pay-per-view event. In 2009, Japanese wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa died after landed awkwardly from a belly to back suplex. – Rappler.com