It was 11 years ago today that Mexican wrestling star Perro Aguayo Jr. died after a fatal ring accident in a match with longtime WWE star Rey Mysterio.
In this country, he was not as well known as his fellow wrestlers from the WWE. In Mexico, however, Pedro Aguayo Ramirez, known as El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, was one of the biggest stars in the exhibition wrestling business.
Because wrestling is a popular sport there, the country’s media reported in major cover stories when Aguayo, only 35 years old, died on March 21, 2015 – eleven years ago today – after a match against long-time WWE star Rey Mysterio.
Because Aguayo died in the ring, however, his case also made major headlines in Germany – not least because he had played the sport in which former national keeper Tim Wiese had also tried his hand at the time.
For WWE idol Mysterio, Aguayo’s fatal ring accident was the second major trauma of his career, almost ten years after the sudden cardiac death of his good friend Eddie Guerrero.
Perro Aguayo Jr.: A tragic wrestling death
Born on July 23, 1979, Aguayo – the son of Mexican legend Perro Aguayo Sr. who died four years after him – was to take the 619 in the Mexican league CRASH match in Tijuana, a famous move by his opponent Rey Mysterio – in preparation for which the opponent is sent into the ropes with a jump kick, neck first.
Aguayo injured himself during this very maneuver. It is only unclear whether it was the kick or – more likely – the collision with the rope, either his own landing or that of his partner Manik, who was supposed to take the action with him.
According to the doctor treating him, the cause of death was cardiac arrest as a result of spinal trauma. Aguayo was taken to a local hospital and only pronounced dead at 1 a.m. An autopsy later revealed that Aguayo was dead almost immediately after the unsuccessful action.
The match was not abandoned
The video of the event shows that his opponent and partner realized Aguayo’s injury at the latest at the moment when Mysterio failed to avoid the move as planned.
After a brief hesitation, they continued the show for about a minute, while the wrestler and promoter Konnan, who was present at ringside, tried to provide first aid.
The state athletics commission, which monitors health and safety at wrestling events, thought this was fine: “The call for medical treatment was quick, in my opinion,” said Juan Carlos Pelayo, its president, at a press conference.
It is not unusual for the fight to continue: it is customary in the industry not to stop the match immediately, even in the case of genuine injuries, but instead to improvise a quicker end to the match. The show must go on, appearances must be kept up – this attitude is deeply rooted in wrestling.
Rey Mysterio received death threats
Some fans accused opponent Rey Mysterio – who had not been active in WWE for a while at the time – of “killing” Aguayo, and there were even death threats against Mysterio as a result. This is not a correct classification of what happened.
Every action in the show matches is based on a cooperation between the opponents: One hands out the action, one takes it, mistakes can therefore be made by one, the other, both or a simple accident. In this case, it all looks like the latter, especially as Mysterio is regarded in the scene as a wrestler who fights in an exemplary “safe” manner, i.e. keeps the risk of injury as low as possible.
The devastated Mysterio attended Aguayo’s funeral without a mask and acted as a pallbearer.
Assault investigation has been closed
The other question is whether Aguayo’s death could have been prevented by better care.
Some things actually went wrong: The ring doctor was unable to attend to Aguayo directly because he was treating another wrestler. A stretcher to stabilize the injured neck was therefore also not available, and Aguayo was carried off on a wooden board.
Also unfortunate: fellow wrestler Konnan, who was the first to attend to Aguayo, tried to bring the unconscious man to consciousness several times by shaking him – without realizing that the neck area was the problem.
In the end, however, a coroner came to the conclusion that even the best possible medical care would probably not have helped Aguayo. A manslaughter investigation against those responsible for the show was dropped.
The much-rehearsed 619 ended fatally
The circumstances of Aguayo’s death show that the danger to life and limb in wrestling can only be reduced, but not eliminated.
Aguayo was a veteran with two decades of wrestling experience, opponent Mysterio – now 51 and still active in WWE – has been in the business even longer. His 619 move, the most popular in his repertoire, had been practiced and executed thousands of times. The residual risk of a move taking an unplanned, in the worst case fatal course simply cannot be trained away.
“We all risk life and limb to entertain,” said British wrestler Nick Aldis – now known as the general manager of the WWE show SmackDown – at the time in response to the Aguayo tragedy.
Unfortunately, it is more than just a phrase.