5 Wrestlers who died inside the ring

One of the dumbest thing that non-wrestling fans always say is that “wrestling is fake”. Just because the result is predetermined, it doesn’t take away from the fact that wrestlers put their body through hell for the fans.

The outcome may be predetermined but the dangers and injuries are real. The athleticism is real. And, there are have been times that wrestlers have had career ending injuries. There have even been tragic deaths inside the ring.

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#5 Danette Wolfe

Wolfe wrestled in the 50’s. A pro wrestling prodigy, she was earmarked to be the successor of wrestling legend Mildred Burke. However, it wasn’t meant to be.

Just 6 months after she started her wrestling career, she was booked to fight twice in one night at a show. She lost her first match after a body slam and later complained of a terrible headache. Regardless, she went on to wrestle again in a tag-team match. During the match, she made an unplanned tag out and collapsed on the apron.

Wolfe was taken to hospital but later passed away. Cause of death was determined to be a brain haemorrhage. She was just 18.

#4 Brian Ong

Brian Ong

The most recent death on this list, Brian Ong died in training at All Pro Wrestling after a back suplex from Daleep Singh who later performed as The Great Khali.

Ong had already suffered a concussion during the training session but trainers told him to continue. He did not receive any protective gear despite the incident. The second concussion from the back suplex proved to be fatal.

Ong’s family later sued APW and were awarded $1.3 million in damages.

#3 “Iron” Mike DiBiase

Mike DiBiase

Before Mike Tyson, there was another “Iron” Mike – Mike DiBiase. The father of WWE Hall Of Famer Ted DiBiase was a legend in his own right. His most famous match was his 1 hour 44 minute Texas Deathmatch with Dory Funk Sr.

DiBiase suffered from a heart attack during a match against Man Mountain Mike in Lubbock, Texas in 1969. Harley Race recognized that DiBiase had just had a heart attack and attempted to perform CPR but DiBiase was pronounced dead at the hospital.

#2 Mitsuharu Misawa

Mitsuharu Misawa

Misawa is a pro wrestling legend. An 8-time world champion in Japanese promotions, he won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship 5 times and the GHC Heavyweight Championship thrice. In 1999, he took over as head booker of AJPW after the death of Giant Baba. Misawa was also one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Noah.

Misawa won Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Wrestler of the Year award thrice and had 25 5-star matches to his name.

Tragedy struck in 2009 as Misawa teamed up with Go Shiozaki to face GHC Tag Team Champions Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith. During the match, Misawa lost consciousness after taking a back suplex from Saito. He was taken to hospital where he later died. Cause of death was said to be cervical spinal cord injury that caused cardiac arrest. Misawa’s family later invoked a Japanese law due to which official cause of death was never released.

#1 Perro Aguayo Jr.

Perro Aguayo Jr.

Perro Aguyao Jr. was a Mexican luchador and promoter. He was the son of lucha libre legend Perro Aguayo Sr. Perro made his name in AAA and CMLL before leaving CMLL to form his own promotion Perros del Mal Producciones in 2008. He later returned to AAA.

In March 20, 2015, Aguayo was wrestling for the Crash promotion in Tijuana, Mexico, in a tag-team match with Manic against Rey Mysterio and Xtreme Tiger. At a point during the match, Mysterio hit Perro with the head scissors, sending him crashing out of the ring. Perro immediately got up and got back into the ring but a dropkick from Mysterio saw him land on the middle rope to set up Rey’s 619.

As Rey hit the 619, Perro didn’t react which led to Rey breaking kayfabe to check on him. Even though the still finished the match Perro was still slumped in the corner. It took medics a while to get to him and they eventually took him to a local hospital where he was declared dead.

Criticism has been laid on the promoters for not having enough medical personnel in place. Aguyao wasn’t immediately looked at by a physician and he was carried to the back on a piece of plywood instead of a stretcher.

Cause of death was later revealed to have been three snapped vertebrae, the C1, C2 and C3, that caused cardiac arrest.

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