Every sport has its own risks, and for professional wrestling, where athletes are expected to perform different stunts in order to entertain the fans, a lot can go wrong. The footballers are suffering from head and brain injuries which have been identified as the cause of death. Every sport, no matter how fun and harmless it may be, carries some form of danger that puts every athlete’s life at risk every time they step out to perform.

In wrestling, the routines that have been practiced multiple times went wrong due to slippage or wrong action at the implementation stage and left us with dead wrestlers. Many wrestlers lost their lives during their active careers and while some were due to performing routines on stage, some were due to their poor health choices like drugs and alcohol.

It is important to keep track of sports deaths and identify common factors that may be responsible. It is also important to do so, so that the public and the fans can better appreciate the dedication and hard work of the athletes to ensure that the fans get their money’s worth.

Table of Contents

10 dead wrestlers who died during their active career

1. Eddie Guerrero: 1967 – 2005

Born Eddie Gory Guerrero Llanes, Eddie was a beloved WWE wrestler at the time of his death. Born into a wrestling family – the Guerrero family, he has performed in various major wrestling promotion companies including the biggest and most popular – World Wrestling Entertainment. In a competitive roster like WWE, Eddie Guerrero was one of the face of the SmackDown brand between 2003 and 2005. During his career he won titles like WWF European Championship, WWF Tag Team Championship , the WWE Championship. He was ranked 11th on the list of Greatest Professional Wrestler of All Time and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after his death.

Eddie suffered from acute heart failure on November 13, 2005. The condition that led to heart failure, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, is believed to have been the result of his former addiction to alcohol and painkillers. He was survived by three children and a wife, Vickie Guerrero.

2.Owen Hart: 1965 – 1999

Owen Hart was a member of the notable Hart wrestling family. Born on May 7, 1965 in Calgary, Alberta, Owen has won many accolades during his career which began in high school. For Owen, wrestling was not an initial interest. He tried several times to get an alternative to the profession, but he couldn’t find a lucrative alternative, so he stayed with the sport.

Although not his original interest, Owen was successful at this time. He was a one-time USWA Unified Heavyweight World Champion, a four-time WWF World Tag Team Champion, and was named WWF King of the Ring in 1994. He was one of the best WWF performers in the ring until the unfortunate happened.

During his walk-in routine, Owen Hart fell off the rafters due to equipment malfunction during a performance at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. The injuries he sustained from the fall ultimately led to his death on May 23, 1999. He was inducted into the Canadian Wrestling Hall of Fame, among other recognitions.

3. Chris Benoit: 1967 – 2007

One of the deaths on this list that is a tragedy not because of what happened, but how it happened. Canadian professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, was one of the most famous wrestlers of his career. He was considered in the top 5 wrestlers of all time by many in the industry. His resume has covered fights in different promotion companies like Most Outstanding Entertainment/Entertainment Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and Eastern Popular New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Between all the promotional ventures he fought for, he won a total of 22 championships, including the coveted WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and was a Royal Rumble champion. On the night of his tragic end, he was to win the second heavyweight championship of his career.

In what was posthumously diagnosed as a result of depression and brain damage, Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son on June 22 and 23 respectively before killing himself on the 24th.

4. Mitsuharu Misawa: 1962 – 2009

Mitsuharu Misawa is widely regarded as the greatest professional wrestler of all time and a look at his career, it’s not hard to see why. A Japanese man who has spent his entire career in the country’s wrestling industry, but his skills and professionalism have been rewarded across continents. He started his career with All Japan Pro Wrestling. He worked for the promotion society from 1981 to 2000 where he became president of the society in 1999.

After leaving All Japan Pro Wrestling, Mitsuharu Misawa decided to start his own wrestling company, Pro Wrestling Noah. He won the GHC Heavyweight Championship three times and the Tag Team Championship twice. He was ranked number two on Pro Wrestling Illustrated’s Top 500 Wrestlers in 1997. Over the course of his career, his skill and ability to entertain earned him numerous Match of the Year awards from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and was named organization three wrestler of the year. times.

He died in 2009 during a match at HiroshimaGreen Arena following a belly-to-back jerk that shattered his spinal cord and knocked him unconscious. He was rushed to hospital immediately, but all attempts at resuscitation proved unsuccessful, as the autopsy revealed that the injury had put him into cardiac arrest.

5. Bruiser Brody: 1946 – 1988

One of the most violent deaths on our list. Bruiser Brody died from a stab wound. Born Frank Donald Goodish, he developed his popularity among wrestling fans due to his brawling style and uncooperative wrestling personality. He began his career as a freelancer for several promotional companies including the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He also wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling.

His lack of cooperation led to several conflicts with other wrestlers and it finally cost him his life on July 16, 1988 when he was stabbed by Jose Huertas Gonzalez who claimed to have done so in self-defense and was acquitted of all charges. the charges.

6. Chris Candido: 1972 – 2005

Chris Candido was about to enjoy the pinnacle of his career when he lost his life. He was on the brink of the pinnacle of a career he had been training for since he was 14 years old.

He became a professional wrestler as a teenager and became a fighter for a few promotion companies, Eastern Championship Wrestling and Smoky Mountain Wrestling. He also wrestled for World Championship Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and was on the National Wrestling Alliance roster when he died.

During his career, he held several titles including the LWE World Heavyweight Championship, the WWF Tag Team Championship and a few others.

After suffering a broken tibia and fibula after the NWA lockdown event in 2005, he underwent surgery and after a few days he fell ill and was diagnosed with pneumonia. Despite all medical efforts to save him, including having his lungs emptied, he died on April 28, 2005, from a blood clot that developed as a result of the operation.

7. Perro Aguayo Jr.: 1979 – 2015

One of the most recent deaths on our list, Perro’s passing received extensive global media coverage. Perro’s death was a timely reminder of the dangerous nature of wrestling as a sport.

Perro Aguayo Jr. was a big name in the Mexican professional wrestling circuit. His career moved from the Antonio Pena Promotions in Mexico at the age of 15 to the World Wrestling Association. He won a few titles during his career, such as the Mexican National Tag Team Championship three times and the Light Heavyweight Championship once.

He died in a tag team match involving ReyMysterio on March 20, 2015. During a streak set up for Rey Mysterio to land his famous 619 kick, Perro broke his neck and died. Despite an hour-long attempt to resuscitate him when he was finally taken to hospital, he was pronounced dead. His death spurred the law for sports safety in Mexico.

8. Umaga: 1973 – 2009

Popularly known as Umaga, but was born Edward Smith Fatu. His unfortunate death could be taken as a warning to athletes who do not follow the guided rules of the sport.

He was a member of the Anoa’I wrestling family, and was mostly on the World Wrestling Entertainment roster. He also wrestled for other promotion companies like Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He won the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice and the World Tag Team Championship in AJPW.

After finding out that he had violated WWE’s Wellness Policy, he was released by the promotion company. A few months after his release, he was found dead with blood pouring from his nose on December 4, 2009. An autopsy revealed to have been the result of some of the drugs that earned him his WWE contract.

9. Brian Pillman: 1962 – 1997

Before his death, Brian Pillman was an influential wrestler who helped create a new gimmick in the industry called the Loose Cannon. He wrestled under different wrestling companies, Stampede Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling and the WWF where he gained his fame.

During his career, he won a few titles. On the day of his death, he was supposed to fight Dude Love in a WWF pay-per-view fight. He was found dead in his hotel room after suffering a heart attack.

10. David Von Erich: 1958 – 1984

David belonged to the famous wrestling family, the Von Erich family. He was a wrestler for World Class Championship Wrestling. David won a few championships during his career before dying while touring his United National Championship belt in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1984. He is believed to have died of an overdose of painkillers. David was inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2009.