RIP Silver King

Rest in Peace, Good Brother
Photo via WWE.com

César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón, better known as the luchador Silver King, passed away Saturday in London, England. He was 51 years old. Silver King was wrestling for the Lucha Libre World promotion against Juventud Guerrera, when he collapsed suddenly from what is believed to be a myocardial infarction. Medics administered CPR to him in the ring, but he died before an ambulance got there. The show was cancelled when the incident happened. According to The Cubs Fan (via his @luchablog account), Silver King collapsed after delivering a clothesline to Guerrera. He collapsed to all fours and then his body shut down. Someone took video of the whole thing, but out of consideration to people who may not want to see a person die on video, I will not be sharing it.

Silver King was an icon across Mexico. Son of legendary Dr. Wagner and brother to Dr. Wagner, Jr., he was a prolific wrestler across several promotions. Basically, he worked every promotion in the '90s except WWE. If you don't remember him from World Championship Wrestling, you might have seen him in the movie Nacho Libre, where he played the villain Ramses. He began his career masked, but he lost his hood to El Hijo del Santo in a lucha de apuesta in 1987. In more recent years, he'd scaled back on wrestling and decided he would concentrate on promotion in his native Torreon.

Much like with Perro Aguayo, Jr.'s death in 2015, most of the onus for Silver King's death can be placed on slow reaction to giving him medical care. Would he still be alive if he had been administered first aid more immediately and if an ambulance had been called as soon as he collapsed? It's hard to say. However, with the nature of emergencies involving the cardiovascular system, the quicker the reaction to treatment, the more of a chance the victim has of surviving. It's not a problem confined to lucha libre either. The co-promoted PROGRESS/Gabe Sapolsky joint from 2017 saw a fan pass out and shit himself with delayed activation of emergency medical services.

Still, regardless of any other implications, Silver King was a bonafide legend in lucha libre and in wrestling in total. He will be sorely missed, and 51 is far too young for anyone to die, wrestler or otherwise. Rest in Peace, Silver King.