Author: Emma Bramford

On March 20, 2015, Aguayo wrestled a tag match, teaming with Manik against Rey Mysterio Jr. and Xtreme Tiger at a show in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. During the match, Mysterio had used a headscissors takedown to propel Aguayo out of the ring, but Aguayo returned to the ring, upon-which Mysterio dropkicked Aguayo in the head to set up for Mysterio’s signature move  the ‘619′ as Aguayo landed on the middle rope. Manik then fell onto the middle rope Aguayo was resting on. At this point, Aguayo appeared to be limp. Mysterio performed the ‘619′ and did not hit any opponent. The match continued, but was eventually finished by Mysterio pinning Manik after a few more spots near Aguayo. Konnan attempted to revive Aguayo at ringside by shaking him. Officials later brought Aguayo out of the ring.

When paramedics arrived, Aguayo was brought to the local Del Prado hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 1:00am on March 21st.

According to the initial announcement from the hospital, Aguayo died from a cervical spine trauma, reportedly as a result of a dropkick by Mysterio Jr. that propelled him forward and caused the ring ropes to snap his neck. The cause of death was later announced as a cardiac arrest, due to a stroke from cervical bleeding. 

At the time of the incident Aguayo was not immediately attended to by a doctor and was actually taken from the ring on a piece of plywood instead of a stretcher, which lead to some criticism of the event organizers. The Tijuana wrestling commission later explained that the doctor was backstage, attending to two other injuries that happened during the show. One of those injuries was a spinal injury and they did not want to remove that wrestler from the stretcher he was on, which was why they used the plywood to move Aguayo from the ring. The doctors worked on resuscitating Aguayo for over an hour before declaring him dead.

On March 21st the attorney general for Baja California announced that they would conduct an investigation into the death of Aguayo and the circumstances surrounding it to determine if there was the possibility of any criminal charges to be filed. 

Aguayo Jr. was buried in Guadalajara on March 23rd with Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. serving as pallbearers. There was also a ceremony that was held at this weekend’s Lucha Underground taping which may air on this week’s episode of El Rey Network. Sexy Star were reported to have led a 10-bell salute for which the cameras were filming.