Mexican Pro Wrestler Perro Aguayo Jr. Declared Dead After In-Ring Accident

Mexican professional wrestler Pedro Aguayo Ramirez, who grappled under the name Perro Aguayo Jr., died Saturday after an in-ring move went awry in Tijuana, Mexico. Ramirez was 35.

When the incident occurred, Ramirez was engaged a tag-team match, teaming with wrestler Manik against former World Wrestling Entertainment stars Rey Mysterio Jr. and Xtreme Tiger. Ramirez was affiliated with Asistencia Asesoria y Administracion, one of Mexico's "lucha libre" wrestling circuits.

A video of the mishap posted to YouTube has since been taken down. It showed Ramirez being kicked in the neck by Mysterio and falling against the ropes at the second-rope level. After Mysterio performed his signature finishing maneuver, Ramirez was shown motionless and then slumping to the bottom rope. The match didn’t end for another several minutes.

Eventually, former World Championship Wrestling star Konnan checked on Ramirez's condition, as did Mysterio, who then broke character and alerted the ring referee about the severity of Ramirez's injury. Ramirez was soon removed from the venue on a stretcher, and was later pronounced dead at Hospital Del Prado in Tijuana. The reported cause of death was cervical spine trauma.

Ramirez had been a wrestler for two decades, known as El Hijo del Perro Aguayo (the son of Perro Aguayo). His father also was a popular wrestler.

Professional wrestling is scripted and rehearsed, though sometimes severe injuries occur. In 1969, Iron Mike Dibiase died of a heart attack during a match. Former WWE champion Own Hart also died, plummeting from the rafters while being lowered to the ring as part of a pre-match stunt for a 1999 pay-per-view event.