Silver King, 51, a former WCW wrestler died after he collapsed in the ring during a wrestling match at the Lucha Libre event at the Roundhouse in London on May 11 and it took fellow wrestlers and crew a few minutes to realize something was wrong. The Mexican native, whose real name was Cesar Barron, was playing the bad character of Ramses during the match and he collapsed and suffered a suspected heart attack after taking a kick to the chest by his competitor, wrestler Warrior Youth, Yahoo reported. Authorities said he died at the venue and London Metro Cops said they were treating his death as “non-suspicious”.
In a video, that shows the shocking incident, which is posted above, a masked Silver can be seen collapsing in the ring, leading his opponent to win and carry on, but when he doesn’t get up after a few minutes, the referee takes off his mask and realizes there’s something wrong. He asks for the assistance of others and they rush to his side to check on him as they performed CPR and waited for more help. Here are five things you should know about Silver and his legacy.
1.) He started wrestling at an early age. His father, Dr. Wagner, was a well known Mexican wrestler and his career is what inspired Silver to launch his own. Silver made his debut as a wrestler in 1986 and started off using the name El Invasor before changing it a year later to the masked persona he was best known for, Silver King. He first worked with the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in lower matches and eventually formed the tag team “Los Cowboys”, with whom he won team championships in Mexico and Japan.
In addition to the UWA, he worked with numerous wrestling federations, including the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
2.) His successful wrestling career led him to take on a role in the film Nacho Libre. He played a villain called “Ramses” in the 2006 Mexican-American sports comedy starring Jack Black.
3.) He once claimed a son but later said he was a fraud. Silver introduced the masked wrestler he called “Silver King Jr.” and after initially saying he was his son, he distanced himself from him and later said he wasn’t. In Luche Libre wrestling it is common for wrestlers to pay to use a popular wrestler’s ring name and claim they’re a member of their family, which is what seemed to happen with Silver’s case.
4.) Shortly after word of his death got out, there were numerous tributes posted on social media. The WWE, the organization that helped make Silver famous, released a statement that read, “WWE extends its deepest condolences to Silver King’s family, friends and fans,” reported by TMZ. They also took to Twitter to express their sadness. Jack, who worked with Silver in Nacho Libre, also posted a message on Instagram along with a photo of the wrestler on set of their film. “César González…vaya con dios, hermano 💙,” his message read.
Momento en que fallece Silver King en el cuadrilátero https://t.co/R5o5aheZDy
Fuente: porquetendencia— OBI (@obititlan) May 12, 2019
5.) One of his most memorable wrestling matches happened in 1998. It was a WCW Cruiserweight Championship against Juventud Guerrera. Although he lost the match, it got him a lot of attention and is one of the most notable matches in his career.