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Lucha legend Silver King, a staple for decades in Mexican Wrestling who had a run in World Championship Wrestling for several years, passed away this evening after suffering what is believed to have been a heart attack while competing in the ring during a show in London. King, real name, César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón, was 51 years old.
Silver King was competing against Juventud Guerrera at the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden in North London for a promotion titled Lucha Libre World. During the match, Silver King nailed a clothesline and covered Guerrera, who kicked up. King did not get off the mat and after a long moment where Guerrera and the referee checked on him, a number of other wrestlers hit the ring and began using a deflibrilator. An ambulance was called and King was brought to the hospital.
It was later confirmed by wrestler Sexy Star and Lucha Blog that King had passed.
King was a second generation star, the son of Dr. Wagner and the brother of Dr. Wagner Jr. He debuted in 1985 and had wrestled regularly since that time. He had a long, long run in Mexico working for AAA, the UWA, IWRG and CMLL as well as countless independent promotions to the points he was intertwined in pretty much all of lucha libre history over the last several decades.
In New Japan Pro Wrestling, he was the third man to use the Black Tiger persona, following Mark "Rollerball" Rocco and Eddy Guerrero. He and El Texano had a long run as Los Cowboys. He had a run as the All Japan Pro Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Champion. He also toured for IWA Japan in the early 1990s.
As noted above, Silver King worked for WCW for three years, mostly working undercard six man tag team bouts, one of many high-level stars in Mexico who were used as undercard hands by WCW. His highest profile singles bout was challenging Juventud Guerrera for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at the 1998 Fall Brawl PPV. He was a member of the Latino World Order that Eddy Guerrero formed and was briefly managed by Stacy Keibler in 2000. He departed the company to return to Mexico in 2000.
In the United States, King would be best known for playing the lead villain, Ramses, in the 2006 Jack Black comedy Nacho Libre.
On behalf of everyone associated with PWInsider.com, we'd like to express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and fans of Silver King.
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