Many of us grew up watching on television a group of strong, half-naked men beating the crap out of each other in an endless choreography of broken chairs, flip jumps and lots of testosterone. The show I’m talking about was called Pressing Catch or Professional Wrestling.
Unfortunately, the pace of life, the beatings and the drugs that were necessary to stay in that world of show business are a deadly cocktail for many bodies. In this article we are going to review the list of wrestlers who have passed away from 1990 to 2023. The list is terribly long.
We leave you with one of the most mythical moments of the competition between The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan. Don’t worry, neither of them have passed away, these two titans are still fighting today.
Wrestling legends who have left us
- Andre ‘The Giant’: died on January 27, 1993, André René Roussimoff, known as André ‘The Giant’, was a French professional wrestler and actor. His extraordinary stature and corpulence was due to his gigantism. Among his achievements as a wrestler were a reign as WWF World Heavyweight Champion and another as WWE World Tag Team Champion.
- Chris Benoit: passed away on June 24, 2007. Christopher “Chris” Michael Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler. Benoit worked for wrestling companies such as Stampede Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/WWE).
- Dave Boy Smith: died on May 18, 2002. David Smith was a British professional wrestler. Born in Golborne, Lancashire, Smith is best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog.
- The Ultimate Warrior: He passed away on April 8, 2014. José Gutiérrez Hernández was a Mexican professional wrestler, better known as Ultimate Warrior. He was one of the legends of Pressing Catch and his death impacted millions.
- Mr. Perfect: died on February 10, 2003. Curtis Michael Hennig, also known by his stage name Mr. Perfect, was an American professional wrestler who competed in the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling.
- Randy Savage: died on May 20, 2011. Randall Mario Poffo, known as “Macho Man” Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler. Savage rose to fame in the World Wrestling Federation, where he was one of its most important stars in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Umaga: died on December 4, 2009. Edward Smith Fatu was an American professional wrestler of Samoan descent known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, where he wrestled under the name Umaga. Among his achievements, he was Intercontinental Champion on two occasions.
- Yokozuna: passed away on October 23, 2000. Rodney Agatupu Anoa’i better known as Yokozuna was a famous American professional wrestler in the WWF. The term Yokozuna refers to the highest rank in sumo wrestling in Japan, but Anoai was actually Samoan.
- Scott Hall: passed away on March 14, 2022. Scott Oliver Hall was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for working for the World Wrestling Federation as Razor Ramon and in World Championship Wrestling as Scott Hall. Hall is widely regarded as one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions of all time.
- Butch: passed away on April 2, 2023. Robert Miller, better known by his ring name Butch Miller, was a New Zealand professional wrestler, best known as one half of the team known as “The Sheepherders” on the independent scene and in the National Wrestling Alliance and as one half of “The Bushwhackers” in the WWF.
As you may have noticed, some minor wrestlers from that era are missing, but we had to stick to the more famous ones if we didn’t want to spend the morning writing obituaries. Because WWE equals untimely death.
Thanks to all the wrestlers who with their effort and dedication fascinated a whole generation of boys and girls who dreamed of putting on tights and wrestling in the ring against their brothers and schoolmates. Rest in peace, heroes.
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