It was sadly announced yesterday that Mexican luchador Silver King (César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón) had passed away. He collapsed in the middle of a match against Juventud Guerrera and was later pronounced dead from a heart attack. He was 51 years old.
The second son of lucha legend Dr. Wagner, Silver King was more widely known for his tag team work. He allied himself with El Texano as Los Cowboys and also with his real-life brother Dr. Wagner Jr., who is easily considered the greatest all-around luchador today. In Japan, he took over the mantle of Black Tiger from hall-of-famer Eddie Guerrero but only had a lackluster run as the anime villain. He brought the gimmick back with him in Mexico, humorously keeping up the charade of being a Japanese wrestler, and had more success with it, eventually leading to mask vs. mask match against L.A. Park in 2006. Since then he was a consistent presence in the AAA promotion and the indies, often allying or betraying his brother.
Mainstream audiences and non-wrestling fans will best recognize him as the villainous Ramses in the Jack Black comedy vehicle Nacho Libre.
Silver King was the one of the most underrated professional wrestlers in the modern era in my opinion. He had a very hard time escaping out of the immense shadow of his far more popular brother but he always was great in the ring and carried himself as a true professional.
He will sorely be missed.
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