“Death takes the good, too good to stay, And leaves the bad, too bad to take away” – Harold Kushner

Pedro Aguayo Ramirez better known as Perro Aguayo Jr. passed away at early this morning after suffering cervical spine trauma” during his match where he teamed with Manik facing Extreme Tiger & Rey Mysterio Jr. in Rey’s first match back in his home of Tijuana since being released from WWE.

The local commission doctor Dr. Ernesto Franco told the media that he and his associates at the Hospital del Prado in Tijuana did everything possible to save Perrito’s life but after an hour of trying to resuscitate him they had to pronounce him dead. Dr. Franco tried to assure the media that Perrito got the proper medical care in the building after it took several minutes to reach him after he fell unconscious in the ring and there was no medical negligence as they also were dealing with two other injured luchadores backstage.

Dr. Franco said that there were two ambulances at the building where they were transporting the luchadores to the hospital and that they did everything they could to get to Perrito to give him all of the proper medical attention but in the end there was nothing they could do. Dr. Franco said that as soon as Perrito was inside the hospital all of the specialists and other doctors there did what they could but there was nothing else that could be done.

This afternoon, Juan Carlos Pelayo who is the director of the Box y Lucha Commission in Tijuana demanded that there be national regulation of Lucha Libre due to the high risk nature of the sport saying that other sports are regulated by law but Lucha Libre isn’t which isn’t right because Boxing is and it’s just as dangerous if not more dangerous than Lucha Libre. Pelayo said that federal regulation will make everyone accountable for their actions when accidents like these happen. Pelayo also said that there is an investigation pending because he wants to have this issue completely resolved as his moral responsibility to make sure everything is cut and dry without any questions as to whether Perrito’s death could have been prevented.

After a nightmare week of weather issues, building issues, the wreck that killed Irma Osorno, this has shaken not just AAA but the entire Lucha Libre community to its core.

Perro Aguayo Jr. made his debut a month shy of his 16th birthday on June 18, 1995 at Auditorio Rio Nilo de Tonala for the 2nd part of the 3-part Triplemania III series for AAA working an “olympic rules” match with Juventud Guerrera where, even though he lost, you could tell that the kid had potential to be a star. He would go on to become one of the top workers in the promotion which was amazing due to his age and would team with his father helping to rejuvenate his career as they would hold the Mexican National Tag Titles twice taking them from Fuerza Guerrera & Mosco de la Merced on June 7, 1998 and taking them from El Cobarde & El Hijo del Cobarde on February 22, 1999 before losing them to Abismo Negro & Electroshock on May 2, 1999.

It was also in this period Perrito would form Los Juniors Atomicos with Blue Demon Jr., Mascara Sagrada Jr., & La Parka Jr. and although Perrito was the only true son in the group they would go on to win the Mexican National Atomicos Titles from Los Vatos Locos (Charly Manson/May Flowers/Nygma/Picudo) on April 18, 1999 before losing them to Los Vipers (Histeria/Maniaco/Mosco de la Merced/Psicosis) on September 17, 1999.

Perrito also had some success in apuestas matches in the late 90’s as he took Picudo’s mask on December 3, 1995 as well as his hair on December 13, 1997 then took Cobarde II’s hair on September 14, 1997 and again on November 19, 1999.

The 2000’s saw Perrito take on a new role in AAA as his father had now gone back to work for CMLL and Perrito was inserted into his first major singles program working against Hector Garza, Heavy Metal, & Latin Lover where they mixed up in various singles, tag-team, and multiple man matches mainly in some of the best matches in the promotion during this period. While teaming with Garza he won the Mexican National Tag Titles again from Abismo Negro & Electroshock on July 9, 2000 before losing the titles to Pirata Morgan & El Texano on September 8, 2000. Perrito would win the Mexican National Lt. Heavyweight Title from Electroshock on April 21, 2002 before losing it to El Dandy on August 31, 2002 in the 1st match of their 6 month long series over the title.

Perrito also maintained his success in apuestas matches as he took El Texano’s hair on May 19, 2000, The Panther’s mask on August 19, 2001 and El Dandy’s hair on September 16, 2002.

After spending the first 8 years of his career working for AAA, Perrito became an independent contractor after working his last major AAA show on the Rey de Reyes show on March 16, 2003 then would make his entry into CMLL on August 1, 2003 where they hoped to make him their new lead tecnico aligning him early on with Negro Casas but it was in November where he would win the #1 Contender Tournament for Atlantis’ Tohoku Jr. Heavyweight Title when he would start getting booed because he beat popular rudos Rey Bucanero & Dr. Wagner Jr. to earn the shot and then on November 14, 2003 when he would face Atlantis he was getting booed heavily by the fans before losing the match.

The promotion thought that maybe be putting him up against his father’s old rivals Los Hermanos Dinamita (Cien Caras/Mascara Ano Dos Mil/Universo Dos Mil) that could turn the tide as well as having help from the very popular Shocker and his Los Guapos cohorts. Perrito & Terrible would take Cien Caras & Mascara Ano Dos Mil’s hair at the 2nd annual Dos Leyendas show on March 19, 2004 but it was at the Sin Piedad show on June 18, 2004 where in a multi-man Steel Cage Match, Perrito would pin Negro Casas in a shocking finish to take his hair.

One week later, Hector Garza would make his return to CMLL and that same night a new masked character named Mistico was working his 2nd match in the new gimmick and the storms were brewing. Perrito was having issues with Casas causing him to lose to Atlantis in the Leyenda de Plata Tournament then he defeated Atlantis to advance to face Felino in the finals where he would win but when Hijo del Santo came out to present him with the trophy he said that he didn’t want any trophy from him saying that his father was nowhere near the legend that his father was and smashed the trophy over Santo’s head.

Perrito would naturally gravitate to Garza reuniting their team and added former ally Terrible along the way to form La Furia del Norte defeating Santo, Negro Casas, & Shocker on the 71st Anniversario show on September 17, 2004 cementing themselves as the new lead rudos.

Perrito would also rekindle his feud with Los Dinamitas this time with the roles being reversed and this time Perro Sr. would come back to help his son in the battle leading up to Perro Sr. coming back for one more match at the 3rd annual Dos Leyendas show on March 18, 2005 where he along with his son teamed up to take Cien Caras & Mascara Ano Dos Mil’s hair in what was billed at the time as Cien’s retirement match as well.

The aftermath of that show saw the birth of Los Perros del Mal with Damian 666 & Halloween joining La Furia del Norte to form this super faction along with other associates and this took the lucha world by storm as they had a tremendous logo along with great theme music giving them the cool factor that an nWo and D-X had at their peaks. April 30, 2005 saw Perrito start a feud with the new rising tecnico star Mistico who was giving the promotion what they had hoped that Perrito would’ve given them 2 years earlier in a top young tecnico star.

These two would feud on and off for the next couple of years in many different types of matches giving the promotion the top feud in the country but like the Santo feud before it there was never the definitive singles match that left the fans hungry. Perrito would take Universo Dos Mil’s hair on the 4th annual Dos Leyendas show on March 17, 2006 then would win the 2006 Gran Alternativa with Misterioso II before winning the CMLL Trios Titles with Mr. Aguila & Hector Garza on February 16, 2007 from Atlantis/Tarzan Boy/Ultimo Guerrero before having to vacate the titles due to Perrito & Garza having a falling out causing Garza to leave PdM in February 2008.

The fallout culiminated on the 6th annual Dos Leyendas show on March 21, 2008 where Perrito would defeat Garza to take his hair.

Five years to the day when he made his debut with CMLL, Perrito would have his last match in the promotion teaming up with old friend now enemy Garza & Dr. Wagner Jr. losing to Mistico/Negro Casas/Mr. Niebla in an Parejas Increibles match and after that match Perrito decided to form his own promotion named after his faction Perros del Mal which was in a way similar to Shinya Hashimoto leaving New Japan to form ZERO-ONE in 2001 as even though they weren’t with the main promotion anymore there was some backing from the promotion.

Of course like Z1 though there was a breakup and PdM would become full independents running shows around Mexico City before he made his return home to AAA on June 6, 2010 at Triplemania XVIII where he lead an invasion by Perros del Mal aligning with Konnan & Dorian Roldan to form La Sociedad who still reign as the lead rudos in the promotion to this day. Perrito though would start having injury issues as a knee injury would sideline him for a few months at the end of 2010 and on April 8, 2011 which I reported at the time:

“Luchas 2000 reported this morning that Perro Aguayo Jr. underwent surgery yesterday in Guadalajara to remove a tumor from his stomach and is currently resting in the intensive care unit but Damian 666 said that the next 72 hours are extremely important and he needs prayers from all his fans. Perrito went to the hospital on Friday in extreme pain and once he was checked out he was informed that he had a golf ball sized tumor in his stomach that had to be removed immediately.”

April 14, 2011: “Perros del Mal held a press conference yesterday led by Damian 666 to discuss the health condition of Perro Aguayo Jr. and they had nothing new to report other than what was already out there. They still don’t know yet if the tumor found inside Perrito’s stomach was cancerous or benign but they produced copies of the x-rays and records to show to the press.”

April 16, 2011: “Perros del Mal reported today that Perro Aguayo Jr. is now in stable condition and is improving well enough that he will be moved from the hospital he is residing in Guadalajara to a hospital in Mexico City as early as Tuesday. He still has a ways to go but his condition is improving.”

April 17, 2011: “Perro Aguayo Jr. was released from the hospital this morning in Guadalajara and in fact will be going to his home not another hospital in Mexico City. Perrito will be receiving treatment for the next year and no other details has been released but Perros del Mal will be holding a press conference in the coming days to reveal more details.”

May 2, 2011: “Perro Aguayo Jr. had a press conference last Friday where he talked about his health issues of the past few weeks and said that he actually thought it was just a broken rib and it was only when he went to the hospital that he was told he had a cancerous tumor. Perrito said that the surgery was done expertly by his doctors and they told him that he should have a full recovery but he must use a girdle when he trains and wrestles plus should change his diet to go along with his chemotherapy. Perrito also contradicted the rumors that his operation was a lie and even showed his surgical scar to dispel them. He said that he actually was in the hospital and not in rehab for drug abuse like was being talked about. Perrito said that he should be back in the ring very soon and hopes his doctors will release him in the next few weeks. Perrito then talked about business saying that he would put his hair on the line against anyone especially Dr. Wagner Jr. and no matter where or when he would always keep his hair but he noted that his hair was shorter here and it took health problems to take part of his hair not a wrestler. He then closed by thanking all the wrestlers and fans for their prayers and support throughout his dilemma.”

Perrito would return to the ring 6 days later where he would work a show in Cancun but had to pull out of his scheduled match at Triplemania XIX due to having an adverse reaction to the medication that he was taking for the treatment of his tumor but would return a month later. Perrito would go on business as usual feuding with all the top tecnicos even winning the Rey de Reyes for the only time on March 18, 2012 defeating Jack Evans in the finals where he would also earn a shot against El Mesias for the AAA Mega Heavyweight Title which he would fall in his challenge at Triplemania XX on August 5, 2012 and it wasn’t long after that where Perrito started a big rivalry against Cibernetico which lasted for almost a year with Perrito coming out victorious in the end as he took Ciber’s hair at Triplemania XXI on June 16, 2013.

Two months later though they bitter rivals would form a partnership and it seemed like Perrito was going to go back to the tecnico side of things but it was all a ruse as he along with his Perros brethren would attack Ciber on the Guerra de Titanes show on December 8, 2013. A new rival would come on the scene on August 17, 2014 at Triplemania XXII as Alberto el Patron made his return to AAA and when he was cutting his return promo with his father Dos Caras in the ring, La Sociedad came down and Perrito attacked both of them with Alberto vowing revenge and in the main event after Perrito won the Copa Triplemania XXII, Alberto would attack Perrito but again like the Santo & Mistico feuds in EMLL, we never got the definitive singles match between these two because Mytzeziz would make his debut in AAA to rekindle his rivalry with Perrito picking up where they left off 6 years earlier. You could tell there were plans moving forward between these two for Triplemania XXIII where we would finally get that definitive singles match between the two as they became the main focus of last Wednesday’s main event at the Rey de Reyes show in Zapopan even over the return of Rey Mysterio Jr. after being away from the promotion for 19 years but sadly we were robbed of it last night in Tijuana.

Perrito was born 17 days before I was (July 23, 1979) and his death has really hit me close to home…I watched him grow up as a man and as a performer at the same time I was growing up as a man myself. This is a tremendous loss not just for Lucha Libre but for the world in general. I hope now that Perrito and Hector Garza are fouling each other in the sky.

Descanse en Paz….El Perrito