R.I.P. Perro Aguayo Jr.
March 25, 2015
By: Josh Boutwell of Wrestleview.com
When I woke up Saturday morning the first thing I did, as it is most mornings, was grab my phone and scroll through my Facebook timeline. I had been wondering the night before how the Tag Match that Rey Misterio Jr. had been in the night before went and hoped that there would be video of it. It was Rey’s first match back in Tijuana, the place where he cut his teeth when he first started out, and it also featured a pair of TNA stars in Manik and Tigre Uno. The fourth man in that match was Rey’s fellow AAA star Perro Aguayo Jr., who Rey had also just met in his first match back in Mexico earlier in the week at “Rey de Reyes” for AAA. As I scrolled through Facebook one headline caught my attention, “Mexican wrestler Perro Aguayo dies in accident” or something of the nature, and my first reaction was that of disbelief. There is no way this could be Perro Aguayo Jr., I knew that it had been rumored for months that Perro’s father the original Perro Aguayo had been it bad shape so maybe it meant his father. I clicked the link and my disbelief turned to heartbreak as I learned of what happened to Perro. A celebration of the return of Rey Misterio had turned into a disaster and one of the darker days in Lucha Libre. I know many will compare this accident to that of Owen Hart or even Misawa in Japan, but this was Perro Aguayo Jr: the top rudo/heel in Mexico and honestly the backbone of AAA. Perro was still in his prime, had fought back against and beaten emergency surgery (for a tumor) and personal issues. This man gave his life, literally, to Lucha Libre. He was raised in it, he debuted at the age of 15, he helped pack arenas for both CMLL and AAA as one of the most hated villains in the sport. How in the hell can THAT guy die, especially in this manner?
It doesn’t make sense and trying to figure out “why” will just make a person go crazy. I held off on writing about this for two days, because honestly I couldn’t. I would first be just sad thinking about Perro and then filled with anger when I read the Tweets from “fans” attempting to lay blame at the feet of Rey Misterio. Even wrestling sites so hungry for “clicks” and “likes” that they “click bait” with some of the most heinous “reporting” I’ve seen in awhile. What happened was an accident, a freak accident, and no one is to blame (except maybe the doctors who or promoters for not having adequate medical coverage but that is a different story and a different topic) so I’m not going to try and break down what happened (please all you Youtube doctors stop watching the video and trying to diagnose what happened). I’m not even going to blast all those people on Twitter, any further, I just want to talk about Perrito and remember his incredible career.
Perro Aguayo Jr. was born Pedro Aguayo Ramirez to the legendary Perro Aguayo. Wrestling was in his DNA as not only was his father a wrestler, or luchador, but his uncle was Idolo and his cousins Idolo I and Idolo II also wrestled. He even has a much younger cousin that currently wrestles as Pepe Aguayo as well. It has been stated by his uncle, Idolo, that Perrito has wanted to be a luchador since he was seven years old and after being trained by his father (who did attempt to steer him to other professions before relenting) he debuted at the tender age of 15 years old.
His father Perro Aguayo Sr. was one of the original luchadors Antonio Pena brought into AAA and Perro brought his son into the promotion to team with him right off the bat. Perro Aguayo Sr. was a massive star in the 70’s in the Los Angeles territories and even worked for Vince McMahon’s WWF in the 90’s for a short time. Perro Jr. found success early on his career winning the Mexican National Tag Team Titles with his father and forming the group Los Juniors Atomicas along with Blue Demon Jr., La Parka Jr., and Mascara Sagrada Jr. eventually winning the Mexican National Atomicos Titles. Aguayo would then go on to form a tag team with Hector Garza, with that partnership being a connection that would last nearly two decades, before Aguayo jumped ship to AAA’s rival CMLL in 2003.
CMLL attempting to make Perro a top tecnico/babyface but fan reactions were the opposite so Perro turned rudo and thus began one of the top rudo runs in Lucha Libre history. Perro’s run was jump started by defeating Atlantis for the Michinoku Pro Tohoku Jr. Heavyweight Title and then beginning a feud with Universo 2000 looking to avenge his father who had lost a retirement match to Universo years earlier. Aguayo began teaming with Negro Casas and Shocker over the next couple of years but as tensions between the two began to rise after Aguayo took Casas’ hair in a multi man Cage Match Hector Garza jumped ship from AAA to CMLL and reformed his alliance with Aguayo as Aguayo ditched Casas and Shocker.
Perro Aguayo Jr. then became RED HOT when he won the 2004 Leyenda de Plata Tournament which was done every year in honor of the legendary El Santo. Santo’s son El Hijo del Santo presented Aguayo with the trophy and Aguayo then smashed it saying that his father was more of a legend than Santo ever would be. This led to a series of matches between the two though no conclusive finish to it came because of Santo’s departure from CMLL. In 2005 Perro restarted his feud with Universo 2000 and this led to the return of his father to the ring where the two Aguayo’s faced Cien Caras and Mascara Ano 2000 in a Double Hair vs. Hair Match. The Aguayo’s won the match and sent Cien Caras into retirement. Shortly after that match Perro joined forces with his buddy Hector Garza, Halloween, and Damian 666 to form Los Perros del Mal (The Bad Dogs) faction and set his sights on the young, up and coming Mistico (the original of course).
Perro and Mistico had a long standing rivalry that resulted in some of the best matches of the mid 2000’s and looked like it would culminate in a massive Mask vs. Hair Match between the two, but then in 2008 Aguayo abruptly left CMLL to form his own Perros del Mal promotion. Aguayo took Damian 666, Halloween, Mr. Aguila, and Garza with him eventually also recruiting AAA’s Cibernetico. Then, in 2010 Perro led a PdM invasion of AAA eventually forming a relationship with Konnan’s rudo faction La Sociedad. Ever since then Perro has been the top rudo in AAA feuding with the likes of Mesias, Cibernetico, El Zorro, and others over the years.
In 2011 Perro had a massive scare when he underwent emergency surgery to remove a big tumor from his stomach. During the surgery a peptic ulcer burst inside Perro and he was placed in ICU for days. Though he was expected to miss a full year of action due to the surgery Perro returned just a month later. Since the return of Alberto el Patron to AAA and Myzteziz (the original Mistico) debuting in AAA the promotion has become red hot again with Perro as its top rudo feuding with both men. Perro was expected to face off Myzteziz one more time at TripleMania in the ultimate Mask vs. Hair Match which was sure to be a massive draw for the promotion. His untimely death is obviously throwing a monkey wrench into AAA’s future plans, but that is honestly the least sad part of this. A family has lost a son, father, brother and friends have lost a great friend while we fans have lost an amazing performer. He was in his prime and had so much more to live for, this one will be a hard one to get over. I named my weekly Lucha column “Viva la Raza” in honor of the late Eddie Guerrero, not only because it was his catchphrase but because of the meaning of “long live the people.” That phrase has been long debated on its true meaning and it is a phrase with a lot of meaning to Hispanic people (which I am not) but to me its meaning was much more simple because I felt like was keeping Eddie Guerrero alive every single week with that name. So Perro Aguayo Jr., Viva la Raza brother!
Rest In Peace Perrito.