List of premature professional wrestling deaths
Age Ring name ( Birth name ) Promotion ( s ) worked for Date of birth Date of death Cause of death
30 Rick McGraw WWF , NWA March 19 , 1955 November 1 , 1985 Heart attack
30 Jay Youngblood ( Steven Romero ) AWA , NWA , MACW , MLW , CWF June 21 , 1955 September 2 , 1985 Heart attack
30 Larry Sweeney ( Alexander Whybrow ) Chikara , IWC , ROH , CZW February 18 , 1981 April 11 , 2011 Suicide by hanging
30 Giant Ochiai ( Takayuki Okada ) Battlarts , WJ May 8 , 1973 August 8 , 2003 Subdural hematoma
30 Hollie Stevens unknown January 4 , 1982 July 3 , 2012 breast cancer and brain cancer
30 Zubair Jhara ( Muhammad Zubair Aslam ) wrestled in Pakistan , NJPW November 24 , 1960 September 10 , 1991 Heart failure
30 Pierre Lefebvre GCW , WWF , Lutte Internationale , NWA , UWF February 24 , 1955 December 24 , 1985 Car accident
31 Ed Gantner CWF February 4 , 1959 December 31 , 1990 Suicide by gunshot
31 Gene Lipscomb NWA August 9 , 1931 May 10 , 1963 Drug overdose
31 Frank Speer unknown May 27 , 1907 June 10 , 1938 Bronchial pneumonia
31 Scott Peterson PNW , NWA June 10 , 1963 July 25 , 1994 Motorcycle accident
31 Kazuharu Sonoda AJPW , NWA , WWC September 16 , 1956 November 28 , 1987 Died aboard of South African Airways Flight 295
31 Joey Marella referee for WWF February 28 , 1963 July 4 , 1994 Car crash
32 Jaime Cardriche unknown March 28 , 1968 July 28 , 2000 Complications during gall bladder surgery
32 Steve Bradley ( Steve Bisson ) WWF/WWE , PPW , OVW , NECW , HWA December 10 , 1975 December 1 , 2008 Unknown
32 Adam Firestorm ( Adam Dykes ) ECCW , various promotions in Western Canada November 25 , 1976 November 5 , 2009 Suicide
32 Kris Travis TNA , RPW , PCW , ICW , PROGRESS December 16 , 1983 March 31 , 2016 Stomach cancer
32 Sorakichi Matsuda ( Koujiro Matsuda ) N/A 1859 August 16 , 1891 Consumption
32 Crash Holly ( Mike Lockwood ) WWF/E , Funking Conservatory , APW , TNA August 25 , 1971 November 6 , 2003 Suicide by drug overdose and alcohol poisoning
32 Buzz Sawyer ( Bruce Woyan ) NWA , WWF , UWF June 14 , 1959 February 7 , 1992 Cocaine induced Heart attack
List -- Under 40
Crash Holly Chris Candido Test Lonnie Mayne La Parkita Brain Damage Owen Hart Umaga Ray Eddie Guerrero Rikidōzan Ashley Massaro El Solitario
According to a 2014 study by Eastern Michigan University examining professional wrestlers who were active between 1985 and 2011, mortality rates for professional wrestlers are up to 2.9 times greater than the rate for men in the wider United States population. John Moriarty of the University of Manchester and Benjamin Morris of FiveThirtyEight report that the mortality rate for professional wrestlers is higher than that of athletes in other sports. Experts suggest that a combination of the physical nature of the business, no off-season, and the drug culture of the 1970s and 1980s contributes to high mortality rates among wrestlers. Another study ascribes the higher death rate largely to cardiovascular mishaps. Measures such as the introduction of WWE's Wellness Program have been instituted to curb the trend. For the purposes of this list, wrestlers listed are those who died before age 65. WWE performers are employed as independent contractors and denied health insurance coverage in most instances. This is said to have a causal connection to their longevity, morbidity and mortality. WWE performers' status as independent contractors was spotlighted by John Oliver on an episode of his show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in March 2019, with Oliver calling on WWE fans to protest at WrestleMania 35. WWE denied Oliver's critique. The concept of the untimely deaths of professional wrestlers was a frequent topic of discussion on the Opie & Anthony show.