Wrestlers Who Sadly Died In 2026 So Far

There’s not a 12 months that goes by within the skilled wrestling world without loads of shocking and newsworthy moments, from fans pondering the long run of AEW’s media rights and streaming deal following the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery to Paramount Skydance to bemoaning Pat McAfee’s involvement in Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s storyline. Amongst all of the business and storyline news that happens yearly, nonetheless, there’s also the tragedy of wrestlers who pass away — often trailblazers who paved the best way for WWE, AEW, TNA, NJPW, and other independent talent of today.

Tragically, many stars are taken from their friends, family, and fans all too soon. After we lost many in 2025, including Hulk Hogan, Sabu, Gran Hamada, Australian Suicide, Sir Mo, and more, 2026 is shaping as much as be an equally tragic 12 months. From should-have-been WWE Hall of Famers similar to Dennis Condrey, a founding member of the Midnight Express, to former stars of the territory days similar to Rick Link and Fred Curry, these are the celebrities who’ve sadly passed to date in 2026.

Former territories star Rick Link died on the age of 66 on January 14, after he entered hospice care in December following a battle with an illness. Link wrestled throughout North American, including in Memphis, where he challenged Jerry “The King” Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship. Link wrestled for not only the NWA, but Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, Stampede Wrestling, and more. He would tour Canada, the Caribbean, Latest Zealand, and the South Pacific throughout his profession.

Link began to train to grow to be knowledgeable wrestler at just 15 years old, and debuted after only six months of coaching for a North Carolina-based promotion. He began wrestling for NWA in Atlanta in 1979. He was one in every of Memphis’s Continental Wrestling Association’s top heels within the late Nineteen Eighties, and won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship from Lawler twice during his time within the promotion.

After a profession hiatus, he wrestled on the independent scene within the Nineteen Nineties and had handfuls of matches through the years as he grew older, in between further times of hiatus. Link wrestled his final match in his home state of North Carolina in 2023.

Bobby Duncum Sr., best known for his NWA, AWA, and WWWF appearances throughout his profession, died on January 21 on the age of 81. After a brief football profession, where he played 4 games with the St. Louis Cardinals after being drafted 331st overall within the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, he began his skilled wrestling profession.

Duncum was one in every of the largest heels of the territories during his time. He was a member of the Heenan Family, led by WWE Hall of Famer Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and faced off against WWE legends similar to Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino.

The NWA shared a post about Duncum’s passing to X, and noted his best success got here in Championship Wrestling from Florida, an NWA affiliate, where he won a tournament to capture the vacant NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship in 1971. He also won the AWA World Tag Team Championships alongside Blackjack Lanza in 1976. His final match got here in 1986 in a match alongside Lord Zoltan which saw the pair earn a victory over Troy Orndoff and Kurt Kaufman.

Frankie Cain, also often called the Great Mephisto, and whose real name was James Ault, died on the age of 93 on February 2, his friend and wrestling historian Scott Teal announced on Facebook. Cain wrestled as Inferno #1 within the J.C. Dykes and The Infernos team within the Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.

He began his skilled wrestling profession in Mississippi within the Sixties, and joined The Infernos tag team alongside Rocky Smith in 1965, with Dykes as their manager. He became the Great Mephisto, wrestling each under a mask and without, in 1969 after leaving the team. He wrestled stints in Texas, Georgia, San Francisco, and Florida under the gimmick, and even challenged NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dory Funk Jr. in November 1969.

Cain worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1980. He retired from the business in 1982. Teal helped his friend release an autobiography, titled “Shooting with the Legends,” in 2016, and the pair would go on to publish two more books in regards to the star’s life in 2020 and 2025.

NJPW announced on X (formerly Twitter) that former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tadao Yasuda died on the age of 62 on February 8. He was found deceased in his home, but a reason for death was not publicly released.

Along with working in NJPW, Yasuda was also a sumo wrestler. He began his sumo profession in junior high, but retired in 1992 after achieving the rank of komusubi. He debuted for NJPW in February 1994 against Hiroshi Hase. He also trained in mixed martial arts within the Inoki LA Dojo within the early 2000s.

The largest win of his MMA profession got here in December 2001 with a win over Jerome Le Banner. In February 2002, he won the vacant IWGP Heavyweight title in a tournament final victory over Yuji Nagata. He held the title for 48 days before dropping it to Nagata in April.

He left NJPW in 2005 and retired from wrestling in February 2011. His final match was a loss to Genichiro Tenryu.

Dennis Condrey, a founding member of the long-lasting Midnight Express tag team, died on the age of 72 on March 20. Condrey made his debut on the skilled wrestling scene in 1973 and spent his early years wrestling in NWA Mid-America in Tennessee.

He formed The Midnight Express alongside Randy Rose in 1980, with Norvell Austin joining the stable the next 12 months. The trio wrestled in Southeastern Championship Wrestling and the Continental Wrestling Association before Condrey left for Mid-South Wrestling in 1983. There, he reformed the Midnight Express with Bobby Eaton. Jim Cornette served because the pair’s manager.

Condrey and Eaton would go on to win their first tag team gold, the Mid-South Tag Team titles, and would feud with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express into the Nineteen Nineties across multiple promotions. They wrestled for World Class Championship Wrestling, then Jim Crockett Promotions from 1985 to 1987. Condrey would reunite with Rose in 1987 in AWA, with Paul E. Dangerously, the long run Paul Heyman, as their manager.

After teaming with Eaton again in 2004 on the indies to feud with Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and The Fantastics, Condrey signed to WWE in March 2010 as a trainer assigned to FCW. He retired from the ring in October 2011.

“Flying” Fred Curry, whose real name was Fred Koury Jr., died on the age of 82 on April 3. His friend and mentee, the “Improbable” Bobby Fulton, announced his passing on X.

Curry was a second-generation wrestler, having learned the skill from his father, “Wild Bull” Curry. He was one of the popular stars within the Midwest, and the remainder of the world, within the Sixties and 70s. He feuded with The Sheik and teamed up with Fritz Von Erich throughout his storied profession.

He teamed along with his father early in his profession, and the pair won the NWA International Tag Team Championships in 1964, holding the belts for nearly two years. Curry won the NWA World Tag Team Championships twice, the second coming in December 1972 alongside Tony Marino against Kurt Von Hess and Karl Von Shotz.

Curry is taken into account by many to be one in every of the best high flyers of all time, and the most effective to throw a dropkick. He was supposedly was in a position to execute 15 to twenty dropkicks in 10 seconds.

Former WCW star Van Hammer, whose real name was Mark Hildreth, died on the age of 66 on April 18. His friend, fellow former WCW talent Marc Mero, announced his passing on X, and said his family and friends were then still awaiting answers regarding his reason for death.

Mero and Hammer went to wrestling school together and were signed by Dusty Rhodes to WCW in 1991. Hammer debuted as rock star, “Heavy Metal” Van Hammer, and worked for WCW through February 1995. He took a hiatus before returning in November 1997 as a member of Raven’s “Flock.”

He left WCW in July 2000 and worked for Maryland Championship Wrestling, a promotion in his home state. He did a tour for Big Japan Pro Wrestling in 2001. He also briefly worked in WWF in 1993, where he worked a tryout match on “WWF Superstars” in a loss to Virgil.

Hammer would never win gold in his profession, but would challenge for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship quite a few times. His final match took place in MCW in April 2009.

Gran Markus Jr., whose real name was Candido Robles Cruz, died on the age of 72 on April 24. He was best known for his work in CMLL. He originally used the ring name “Tony Benetto,” but became a masked wrestler and adjusted his ring name within the late Nineteen Eighties. He is expounded to Gran Markus only in storyline.

He debuted as Benetto in 1977, initially wrestling on the indies before signing with EMLL. He won his first title, the Mexican National Heavyweight Championship, in January 1980.

Markus Jr. began wrestling under the mask in 1987 and was presented as Markus’ son, despite the pair not actually being related. He won the Mexican National Heavyweight title for the second time in 1987 and would hold the gold thrice in total. He won the CMLL World Tag Team Championship once alongside El Hijo del Gladiador and the CMLL World Trios Championship once with Gladiador and Dr. Wagner Jr..

He lost his mask to Mil Mascaras in a Luchas de Apuesta match in June 1997, and would go on to lose his hair three separate times against La Parka, Pierroth Jr., and Rayo de Jalisco Jr. within the early 2000s.