The lucha libre show at the Centro Deportivo Cultural 11 de Julio in Mineral de la Reforma ran without an ambulance or medical personnel on hand, despite that being a requirement for events in Hidalgo. By the time paramedics were called, 75-year-old referee Gerardo Germán Pineda had no vital signs.
Pineda, a veteran of the Hidalgo wrestling scene known for decades as “El Búho,” died in the early hours of Wednesday 7 October during the main event of a card headlined by El Hijo de Fishman against Máscara Sagrada NG.
At one point in the bout, Fishman applied a martinete, the Mexican term for a piledriver, to the referee. Pineda went down on the mat and did not get back up. Wrestlers and spectators initially thought he was selling the move for the show. When he still had not moved after several minutes, the match was stopped.
Why the martinete is banned
The martinete places an opponent head-first toward the mat while the attacker holds their body in place from above. Done wrong, the full body weight concentrates on the cervical vertebrae. Mexican regulators list fractures, spinal cord injuries, neurological damage, paralysis and death among the possible outcomes, and the move is prohibited in several Mexican wrestling commissions, including those in Mexico City, Monterrey and Tijuana.
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Municipal police in Mineral de la Reforma detained Fishman at the venue and handed him over to the Hidalgo state attorney general’s office. He has been charged with homicidio culposo, roughly manslaughter under Mexican law, and could face between five and 15 years in prison if convicted.
Reports in Mexican media identify Fishman as José Ángel N.L., a 36-year-old independent wrestler who performs under his father’s old ring name.
El Patrón Espectáculos responds
The promotion running the show, El Patrón Espectáculos, said it was providing legal assistance to the wrestler and remained in contact with Pineda’s family.
“We deeply regret the loss of a life and express our solidarity with his family, friends and colleagues in the wrestling business,” the company said in a statement.
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Pineda had spent close to three decades as a referee on the Hidalgo circuit and worked matches featuring some of the biggest names in Mexican wrestling, including Mil Máscaras and Canek.
Fishman is due before a judge for an initial hearing within 48 hours of his arrest, when prosecutors must present enough evidence for formal charges to proceed.
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