As David Shoemaker’s The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling tells us, wrestler Gary Albright died in the ring during a wrestling show in Pennsylvania. Reportedly, Albright was on the receiving end of a bulldog, a move that involves a wrestler grabbing his opponent’s head and jumping forward, thus slamming their head into the mat.
While that’s certainly true, it should be mentioned that the full story is significantly more complicated. According to Brian D’Ambrosio’s book Montana Entertainers: Famous and Almost Forgotten, Albright was a former amateur wrestling state champion who transitioned to pro wrestling in 1988. He largely plied his trade in Japan, where his wrestling accolades allowed him to specialize in unscripted, realistic shoot wrestling. Unfortunately, life took a toll on his health.
On January 7, 2000, Albright was making a rare US appearance in a match against Lucifer Grimm and was left lying in the ring after a bulldog maneuver. However, it was not the move that killed Albright. The wrestler’s heart was in a pretty awful shape — it was enlarged, and he had multiple blocked coronary arteries. He also suffered from diabetes. As a result, Albright suffered a fatal heart attack as he took the move, and officials could do little more than pronounce him dead after removing him from the ring. The wrestler was only 38.