Like many luchadores, Silver King, born César Cuauhtémoc González Barrón on January 9, 1968, came from a lucha libre family. His father, Dr. Wagner, was an early lucha libre legend, his older brother, Dr. Wagner Jr., was one of the biggest lucha stars of the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s, and his nephews, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner and Galeno del Mal, have achieved success wrestling in Japan, Mexico, and now the WWE owned AAA. But though he sometimes went under the Wagner name himself, Silver King ultimately forged his own path, starting when he debuted as a 17 year old in November 1985. By 19 years old, he had feuded with El Hijo de Santo, who took Silver’s mask in November 1987. By 25, he was part of one of the best tag teams in Mexico with El Texano called Los Cowboys. By 30, he had toured Japan and was wrestling regularly in the United States for WCW as one of the many high caliber luchadores WCW employed at the time.

Silver King had slowed down by the time of his tragic passing, largely because there was nothing left to accomplish; he had won championships in promotions such as AAA, All Japan Pro Wrestling, CMLL, the International Wrestling Association of Japan, IWRG, UWA, and WWA. He became the third wrestler in history to take on the Black Tiger persona, following Marc Rocco and occasional rival Eddie Guerrero. He caused controversy in Mexico when he chose to start wearing his mask again, forcing him to change his name to Silver Cain to avoid serious issues with Mexico’s lucha libre commissions. And though, like many WCW luchadors, he was never pushed past a lower card level, footage of his matches with Mysterio, the late Hector Garza, Guerrero, Guerrera, Park and others gives fans a glimpse of the great performer Silver King was. To the less informed, he’ll forever be known for standing across the ring from Jack Black. But those who remember know Silver King was more than just another movie villain.