There’s not a year that goes by in the professional wrestling world without plenty of shocking and newsworthy moments, from fans pondering the future 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 the business and storyline news that happens every year, however, there’s also the tragedy of wrestlers who pass away — often trailblazers who paved the 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 up to be an equally tragic year. From should-have-been WWE Hall of Famers such as Dennis Condrey, a founding member of the Midnight Express, to former stars of the territory days such as Rick Link and Fred Curry, these are the stars who have sadly passed so far in 2026.

Former territories star Rick Link died at the age of 66 on January 14, after he entered hospice care in December following a battle with an illness. Link wrestled all over 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, New Zealand, and the South Pacific throughout his career.

Link started to train to become a professional wrestler at just 15 years old, and debuted after only six months of training for a North Carolina-based promotion. He began wrestling for NWA in Atlanta in 1979. He was one of Memphis’s Continental Wrestling Association’s top heels in the late 1980s, and won the AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship from Lawler twice during his time in the promotion.

After a career hiatus, he wrestled on the independent scene in the 1990s and had handfuls of matches over 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 career, died on January 21 at the age of 81. After a short football career, where he played four games with the St. Louis Cardinals after being drafted 331st overall in the 1967 NFL/AFL draft, he began his professional wrestling career.

Duncum was one of the biggest 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 such as Bob Backlund and Bruno Sammartino.

The NWA shared a post about Duncum’s passing to X, and noted his greatest success came 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 came in 1986 in a match alongside Lord Zoltan which saw the pair earn a victory over Troy Orndoff and Kurt Kaufman.

Frankie Cain, also known as the Great Mephisto, and whose real name was James Ault, died at the age of 93 on February 2, his friend and wrestling historian Scott Teal announced on Facebook. Cain wrestled as Inferno #1 in the J.C. Dykes and The Infernos team in the 1960s and 1970s.

He started his professional wrestling career in Mississippi in the 1960s, and joined The Infernos tag team alongside Rocky Smith in 1965, with Dykes as their manager. He became the Great Mephisto, wrestling both 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 about the star’s life in 2020 and 2025.

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

In addition to working in NJPW, Yasuda was also a sumo wrestler. He started his sumo career 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 in the Inoki LA Dojo in the early 2000s.

The biggest win of his MMA career came 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 iconic Midnight Express tag team, died at the age of 72 on March 20. Condrey made his debut on the professional 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 following year. 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 as 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 1990s 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 future 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 at the age of 82 on April 3. His friend and mentee, the “Fantastic” 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 most popular stars in the Midwest, and the rest of the world, in the 1960s and 70s. He feuded with The Sheik and teamed up with Fritz Von Erich throughout his storied career.

He teamed with his father early in his career, 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 considered by many to be one of the greatest high flyers of all time, and one of the best to throw a dropkick. He was supposedly was able to execute 15 to 20 dropkicks in 10 seconds.

Former WCW star Van Hammer, whose real name was Mark Hildreth, died at the age of 66 on April 18. His friend, fellow former WCW talent Marc Mero, announced his passing on X, and said his friends and family were then still awaiting answers regarding his cause of 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 career, but would challenge for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship numerous times. His final match took place in MCW in April 2009.

Gran Markus Jr., whose real name was Candido Robles Cruz, died at 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 changed his ring name in the late 1980s. He is related 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 three times 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. in the early 2000s.