Lucha libre is famed for its high-flying moves and colorful masks, but behind the spectacle lies a darker side—one that has seen wrestlers pay a heavy price. While injuries are common in professional wrestling, losing an eye in a match is rare and devastating, as the following four lucha wrestlers who were blinded can attest.
A History of Blindness in Professional Wrestling
A “blinded” Chris Adams made headlines in the mid-’80s. Photo Credit: WCCW.
Or how about “Gentleman” Chris Adams‘ “blindness” being so convincing that the World Class fans in the mid-’80s demanded that authorities detain and question Gino Hernández because he was “obviously” responsible for the heinous attack?
But some wrestlers have sustained legitimate eye injuries so severe that they almost lost an eye. Bryan Danielson, Eddie Edwards, and New Jack are prime examples.
1. Pirata Morgan: The Resilient Pirate of Lucha Libre
Two years after the 1979 debut of Pirata Morgan, a life-changing event altered his life and career. As witnessed countless times, injuries are more of a probability than a possibility in wrestling. Photo Credit: MexSport.
When I moved to El Salvador in 1986, I was only familiar with the American wrestling style. A few years later, when we got cable, I learned what Mexican lucha libre was.
I began seeing colorful superhero-like characters like Octagón, Atlantis, Lizmark, and Blue Panther. It was a different style to which I had grown accustomed. Most of the wrestlers were smaller, but all were risk-takers.
Pirata Morgan is resilience personified. He remains a feared and respected rudo on the independent circuit. The battle-hardened pirate, wearing his Mankind-like mask and sporting longish hair, looks like a stockier Abyss.
He embodies the rough old-school style of wrestling of decades past, demanding respect for his profession.
A Risky Move Gone Wrong: How Pirata Morgan Lost an Eye in the Ring
Pirata Morgan in a recent interview. Photo Credit: El Blog de la Lucha Libre.
“In late 1981, I did a tope (head-first lunging attack) on El Jalisco, but he got out of the way,” remembers Pirata Morgan in an interview with El Blog de la Lucha.
“I crashed into one of the bleacher’s armrests. I destroyed my retina; [red] was everywhere.
“They immediately sent me in an ambulance to the capital (doctors surgically removed pieces of his eye), and I lost several bookings until Sunday when I was scheduled to wrestle in Puebla. I got operated and recuperated that week leading up to Sunday.
“I showed up wearing a gauze from the operation. I was worried and asked my brother what I should do or wear so that people couldn’t see the gauze.
“He told me, ‘Use an eyepatch. You know, like what pirates wear!’
“I wrestled as Rex Morgan then, and he suggested I change the ‘Rex’ to ‘Pirate.’ I still wrestled that evening as Rex Morgan, but when I went to the [wrestling] offices in the capital, they were okay with changing my name to Pirata (Pirate) Morgan.”
Because of the injury, Pirata lost his right eye; he didn’t even use a prosthesis. But it had already been heavily damaged since childhood.
He confessed, “As a kid, I used to throw rocks at glass bottles, and once a shard went into my eye. I remember getting an operation. But soon afterward, a soccer ball hit me right in the injured eye and tore the sutures. It began leaking. But the tope on Jalisco finished the job, though.”
Of course, losing an eye was a challenge for Pirata, but it didn’t stop him from having an enviable, successful career and becoming a multi-champion. He does believe that if the injury had occurred earlier in his career, the strict wrestling commission under Rafael Barradas Osorio would probably not have allowed him to wrestle.
He points out that wrestlers who are missing an arm or a leg, like Zach Gowen, are now seen as somewhat usual, but that wasn’t the case when he started wrestling.
2. Takeda: A Lucha Legend’s Eye-Opening Tragedy
This black-and-white image shows the severe injury Takeda sustained in the ring, capturing one of the most graphic moments in wrestling history—arguably more intense than the infamous blade job "Mass Transit" Eric Kulas endured at the hands of New Jack in ECW. Photo Credit: Lucha Libre Online.
“While trying to thrust his fingers between Takeda’s face and his mask, he was a little too enthusiastic and inadvertently forcefully caught Takeda in his eye and ripped it out.”
Because it is so disturbing, Takeda’s injury, which a still uncredited photographer captured, is often thought to be a work. It can’t be real, right? Well, unfortunately, it was.
Born in Juarez, Mexico, Takeda’s trainer was the Exótico Babe Sharon, who proudly debuted his student in 1985. Takeda perfected a crowd-pleasing technical martial arts style. Think of a flashier Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat using more of a lucha style and looking like a masked kabuki warrior.
The horrific accident happened in 1988 when he was wrestling against his trainer. In the heat of battle, Babe Sharon tried tearing Takeda’s mask off, a staple dirty move in a rudo’s (heel’s) arsenal.
But while trying to thrust his fingers between Takeda’s face and his mask, he was a little too enthusiastic and inadvertently forcefully caught Takeda in his eye and ripped it out. [Red] was everywhere, and it wouldn’t stop!
“Wrestling is more real than people can imagine,” shared the recently interviewed Takeda. “I lost an eye and my vision in the ring, but others have lost more, even their lives. It’s regrettable, but the truth is that every warrior who does this wants to die in the ring.”
For a while after his serious injury, Takeda retired, and someone else took on the name.
In 1990, Takeda joined a group of independent wrestlers whose main venue became the famed “Toreo de Cuatro Caminos,” a former multipurpose sporting venue and bullfighting plaza on the outskirts of Mexico City.
Some sources claim this wasn’t the original Takeda, but we cannot confirm this.
But we know that when the original Takeda returned a couple of years later from his injury and heard that someone else was expropriating his character, he became enraged and complained to the commission.
But he discovered that fellow Babe Sharon student, friend, and martial artist “Jorge,” who first went by the ring monicker “Brontes,” was the new Takeda.
The original still considers Jorge a brother and understands that he had assumed Takeda wouldn’t return. He gives his friend his blessing and allows him to use the character in another region of Mexico.
From 1992 to 1994, the UWA had big plans for Takeda and hoped he could become as famous a character as Octagón from Triple-A, who, unlike Takeda, didn’t know martial arts.
In 1995, Takeda defeated El Dandy to become the Mexican National Light Heavyweight Champion. However, the title change is unrecognized due to unclear circumstances. Some say it was because of problems between the promoter and the wrestling commission. The UWA promotion closed its doors the same year.
Although mainly in smaller promotions in Mexico, the original Takeda has had a successful career and remains a popular fan favorite in his native Ciudad Juarez. Now, he’s also a trainer and stresses to his students the value of respect for the business, which he feels has mostly been lost.
When asked if it’s been worth giving his whole life to Lucha, Takeda doesn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes. I wouldn’t think twice about it. Yes.”
3. Merced Gomez: The Tragedy and Fall of “The Villain of Mixcoac”
Merced Gomez is one of the great "what ifs" in lucha libre. Photo Credit: CMLL.
Now, let’s jump into the Wayback Machine when there were no televisions or the Internet. Back to a time when you were lucky to have a radio and when professional wrestling was still real to many.
Merced Gomez is from the era when luchadors like El Santo and Blue Demon were still far from becoming the cultural icons we know today.
Merced’s career was brief but with all the intensity of a brush fire because he faced his era’s finest talent and quickly made a name for himself.
But no matter how physically gifted an athlete you are, as you’ll soon learn, a bacterial cell 1 to 10 microns in length and 0.2 to 1 micron in width can wreak havoc in your body.
Merced’s story, sometimes nicknamed “The Tragedy of Merced,” is like something straight out of Greek tragedies.
It starts with his father, who is of the same name, a famous torero or bullfighter.
In 1913, he got into an argument over a poker game with a fellow bullfighter, the Spaniard Antonio Ramos Ruiz, who pierced him in the leg with a sharp object.
The laceration was so severe from the mean-dispositioned Spaniard that doctors amputated Merced’s leg to save his life.
Forced to leave bullfighting, he somehow became the mayor of Mixcoac. Once out of office, though, he went miserably to work at the local mines (owned by his father) but perished in a cave-in with a slew of others. With his body recovered, he was buried in 1923.
In the early ’30s, trying to prove himself and not work in the mines all his life, his son Merced got into boxing. He had a nondescript career, and darkness seemed to carry over from his father’s misfortune.
Due to the filthy tip of a boxing glove string that perforated his left eye during a fight, he soon got an infection that would hand him a cruel receipt later.
Along with a debilitating genetic condition that increasingly weakened him, Merced’s life and career would soon be cut short.
Other versions claim that he had a boxing bout that was so devastating that he got his retina detached and began using a glass eye. But we don’t think this is the case.
Merced Gomez: The Debut of a Tragic Lucha Libre Pioneer
Merced Gomez in a magazine proclaiming him the “First Mexican Rudo.” Photo Credit: Lucha Libre de Ayer Hoy y Siempre.
On October 24th, 1937, Merced made his wrestling debut as “The Tiger of Mixcoac” with minimal fanfare.
He dressed unremarkably, wearing only black trunks, and walked to the ring with a towel around his neck. But the no-nonsense wrestler soon garnered the fans’ attention by wrestling in a wild and brutal style. He was no longer the tiger from Mixcoac but instead nicknamed “The Villain,” who became the designated wrestler who often faced the incoming foreigners brought in by EMLL (now CMLL).
Accomplished amateur wrestler Bobby Bonales and American-born Mexican wrestler Jack O’Brien also faced him.
Despite Merced’s relative inexperience, his wrestling career peaked rapidly.
The Fateful Blow That Changed Merced Gomez’s Wrestling Career
Merced’s most intense feud was with a masked wrestler named Murciélago (Bat) Velazquez. He wore a cape and came to the ring with a cage filled with bats he’d release. Some stories claim he even kept bats inside his cape! Their intense matches spilled buckets of red and drew healthy crowds that filled the coffers with plenty of green. Photo Credit: Citalli N. Castillo / Artwork: Ismael Olivares.
Dates differ, but one source assures that it was in 1938 when Merced received a vicious Mule Kick aimed at his rib area that somehow connected with his infected eye.
With the assertive blow, his left eye lost its functionality. But a headstrong Merced continued wrestling.
On February 26th, 1939, he defeated Murciélago Velazquez, who assured the fans that he would unmask himself if he lost to Merced.
What was deemed impossible had happened, but when Merced tried forcing off the mask, to his and the fans’ dismay, Velazquez had an adhesive material covering his face, so his identity remained unrevealed.
With the aforementioned genetic condition continuing to debilitate Merced, he no-showed against Murciélago on June 23rd, 1940. His last match before retiring was on July 5th.
But soon, the infection from the lost left eye had invaded his good right one, and his world soon darkened. This and his ongoing genetic condition affected his life to the point of him landing in a sanatorium/mental institution called “La Catañeda,” where it is said that torture was a routine rehabilitation technique.
If not for losing his eye in the ring, his debilitating genetic condition, and eventual complete blindness, lucha experts believe that he could have been one of the greats.
Today, he remains one of the great “what ifs?” in lucha libre wrestling until his life spiraled out of control. His career ended after only three years.
4. Baby Richard: A Referee’s Unfortunate Eye Loss in Arena Mexico
Baby Richard has an unlucky story about losing his eye and using a prosthesis. Photo Credit: La Tiejera Lucha Libre
Many passionate fans often remark that referees in every sport have some level of blindness, and in wrestling, this trait is even more pronounced as part of the spectacle.
The referee tries to remain invisible in mainstream sports. But when a questionable call is made, all eyes turn to him. He can be aloof in wrestling until there’s a pin attempt, and that’s when he jumps into action.
It’s not that there isn’t a skill involved, but traditionally, in USA wrestling promotions and most other parts of the world, the referees are mostly interchangeable.
Still, there have been memorable refs over the years, like Dick Woerhle, Dick Kroll, Dave and Earl Hebner, Randy “Pee Wee” Anderson, Tommy Young, Nick Patrick, and Johnny “Red Shoes Duggan” who inspired Hiroyuki “Red Shoes” Unno, to name a few.
Referees balance impartially applying their “authority” and not calling too much attention to themselves.
But in Mexico, the referees are often either partial to the rudo (heel) or the técnicos (babyfaces) and are supposed to create controversy.
For example, the rudo referee will do fast counts in favor of their man but slow it down considerably for the babyface. He’ll sometimes try to feel up the women wrestlers and deliberately overlook when a técnico has been fouled (hit below the belt).
Rafa El Maya, Pepe Tropicasas, El Tirantes, and Baby Richard are renowned Mexican referees in their home country. But the last gets the award for the most dubious way to lose an eye in the ring!
It happened in 2015 while the former professional wrestler was refereeing a match. This was a well-kept secret for years until he showed the prosthetic left eye he uses on camera during an interview with La Tijera Lucha Libre.
“It’s something I don’t like speaking about. It was a big problem. I had an accident in Arena Mexico, and lost my left eye. It’s something I’ve never shared [publicly] until now.
“The prosthesis I use replaces the eye I lost. I tried to but couldn’t speak with Mr. Paco Alonso (former CMLL owner). We had some conflicts, but I didn’t sue. The Consejo showed me the door and handed me some settlement money.
“When I raised the winner’s hand, another wrestler pushed him, and I got caught in the eye with an elbow. My cornea got fractured, and I was waiting for a transplant. But during that time, I got a bacterial infection, and I lost it for good. That’s when I retired from the ring.
I was told, ‘This is your house; the doors are always open. But that isn’t true.’ Strangely, I might be more popular in Japan than in Mexico, where I spent 38 years (approximately 50 years in wrestling total). But I’m satisfied with my career.”
The always gracious Baby Richard doesn’t like to be called a “legend” and prefers the term “veteran wrestler” but is humbled when fans remember him.
He is the creator of the heel faction’s name, Los Perros del Mal (Dogs of Evil). The faction has had many members over the years, but its founding leader was the Hijo del Perro Aguayo, who tragically died in the ring on March 20th, 2015.
Resilience in the Face of Devastating Injuries
Lucha libre’s high-flying moves and colorful masks hide a darker side—4 wrestlers who paid the ultimate price by losing an eye in a match.
The stories of these four lucha wrestlers who lost an eye in the ring are a stark reminder of the sacrifices made in pursuit of their passion.
This indomitable spirit defines the world of professional wrestling—behind every mask and move lies a story of perseverance and strength. It is our honor to remember their courage and keep their pro wrestling stories alive.
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Javier Ojst is an old-school wrestling enthusiast currently residing in El Salvador. He's been a frequent guest on several podcasts and has a few bylines on TheLogBook.com, where he shares stories of pop culture and retro-related awesomeness. He has also been published on Slam Wrestling and in G-FAN Magazine.
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