Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Rey Celestial
Oscar Leonardo Torres Parra was a Mexican born luchador who competed under the name ‘Rey Celestial’ also known as ‘The Heavenly King.’ At a very young age, Parra knew he wanted to be a wrestler. He began training at the age of 8 years old and started having matches at 12.
In 2012, Rey Celestial won a tournament to earn a contract with AAA which is one of the major promotions in Mexico. After a brief stay in AAA, Celestial mainly competed in smaller independent groups. By 2017, Rey Celestial signed with a bigger company called The Crash: Lucha Libre. He had his first match with Crash five days prior to his tragic incident.
On September 17, 2017…Celestial was in his hometown of Puebla, to watch a boxing match with friends. While walking home, a white vehicle hit the young luchador and proceeded to drive away. Celestial died at the scene. The driver in the hit and run incident was never caught. Oscar ‘Rey Celestial’ Parra was only 22 years old at the time of his death. He left behind a wife (a luchadora name La Magnifica and a son.