Ángel Azteca Juan Manuel Zúñiga ( June 24 , 1963 - March 18 , 2007 ) was a Mexican professional wrestler , or " Luchador " as they are called in Spanish , best known for working under the ring name Ángel Azteca ( Aztec Angel ) since the late 1980s . Zúñiga died of a heart attack on March 18 , 2007 only a few hours after wrestling in the main event of a local promotion . Zúñiga is not related to wrestlers " Ángel Azteca , Jr . " and " Ángel Azteca II " , instead they paid Zúñiga to use the name and image . As Ángel Azteca Zúñiga worked as an enmascarado , or masked wrestler , until losing a match against Arkangel de la Muerte in 2003 where he was forced to unmask . Professional wrestling career . Juan Zúñiga trained under Héctor López , Asterión and Lucha Libre superstar Dr . Wagner before making his professional wrestling debut in 1980 . Initially he worked as " Charro " or " Charro de Jalisco " , winning the Mexican National Cruiserweight Championship On October 24 , 1986 from Adorable Rubí . On December 28 , 1986 he lost the title to a wrestler called " Judas " . In 1988 he changed his ring persona , creating the " Ángel Azteca " ( Aztec Angel ) character that he would be most known as for the remainder of his career as he began working full - time for Empressa Mexicana de Lucha Libre ( EMLL ; Later they would change names to Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre ( CMLL ) ) . Ángel Azteca was teamed up with fellow " Tecnico " ( a good guy character or Face ) Atlantis to form a very successful tag team . Together they won the Mexican National Tag Team Championship on March 6 , 1988 from the team of " Los Infernales " ( Masakre and MS - 1 ) . Over the next 811 days Azteca and Atlantis defended the tag team titles against such teams as Hombre Bala and Pirata Morgan , El Dandy and El Texano and Pierroth , Jr . and Ulisses . On February 26 , 1989 Ángel Azteca became a double champion when he defeated Bestia Salvaje for the Mexican National Welterweight Championship . Two months later Azteca vacated the Mexican National Welterweight Championship when he defeated Emilio Charles , Jr . to win the NWA World Middleweight Championship , moving up to the Middleweight division . Azteca would make several successful defenses against the former champion as well as El Hijo del Gladiador . On May 25 , 1990 Atlantis and Ángel Azteca were finally beaten for the Mexican Tag title by Pierroth , Jr . and Bestia Salvaje . A couple of months later El Dandy won the NWA World Middleweight Championship from Ángel Azteca . the loss of the Tag Team titles was used as the storyline motivation for Ángel Azteca turning " Rudo " ( villain or Heel after attacking his partner . The feud between the two continued off and on until Ángel Azteca ' s death in 2007 , while the two remained close friends backstage . On March 9 , 1991 Ángel Azteca and Volador teamed up to win the Mexican National Tag Team Championship from Pierroth , Jr . and Bestia Salvaje , holding them for two months before dropping them to " Los Destructores " ( Tony Arce and Vulcano ) . In 1992 Ángel Azteca left CMLL and joined a large number of ex - CMLL employees in the newly created Asistencia Asesoría y Administración ( AAA ) promotion . In AAA Ángel Azteca teamed up with El Hijo del Santo and Super Muñeco to win the Mexican National Trios Championship from " Los Payasos " ( Coco Amarillo , Coco Azul and Coco Rojo ) . The trio held the championship for 124 days before losing it back to " Los Payasos " . After losing the Trios title Ángel Azteca briefly worked for AAA as " Charro de Jalisco " , but left AAA not long after . When he returned to CMLL the creative team was planning on giving Ángel Azteca a new mask and outfit to " freshen up " the character , but when Azteca temporarily retired from wrestling the new mask design and tights was given to a new CMLL wrestler dubbed Último Guerrero . Zúñiga only worked very in a limited capacity from the mid - 1990s until early 2003 where he returned to CMLL . Azteca began working a low card feud with Arkangel de la Muerta that received limited publicity until CMLL began hyping their 70th Anniversary show , where Ángel Azteca versus Arkangel de la Muerte was booked in a " Luchas de Apuestas " match where the loser would have to unmask . Arkangel won , unmasking Ázteca in what was Ángel Azteca ' s last high publicity match . After the mask loss Ángel Azteca left CMLL , working a limited scheduled on the independent circuit , sometimes even working as a referee instead of a wrestler . In 2006 Ángel Azteca returned to the ring , mainly to help push " Ángel Azteca II " and " Ángel Azteca , Jr . " ; two wrestlers who paid Zúñiga to use the " Ángel Azteca " name . After Zúñiga ' s death Ángel Azteca II changed his name to Emperador Azteca while Ángel Azteca , Jr . still uses the name in CMLL , but does not make any claims about being the son of Ángel Azteca . Personal life . Juan Zúñiga was married and the couple had five kids together . Zúñiga had a reputation of being a gentleman both inside and outside of the ring and was very respected by his peers . Death . On March 13 , 2007 Zúñiga teamed up with Demonio Rojo and Pinkusky in a losing effort against Atlantis , Imperio Dorado and Rebelde Punk in the main event of a local Campeche show . After the match Zúñiga signed autographs for the fans , but then began complaining of chest pains . The event doctor immediately took him to the Manuel Campos Hospital but Zúñiga died shortly after arriving . The autopsy revealed that Zúñiga had died from a heart attack . The body was later taken to Mexico City for the wake before being transferred to Zúñiga ' s home town of Torreón , Coahuila where he was buried .