16 Wrestlers Who Died In 2017

Joaquín Roldán, who led major Mexican promotion AAA for over a decade, died in April of cancer. He was 63.

The husband of Marisela Peña, sister of AAA founder Antonio, Roldán first started working for the CMLL offshoot as a laywer, before taking over company operations following Peña's sudden death in 2006. Whilst it was commonly believed that it was in fact Marisela who had inherited her brother's promotion, Mexican society dictated a man run the company. Nevertheless, the whole family became AAA's public face, including son Dorian.

Though the organisation was expected to collapse in the wake of Peña's death, Roldán and family managed to keep it afloat, even helping it expand into North America thanks to their involvement in Lucha Underground. In recent times however, political issues behind the scenes and the slump in the Mexican peso brought on by trade uncertainty with the US saw the company enter choppy waters.

For several years after assuming the helm of AAA, Roldán also appeared as an on-screen authority figure, predominantly feuding with his son in a Latin American spin on the McMahons, as well as AAA mainstay Konnan. The latter's departure precipitated a gradual decline in Roldán's television work.

There had been hints of ongoing health concerns for some time before Roldán's death. Though he and his wife were regular fixtures in the front row of AAA events, the boss became an increasingly rare site as rumours about his ailing well-being circulated. At the Triplemanía XXIV event in August 2016, the director was inducted into AAA's Hall of Fame in a move widely criticised at the time, but one which latterly made perfect sense when details of Roldán's terminal illness were made public.