38 Wrestlers Who Died In 2025
18. Salman Hashimikov (28 May)
One-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Salman Hashimikov's heart failed him on 28 May as he lay in a hospital in Moscow, Russia. He was 73 years old.
Salman, born Salman Alkhazurovich Hashimikov on 4 May, 1952 in what is now Kazakhstan, was an eager sportsman whose rousing freestyle wrestling career made him a natural fit for one day turning pro: before that, he won four World and two European Championships in his chosen field.
He turned his head towards 'The King of Sports' in 1989, travelling to train at the New Japan Dojo under the world-class Antonio Inoki. Within three months, Inoki went all in on Hashimikov, rocketing him with the IWGP Heavyweight Title, making him the first European to hold the lucrative prize and the first Russian-born athlete to become a pro wrestling champion in a capitalist country pre-Cold War conclusion. It is unfortunate, then, that the reign was so unfathomably uneventful: after just 48 days, Salman was toppled as New Japan's Ace by Riki Choshu.
Hashimikov ultimately retired in 1994 after a failed stint in UWF International, which itself was his comeback following a three-year sabbatical that he had started following his participation in WCW's 1990 Starrcade.