Fabian el Gitano passes away

Fabian el Gitano, a CMLL tecnico for the last seven years, passed away earlier today. Fabian, who gave his name as “Emilio Fabian Fernandez de Leon” when he lost his mask last year, died from a gunshot wound in his apartment. At this point, there are conflicting stories on the cause of his death, either suicide or murder. I’ve seen ages of 39, 40, and 41 listed for him tonight. (Edit: Notimex says it looks to be the result of a drunken dispute.)

Fabian, trained by Solar, first came to national prominence in IWRG as Los Strippers, and that’s the character he’s used during most of his career. Fabian was brought in to CMLL as part of the second Guapos U storyline. Fabian was written out of that group to instead become the first Mexico City version of Metro. That lasted only a year, and he returned to his Fabian stripper gimmick. Fabian never could get past the second/third level, but was a regular presence in both the normal CMLL cards and smaller arenas; he seemed to work Coliseo Coalaco more than any other CMLL guy when they were associated with the building. Fabian was also involved in conduction the CMLL Fashion Show at the last two Lucha Libre Expos.

Fabian’s biggest moment was this past July, when he lost his mask to Angel de Oro in July’s cage match. Fabian losing his mask was a bit of a surprise. It was also probably his best match in the promotion. Fabian had continued on unmasked, though he cut off much of his trademark long hair during the winter. Fabian’s last match was last Friday, losing in the segunda.

There will be more about this in the days ahead.