Nestor Bustos, the Southern California independent wrestler known as SoCal Crazy, has died at 47 after a battle with colon cancer. The news was first shared on Wednesday, September 30.
SoCal Pro Wrestling announced the death on Facebook, noting that Bustos was surrounded by family and loved ones when he passed. According to Fightful, he was first diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022.
Bustos kept wrestling through his illness. He worked nearly fifty matches after the diagnosis, with his last coming at a SoCal Pro event in June, where he teamed with El Mexica against The Lucha Kings, Bamboo and El Rey.
SoCal Uncensored, the regional outlet that has run the Southern California Year End Awards since 2001, paid tribute on X. It called him one of the best independent wrestlers to come out of Southern California in the last 25 years, a former Southern California Wrestler of the Year and “an all around good guy.” He won that award in 2009, finishing ahead of runner-up Scott Lost.
Bustos was a fixture of the California indie scene, sharing the ring with names like B-Boy, Peter Avalon, Scorpio Sky and Tommy Wilson, working primarily for Empire Wrestling Federation, SoCal Pro and Alternative Wrestling Show. In January 2010, he beat Wilson in a ladder match to win the SoCal Pro Heavyweight Championship.
WWE Raw General Manager Adam Pearce also paid tribute on social media, describing SoCal Crazy as a brother. The two shared history in SoCal Pro, where a February 2008 tag match was advertised with a stipulation that a pin on Pearce, then the NWA World Heavyweight Champion, would make SoCal Crazy or his partner Babi Slymm the new titleholder.
An ongoing GoFundMe supports his wife, Khai Karma, who Fightful reports is battling an autoimmune disease.
