(Inspired by Professional Wrestling mainly, but also in other genres.)

In any long-running series, a tragic death usually has an amazingly consistent pattern for several, if not all, characters.

In comic books, the pattern is usually something like this:

• The Big Failure: Central City was destroyed, the mass murderer escaped, or the defeat of the enemy resulted in civilian and/or hero deaths.
• Angst, depression, uncontrollable emotion, and/or thoughts of retirement.
• A powerful new villain emerges (Paradox), or society becomes hostile to the hero (Marvel's Civil War).
• A final battle where the hero is killed in defeat (Hal Jordan) or makes the heroic sacrifice. (Barry Allen Flash)

In Professional Wrestling, the pattern usually goes like this:

• Drug and/or alcohol abuse, either obvious (steroids) or carefully hidden (cocaine.)
• Domestic issues (divorce, restraining orders, arrest for spousal abuse.)
• Professional issues, like getting fired, sustaining a major injury, or addiction.
• Suicide or death.

In horror stories where the vampire is the killer:

• The hero wonders at all the deaths, or the vampire personally kills one of the hero's friends or family.
• Hero discovers the cause, may take some time to believe it.
• Hero discovers the location of the vampire.
• Hero invades the vampire's lair to kill it.

Needs A Better Title

Example:

• Kerry Von Erich, of the Adkisson family, got into a motorcycle accident caused by drug and alcohol abuse, and had his foot amputated. When he signed with the WWF, he was wrestling with a prosthetic. The pain involved caused him to become addicted to painkillers, causing a suicidal depression when included with his regular drug use. He shot himself in the chest at the age of 33, when facing an indictment on drug charges.
• Davey Boy Smith, one half of the British Bulldogs, used steroids to build his physique. When landing awkwardly on a trapdoor in the ring, he nearly became a paraplegic from a spine injury. He started taking painkillers, and the cocktail of those with steroids may have contributed to his fatal heart attack. He was 39.
• Dynamite Kid, the other half of the British Bulldogs, abused steroids as well, and also became addicted to painkillers after a back injury. He retired in 1996 (age 38) after being diagnosed with a complication from his back injury that was increased by drug abuse, and he is currently confined to a wheelchair and unable to walk.
• Chris Benoit.
• Curt Henning, aka Mr. Perfect, died of a cocaine overdose along with complications from steroid abuse at the age of 44.
• Michael James Hegstrand, aka Road Warrior Hawk, a long-time addict to drugs and alcohol, died of a heart attack at 44.