diff --git a/tools/perf/perf-completion.sh b/tools/perf/perf-completion.sh
index 01ce841f155bd63961115cfc7794e6c264252596..4b58ac2ae578953db711992cca065d5ed226a267 100644
--- a/tools/perf/perf-completion.sh
+++ b/tools/perf/perf-completion.sh
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ __perf_main ()
 		fi
 		__perfcomp "$cmds" "$cur"
 	# List possible events for -e option
-	elif [[ $prev == "-e" && "${words[1]}" == @(record|stat|top) ]]; then
+	elif [[ $prev == "-e" && $prev_skip_opts == @(record|stat|top) ]]; then
 		evts=$($cmd list --raw-dump)
 		__perfcomp_colon "$evts" "$cur"
 	else