Professional wrestling has long been viewed as a combination of traditional mat skills with added entertainment. Hardcore wrestling is the exact opposite of this image because of the use of fights, weapons, and even blood. Hardcore wrestling has been seen in many promotions such as ECW, WCW, and CZW. Many wrestlers have adapted to this style and have made a career out of these brutal matches.
This article will take a look at the top 10 hardcore wrestlers who have ever stepped into the ring and taken photos of everything from a chair to literally the kitchen sink.
Number 10: Atsushi Onita
Japanese wrestler Atsushi Onita is credited with bringing the hardcore wrestling style to Japan. Once he held the world record for the most points, Onita is not one to be shy about engaging in a brutal fight. As the founder of the now-defunct Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Onita bears the scars of his many matches in the company. Most of these matches employed the use of barbed wire instead of ring ropes, something not seen in the wrestling industry anymore.
Number 9: Raven
Raven is one of the most mysterious characters to ever step into the ring. Raven has seen many intense matches during his time in various companies such as TNA and ECW. Raven has shown that he is not afraid of putting his body at risk, as shown in his Monster’s Ball matches in TNA, where he has been hit against various things, including thumbtacks and broken glass. Also, Raven is one of the few hardcore wrestlers to get hit with everything, including the kitchen sink, as Tommy Dreamer did this while the two feuded on ECW.
Number 8: New Jack
New Jack showed during his career what it meant to be a hardcore fighter. He was known for never shying away from taking a hit and sometimes getting badly hurt because of it. Best known for his time in ECW, he was involved in some of the most extreme matches to ever occur. The worst injury resulting from these matches was when he fell off the scaffolding during a match and instead of crashing into the tables that were set up, he hit his head on the concert floor, blinding him in his right eye and causing brain damage. . . Now retired from the ring, New Jack is now a manager in the independent wrestling scene.
Number 7: The Sandman
The Sandman with his signature cane from Singapore is one of the wrestlers who embraced the hardcore style and as a result became a five-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion during his ECW tenure. During his ECW matches, the Sandman was known for repeatedly hitting his opponents with his Singapore cane and smashing beer cans on his head. The Sandman feuded with many of ECW’s biggest names such as Tommy Dreamer, Cactus Jack, and Raven, with many of these matches involving barbed wire, chairs, ladders, and tables as weapons. The Sandman still makes occasional appearances on the indie scene today and still swings the baton at it.
Number 6: Sabu
His nickname says it all: “The murderous, suicidal, genocidal man who defies death.” Sabu has made a career of putting his body on the line in intense combat. Sabu is the nephew of The Original Sheik, who is seen as one of the wrestlers who created the hardcore style of wrestling. One of the most brutal and bloody matches of his was with Terry Funk at ECW’s Born to Be Wired event in which the two competed in a barbed wire rope match. This match would see both of them severely cut. Sabu is also known for putting himself and his opponents on board dives from the ropes. Sabu continues to struggle on the independent scene for various promotions that still use his hardcore style.
Number 5: Dreamy Tommy
Known by his nickname “The Innovator of Violence”, Tommy Dreamer has shown what the hardcore style of wrestling is all about. His most notable matches occurred during his time in ECW. Tommy Dreamer has had some brutal matches with Raven and The Sandman, and throughout his career, he’s even broken his back. Even when ECW is no more, Tommy Dreamer is still not afraid to show what made him “The Heart and Soul of ECW” in the ring.
Number 4: Abdullah the Butcher
Abdullah the Butcher with his trusted fork was always ready to engage in a bloody fight. Abdullah has the scars to show how bloody the battles were, as his forehead is full of marks where he cut himself to cause bleeding. Abdullah is known to be one of the rule breakers when he’s not in intense matches, he would pummel any opponent with this fork with which he was infamously associated. Since then, Abdullah has become a semi-retired wrestler and has hinted that he will retire soon.
Number 3: The Original Sheikh
The Sheik is considered by many in the industry as one of the originators of the hardcore fighting style. Like Abdullah the Butcher, The Sheik had a signature illegal weapon that he would use, which was a pencil. He would use this to scrape the foreheads of his opponents, and on occasion used his weapon against him, which left scars on his forehead. The most notable hardcore and deathmatches of him occurred on Japan’s FMW, where a match was dubbed a “fire deathmatch” that had flaming barbed wire instead of ropes. The sheikh has since passed away due to a heart attack, but the hardcore style he used lives on through many fighters like his nephew Sabu.
Number 2: Terry Funk
Terry Funk is one of the few wrestlers to make a name for himself as a traditional wrestler who made the switch to hardcore wrestling late in his in-ring career. Funk began wrestling in a hardcore style when he came to ECW, where many of his matches involved the use of ladders, thumb tacks, and barbed wire. Funk would have some brutal death matches for various Japanese promotions during his time in ECW. Since then, Funk has become a semi-retired wrestler, and due to his age, he rarely competes in intense matches.
Number 1: Mick Foley
Mick Foley is known by his ring names Cactus Jack, Dude Love, and Mankind has made a career out of putting his body on the line. His most notable injury is having his ear almost completely torn off during a match. Foley did not conform to the traditional look of a wrestler during his in-ring career, but his willingness to put his body on the line earned him the respect of his fellow wrestlers and fans. Whether it’s swinging around his barbed-wire baseball bat or being thrown from the top of Hell in a Cell, Foley has shown what it means to be a die-hard fighter.