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Hardcore Fury: Top 10 Hardcore Pro Wrestlers

Professional wrestling has long been seen as a combination of traditional mat skills with added entertainment. Hardcore wrestling is the exact opposite of this image because of its use of fighting, weapons, and even blood. Hardcore wrestling has been seen in many promotions such as ECW, WCW, and CZW. Many fighters have adapted to this style and have prospered making a career out of these brutal matches.

This article will take a look at the top 10 hardcore wrestlers who have ever walked 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 having 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 no longer seen in the wrestling industry.

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 to put his body at risk, as shown in his Monster’s Ball matches in TNA, where he has been hit against various things, such as 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 were feuding in 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 seriously injuring himself because of it. Best known for his time in ECW, he was involved in some of the most extreme matches that have ever occurred. The worst injury to result 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 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 trademark Singapore cane 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, Sandman was known to repeatedly hit his opponents with his Singapore cane and smash beer cans over 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 him.

Number 6: Sabu

His nickname says it all: “The homicidal, suicidal and 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 his most brutal and bloody matches 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 them both cut severely. Sabu is also known for putting himself and his opponents boarding dives off the ropes. Sabu continues to wrestle in 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 even broke his back. Even when ECW is no more, Tommy Dreamer still isn’t 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 is not in intense matches, he would hit any opponent with this fork he was infamously associated with. Since then, Abdullah has become a semi-retired fighter and has hinted that he will retire soon.

Number 3: The Original Sheikh

The Sheik is considered by many in the industry to be 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 opponents’ foreheads of him, and on occasion used his weapon against him, leaving scars on his forehead. His most notable hardcore and deathmatches occurred at Japan’s FMW, where one match was called a “fire deathmatch” that had burning barbed wire instead of ropes. Sheikh has since passed away due to a heart attack, but the tough style he used lives on through many fighters like his nephew Sabu.

Number 2: Terry Funk

Terry Funk is one of the few wrestlers who made a name for himself as a traditional wrestler who made the switch to hardcore wrestling late in his in-ring career. Funk began wrestling hardcore when he came to ECW, where many of his matches involved the use of ladders, thumbtacks, 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, rarely competes in intense matches.

Number 1: Mick Foley

Mick Foley is known by his ring names Cactus Jack, Dude Love and Mankind and has made a career out of putting his body on the line. His most notable injury is having his ear almost completely ripped off during a match. Foley did not conform to the traditional look of a wrestler during his career in the ring, but his willingness to put his body on the line earned him the respect of his fellow wrestlers and the fans. Whether swinging around his barbed-wire baseball bat or being dropped from the top of Hell in a Cell, Foley has shown what it means to be a die-hard fighter.