The 411 Wrestling Top 5 12.09.09: Week 52 - Hardcore Matches

Posted by Michael Bauer on 12.09.2009

From HHH vs. Catcus Jack to Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk to Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk, 411's Wrestling Staffers rank their Top Five Hardcore Matches in the latest edition of the 411 Wrestling Top Five!

Hello everyone and welcome to 411 Wrestling's Top 5 List. What we are going to is take a topic each week and all the writers here on 411 wrestling will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic, plus up to three honorable mentions.

So, on to this week's topic…

THE TOP 5 HARDCORE MATCHES

Hell, we all love the gore. Now let's look back at some of the craziest of the hardcore matches in history.

So what did our group of writers select? Let's find out…



Ryan Byers

5.Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (I Quit Match, 11/15/1989) - The "I Quit" match has become a favorite of WWE in recent years, but, before it floated over to that company, it was a favorite in the National Wrestling Alliance. By and large, the NWA did I Quit Matches far better than WWE has lately, and this Clash of the Champions: New York Knockout bout between Ric Flair and Terry Funk is a perfect example. These two beat the holy hell out of each other for almost twenty minutes, and it was a spectacle the likes of which anybody who has seen it will not soon forget. Let's face it, when a program involves an angle in which one man tries to suffocate his rival with a plastic bag and they go on to have a match that is somehow MORE brutal, something magical in terms of hardcore wrestling has happened.

4.Terry Funk vs. Jerry Lawler (Empty Arena Match, 04/06/1981) - Some people claim that ECW "invented" hardcore wrestling as we know it to day. Others, who are a little bit more in the know, note that ECW took a lot of its best material from Japan. However, what many fail to realize is the fact that the hardcore revolution in Japan actually has its roots in the wild brawls of the old Memphis territory. It was there that a young Atsushi Onita saw the intense battles that would inspire him to become the deathmatch king of Japan. Perhaps one of the most high profile examples of this Memphis insanity is the empty arena match that was held in the early 1980's between Jerry Lawler and Terry Funk. These two could have a wild battle with one another event absent any "hardcore" stipulations, but, if you put them in an arena with no fans in which they can use anything they want as a weapon, you were guaranteed one of the most memorable matches in professional wrestling history. Some will argue that this "match" is more of an extended angle than anything else or that there is only one spot that can truly be called "hardcore" by today's standards, but ignoring context and comparing something from almost thirty years ago to what is common today is hardly fair. When I saw this match for the first time, the closing minutes seemed INSANE in their brutality, to the point that even those who knew that wrestling could wind up questioning that fact.

3.Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk (Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, 08/20/1995) - This match, from IWA Japan's Kawasaki Dream show, isn't the greatest in the world. In fact, if you watch it from bell-to-bell, it gets pretty tedious. However, the bout still deserves a place on a list like this one for its historical influence in the realm of hardcore wrestling. In addition to being the stuff of legend in Japan, it is this match more than any other which was circulated throughout the United States and convinced a subculture of fans that wrestlers whipping each other into barbed wire, bombs, and beds of glass was the wave of the future. It was the bout that inspired many wrestlers to make ECW what ECW was, and it continues to have an influence today in promotions that run so-called "ultraviolent" matches.

2.The Rock vs. Mankind (I Quit Match, 01/24/1999) - Speaking of historical influence, here is the hardcore match that probably has more of it than any other bout in the history of American wrestling. This contest pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable to a national wrestling audience in the United States and normalized hardcore wrestling to the point that it became perfectly fine to watch two men bludgeoning each other with garbage cans and baseball bats during prime time television programs. Aside from that, it contains the most brutal series of chairshots that I have ever seen in professional wrestling, which are made all the more gutwreching when watching Mick Foley's family react to them in the documentary Beyond the Mat.

1.Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum TA (I Quit Steel Cage Match, 11/28/1985) - If you want a masterpiece of brutality, look no further than this match. Magnum wasn't one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time in between the ropes, but, when he hooked things up with Tully Blanchard, the two developed a physical chemistry which allowed them to convince fans that they absolutely despised one another and were attempting to murder each other with even standard professional wrestling holds. As a result, when you threw a cage and weaponry into their ongoing feud, things didn't just go up one notch . . . they went up ten notches. As Blanchard and Magnum proved in this match, hardcore wrestling isn't just about hitting each other with gimmicks or cutting each other up with barbs, it's about taking extraordinary physical risks but doing it in such a way that fans have a legitimate emotional reaction instead of sitting around and chanting "This is awesome!" because they're Pavlovian dogs who have learned their role in the show. That is what is missing from many if not most hardcore matches in the modern era, and that's why you see so few of them on my list today.



Robert S. Leighty Jr

HONORABLE MENTIONS

As a note, I'm not including Cage Matches, Cell Matches, TLC Matches, etc.

Mick Foley/Edge/Lita vs Dreamer/Funk/Beulah (One Night Stand 2006) - Tremendous match that really did capture the spirit of the old ECW with 3 of the 4 men that put it on the map, and another guy doing his best to channel the spirit of Raven.

WWF Title: Mankind (c) vs The Rock (Royal Rumble 99) - Beyond the Mat made this match even more difficult to watch when you realize what it did to Foley's family. Mick is a crazy bastard.

Monster's Ball II: Jeff Hardy vs Abyss vs Rhino vs Sabu (TNA Bound for Glory 2005) - Figured I would give out a shout out to TNA with this crazy ass brawl where Jeff Hardy nearly kills himself for our enjoyment.

5.Intercontinetal Title: Randy Orton (c) vs Mick Foley (Backlash 2004) - Mick Foley has a habit of making someone's career in a blood bath, and that was no different here. Orton was just months away from his first World Title reign, and Foley putting him over in this hardcore classic only helped make Orton look more credible.

4.WWF Title: Shawn Michaels (c) vs Diesel (IYH: Good Friends, Better Enemies) - The best match in Nash's career, IMHO. He went out there just before heading to WCW and tore the house down with his good friend, Shawn Michaels. Knowing these 2 were such great friends made it all the more satisfying to see them beat the piss out of each other all for the sake of the business.

3.WWF Title: HHH (c) vs Cactus Jack (Royal Rumble 2000) - The match that made HHH a star, and showed that Foley still had a lot left in the tank. A hate filled classic in front of a rabid crowd at MSG for the WWF Title. It really doesn't get much better than this.

2.Mick Foley vs Edge (WrestleMania 22) - My match of the year for 2006, and one of the most mind blowing spots in the history of the WWE: Edge spears Foley off the apron and through a flaming table. Both men deserve props for building the drama in this match and building to the crazy ass spots.

1.WCW Tag Titles: The Nasty Boys (c) vs. Cactus Jack/Kevin Sullvan (Slamboree 94) - One of my 5 favorite matches of all time actually, and to this day I still watch it in awe. One of the few times WCW gave the Philly crowd an honest to god hate filled brawl like they were used to seeing from ECW. Just a beautifully chaotic brawl that even left Schiavone and Ventura speechless at time.



Julian Bond

I also decided to not include obvious choices such as TLC, Hell In A Cell, and cage matches cause they are "hardcore" by default. But I did want to include some ECW matches because while they weren't "hardcore matches" or "street fights" as literally defined by the WWE/TNA, etc, some of the best brutal bouts there just HAD to be mentioned here when talking about hardcore.

Kane vs. Raven vs. Big Show (WWE Wrestlemania) - When you see things such as Big Show driving a golf cart, Raven being thrown a glass window, and Kane doing his craziest stunt ever by doing a seemingly 10 - 15 ft legdrop off of the stage, it definitely needs to be mention when the words "hardcore match" is brought up.



Colt Cabana vs. Homicide - Chicago Street Fight (ROH Better Than Our Best) - The feud-ending bout between bitter ROH rivals Colt Cabanna and Homicide had to be mentioned here not just because of its pretty brutal nature (including a crazy-ass "chair riot" with fans throwing tons and tons of chairs into the ring onto Cabana/Homicide), but also because it was a great sick match that told an awesome story in the well put-together rivarly between these two.

Dreamer/Funk vs. Foley/Edge (ECW One Night Stand) - This match involving some sick spots like Foley catching on fire and then falling into barbed wire and sights like old ass Terry Funk looking like he was dying with a bloody eye-patch on his face when coming back to the ring after being taken out, had to be mentioned because it to me was the last really good really bloody hardcore match shown that was truly in the vein of the ECW of old.

5. Catcus Jack vs. HHH (WWE Royal Rumble) - This match is one of my favorite all time and one of the best hardcore matches because it's sick brutal action all made perfect sense in context of a storyline and rivalry. When Mick Foley suddenly dropped his sometimes timid "Mankind" persona to revert back over to his more sinister "Catcus Jack" character in order to bring the pain to main heel HHH at the time, it made the build-up to this match all so great. Perfect angle and almost near-perfect "street fight".

4. Hardcore Holly vs. Al Snow (WWF St. Valentine's Day Massacre) - When I started seeing the dubbed "hardcore" matches in the WWE back in the Attitude Era, I honestly laughed at the idea because it was a blatant rip-off of the good brutal stuff that ECW was doing at the time. But when I saw this match between Al Snow and Hardcore Holly with them ending up on the side of the freaking Mississippi River (...seriously), I knew that the WWE was onto something. This bout here was awesome because it showed that sadly the main thing that the WWE would forever have trumped on the ECW brand was with its production value. ECW could shoot some of a match outside of their arena for a few, but they probably couldn't afford to get great footage of hardcore matches in crazy-ass places like the Mississippi River, the local carnival, or even more recent places like the Gulf of Mexico (hehe...Chavo and Punk).



3. Randy Orton vs. Catcus Jack (WWE Backlash)/Edge vs. Mick Foley (WWE Wrestlemania) = TIE - I may be a huge cheater in not picking out just one of these matches, but I seriously couldn't decide. They are both great and in many ways both very similar so I had to pair them together. Both had excellent hardcore spots including the innovative use of thumbtacks, tables, barbed wire, and fire. Both featured the "coming out" of future main event talents Edge and Orton to have them make their first true major mark as true main contenders in the fans' eyes (yep...even Edge after his brief run with the World title). Both have two of the sickest hardcore moments I've ever seen with Foley getting f'n speared through fire and Foley doing a super-sick looking elbow off the stage onto Orton. And...of course...Foley showing that he still "had it" after retirement.

2. Sabu vs. Sandman (ECW) - This is a sick f*cking match. Simply put...just sick. This "Stairway to Hell" match here between ECW mainstays Sandman and Sabu was one of the first hardcore matches that I ever seen and still watching it today makes me have memories of how wide my eyes were when I saw these two try to murder one another. Barbed wire...ladder...tables...chairs...singapore canes...plenty of blood...and a seemingly lack of regard for their own safety. This match to me was one of the major ones to really define ECW and the art of "hardcore wrestling" as a whole. Sure they wasn't a super crisp storyline behind it nor was the wrestling the greatest, but the things that these two very casually did to injure one another truly showed what hardcore wrestling was all about.

1. The series of matches between the Dudley Boys and Balls Mahoney & Spike Dudley (ECW) - I had one hell of a time thinking about what single solitary match of ALL of the matches I've personally seen in major places like WWE, ROH, WCW, and that little place known for hardcore shennigans called ECW had the BEST hardcore match ever. But in my opinion, the best one or in case ONES that I've seen are the matches in the series of "street fights" between the sick hardcore legends in the Dudley Boyz (aka Team 3D) and the awesome makeshift tag team of Balls Mahoney and Spike Dudley. Despite this and my #2 pick being both ultra-violent all together, what makes this set of matches stand out more is the fact that these two teams almost seemed like they wanted to legitly hurt each other everytime out. Whether it was Brother Devon taking a cheese grater to Mahoney's head in a very bloody fashion or Brother Ray murdering lil' Spike with a brutal chair shot, the teams defined being hardcore by portraying that they truly and seriously hated each other's guts with the disturbing use of weapons on one another. And the number one thing that probably put this more over that all of the rest of the bouts is with the crazy use of fire. Sure some folks before this time set various items on fire to hurt their opponent badly, BUT the Dudleys could be called the first to really use this in a more major, more seen fashion with frequently putting both Mahoney (mostly) and Spike through a fully flamed table (with thumbtacks on top for measure) during their PPV and TV matches in ECW. Definitely the craziest hardcore matches I've ever witnessed.





Aaron Hubbard

HONORABLE MENTIONS

John Cena vs. Umaga, Last Man Standing, Royal Rumble 2007 - No, this isn't just here because of Eddie Fatu's passing; the match has tremendous storytelling, some out right brutal spots (Cena chucking the stairs at Umaga on the floor…and connecting), and an inventive finish that I'm not sure I'll feel comfortable watching for a while.

Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H, Unsanctioned Street Fight, Summer Slam 2002 - A great street fight that exceeded all expectations and showed that Shawn Michaels is one of the toughest men alive.

Mick Foley, Edge & Lita vs. Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer & Beulah, One Night Stand 2006 - A guilty pleasure of mine. More violent, more dramatic, and just simply better than Edge vs. Foley at Mania, in my opinion.

5.Sabu vs. Abyss, Barbwire Massacre, Turning Point 2005 - You don't have to look far to know I love Japanese wrestling, but you might not know that I HATE death matches. So I've never seen any of the over-the-top, gratuitously violent matches in FMW and such, outside of the occasional Megumi Kudo match. So excuse me if I say this is the sickest match I've seen. This is the sickest match I've ever seen. I didn't have to vomit, but I was cringing almost the entire time.



4.Mankind vs. The Rock, I Quit Match, Royal Rumble 1999 - This is a really fun match to watch for most of it. Then The Rock puts Mankind in handcuffs and starts whaling on him with chairshots, and it becomes hard to watch. The match will always stick out in my mind due to the in-depth look at the match that Beyond The Mat gave us. When I watch it now, I can't help but think of Mick's kids watching that. Sometimes I wish I could put them out of my head, because the match is a really good one that tells a unique story (a Mick Foley hallmark).

3.Mick Foley vs. Randy Orton, Backlash 2004 - Being 10 and under for most of Mick Foley's career, I didn't exactly have the disposable income to see some of his most brutal matches. By the time I did have some money to spend on Pay-Per-View matches, Mick Foley had retired (insert joke here). But in 2004, he came back to put over Randy Orton and have on last match that fans could remember (insert another joke here). He certainly succeeded in making it memorable. Coming in at the best shape he'd ever been in since coming to the WWE, Foley had the cardio to wrestle a long match, and the length gave him plenty of time to remind people just who Mick Foley is. This match was wonderfully violent, with thumb tacks, barbwire, the threat of fire, and the debut of the infamous barbwire board on American Television. But the violence served a purpose and told a story, and made Randy Orton's career in the process.

2.Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, I Quit Match, Clash of the Champions IX - The standard. I've given a lot of love to this match in this feature over the last year, but it's really just that good. This was a wild, hate-filled brawl with two of the best storytellers wrestling has ever seen. Trying to describe the way either man wrestles to someone is pretty much impossible unless that someone has seen them wrestle, because both men, especially Funk, just…DO THINGS! If you've seen Funk wrestle, you'll know what a mean. Keep in mind these two had this match where they couldn't use any of the props, any smoke or mirrors. They just beat the crap out of each other and hurled insults at each other. The inspiration for many of the greatest hardcore matches ever, and very few ever touch this one.

1.Triple H vs. Cactus Jack, Royal Rumble 2000 - I'll be the first to admit I'm not a huge fan of the "Hardcore" style. Largely because there's a large section of no-talents out there who hit each other with trash cans, throw each other on tacks, pierce each other with barbwire, pour glowsticks into their eyes, and put "bombs" in their rear ends and think that makes them "Hardcore" or worse, that it actually makes them "Wrestlers". That's not demonizing the hardcore style, just the embarrassing rabble that does it poorly. Mick Foley is certainly not one who does it poorly. One of the greatest minds when it comes to telling in-ring stories, Foley brought psychology and storytelling with him whenever he went into a match, no matter how brutal. And this is brutal. But everything means something as part of the bigger story. This is a rare mix of brutality and storytelling done to near perfection.



Jeremy Thomas

For the record, I only wish I could have included a Hayabusa match in this list but as great as 'busa was, I have had extreme trouble finding specific matches to re-watch so I could write about them here. So my own list feels incomplete for me…c'est la vie.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Abyss vs. Sabu vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Rhino (Monster's Ball 2, 10/23/2005) - TNA's hardcore matches may sometimes be overly gimmicky, but Monster's Ball is always fun and this was easily the best of them. These four guys tore each other apart in a great match.

Randy Orton vs. Mick Foley (Hardcore Rules Match, 4/18/2004) - I really wanted to get this and the match below it into the Top Five, but it just wasn't happening. This match made Orton a star and earned him the respect of the IWC...not an easy thing to accomplish, as we all know.

Edge vs. Mick Foley (No Rules Hardcore Match, 4/2/2006) - This is one of the best hardcore matches in WWE History. Edge and Foley just killed each other out there and the finish spot became instantly infamous for being insane, when taken alongside what's usually shown in the WWE.

5.Mike Awesome vs. Masato Tanaka (6/12/2005) - Undoubtedly the best of the One Night Stand matches, this had the crowd hugely into it. They still hated Awesome as a traitor to ECW for nearly taking the title to WCW, and still loved Tanaka. The two went out there, busted their asses and put on one hell of a match. By the time the match had ended with an Awesome Bomb from the ring through a table to the floor, the crowd had grown to forgive Awesome a little which says a hell of a lot for this match.

4.Mankind vs. The Rock (I Quit Match, 1/24/1999) - This match still makes me cringe, and I have difficulty watching it. Immortalized in Beyond the Mat, it's absolutely unwatchable if you keep in mind that Foley's wife and children are watching in the front row, and that's what keeps it down at the number four spot. Otherwise, this is just a brutal, wonderful battle which features some of the sickest chair shot sequences in wrestling history. Foley takes an unprecedented number of completely unprotected chair shots to the head. And this is AFTER he's been tossed into a pyrotechnics show of the electrical hub. The whole match is just insane and while my enjoyment of it is hampered somewhat, it's still one of the best hardcore matches by far.

3.Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk (I Quit Match, 11/15/1989) - Like Aaron and Ryan, I've called this one out quite a few times, and for a very good reason. In almost every category it can be placed in, it ranks as one of the best. Funk and Flair made such good opponents, and their rivalry was so utterly heated than this match was destined to be a classic—and obviously, it is. As I've said before, this gets some sentimentality points by being the first Flair/Funk match I had ever seen, and it just blew me away. Unfortunately I do not yet have it on DVD but I will some day and it will be one of those matches I will watch again, and again, and again.

2.Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk (No Rope Barbed Wire, Exploding Barbed Wire Boards & Exploding Ring Time Bomb Death Match, 8/20/1995) - This one is iconic. The IWA King of the Death Match tournament was so over the top with their hardcore matches that their matches read like traps out of a Saw movie (Barbed Wire Board and Glass Match, Barbed Wire Board & Spike Nail Match and so on). Amongst all that, something like a "No Rope Barbed Wire, Exploding Barbed Wire Boards & Exploding Ring Time Bomb Death Match" might even seem like a commonplace thing. I think what keeps this out of the top spot is that very issue that the Deathmatch tournament was so bloody and violent that by the time we got to the finish, it had desensitized viewers quite a bit. Still, Foley and Funk went out there and wrestled after enduring two other grueling matches, and Foley took home the trophy with the nastiest crimson mask I think I have ever seen.

1.Terry Funk Vs Sabu (Barbed Wire Match, 8/9/1997) - Funk vs. Sabu at Born to Be Wired was a meeting of two hardcore icons, without question. There's a very good reason that Terry Funk is in the top three matches on my list, and while Sabu may not be represented as much here he is still a legend when it comes to hardcore matches. These guys went out there and, with barbed wire replacing the ropes, just tore each other up. I mean that in a very literal fashion by the way…these two ripped into each other with the wire and by the time they were done both of them were a bloody mess. One of the things that amazes me with this match is how damned long it is. They get into the wire fairly early and never stop; seventeen minutes later, the ring was destroyed, Funk was destroyed, Sabu was ECW champion and a new bar had been set for North American hardcore wrestling. After this match, Paul Heyman stated he never wanted to see another one of its like. If you can get the founder of ECW to say something is too hardcore, that's a winner in my book.