Oh sure, but I meant in terms of Extreme wrestling and also in a more mainstream context. Ring of Honor, which is GREAT, has a hard time making it on TV
Dave u just discovered your site and I must say. How in the hell did I go this long without it. It is pure genius. My favorite wrestling site now. Very informative. Time to binge watch.
Dave! Dude! This was a great video, but you almost entirely overlooked the American hotbed of "hardcore" prior to ECW. You sort of vaguely mentioned the south, but before ECW, Memphis was "extreme"! Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk in an empty arena, Eddie Gilbert running Lawler down in a parking lot, The Moondogs killing EVERYTHING, and I could go on. Between the fairly commonplace fireballs, the concession stand brawls, Billy Joe Travis' guitar, P.Y. Chu-Hi's kendo stick, and more illegal Piledrivers (in the state of Tennessee) than I can count... the CWA/USWA was where American hardcore thrived.
Can't get anything by you. A little insider note, anytime it seems like I glaze over something in a video like this, it's usually because I had a section dedicated to it, but it was taking up too much time and I realized that it should get it's own episode.
Let's not forget the fact that it's that second (or third?) Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl that gave Onita the inspiration for FMW...well, some of the inspiration.
@@tehfawkinman There's been a few versions of that Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl .Onita was involved in the 2nd version where it was him and tag team partner Masa Fuchi against Ricky Morton and Eddie Gilbert where Onita and Fuchi retained their Southern Tag Team Titles by cheating and the 2 teams just went to town on eachother and pretty much destroyed that concession stand .Remember seeing a version where it was Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawler fighting The Moondogs in a similar brawl . Think it was in 1992 when both teams feuded over the USWA Tag Team Titles .
@@tehfawkinman yep. Onita learned hardcore in Memphis, Ecw was largely influenced by Onita in FMW, and most hardcore wrestling post ECW was influenced by ECW.
Which makes it ironic that Jerry Lawler, while an announcer, called ECW "Extremely Crappy Wrestling". Of course, no doubt he was fed that line from McMahon himself!
This is only my opinion, but the best way extreme wrestling is done is by limiting it to one match per card or even per month, therefore there's less risks being taken and the audience treat it as something special. I know this is less is more, but I can't watch old ECW with every match involving weapons. Maybe I'm too young to understand what made those shows so special.
A history of blading is needed. Admittedly i just found ur channel recently and aside from Lamias Behind the Titantron(which is the best wrestling series on youtube" ) your content is the modt consistent and best
I love hardcore wrestling not a lot of people understand the art of it like trying to hit someone over the head with a chair hard enough to make it look real but not hard enough to kill them or give them a serious concussion
Dave Knows Wrestling way before that if you want to talk about death math matches you have to look at Japan wrestlers like onita matsunaga Mr pogo shadow wx in fmw wings iwa and bjpw which is now just bjw but guys like dusty roads also fought in barbed wire matches long before cactus jack won the king of the death match companies like czw iwa ms and xpw brought it another step which is now know as ultra violence. Xpws doors have long been closed but czw and iwa ms are still going strong and as crazy as ever. But for real quality death matches that are entertaining look for the Tokyo pop fmw tapes I hade several on vhs when tape trading was around and they were amazing
Yes, admittedly this topic is so huge, there's no way I could fit all of it into just one video. And yes those are all some extreme promotions and always gotta give props to Dusty. To tell you the truth, I almost cut out the section on the Japanese Deathmatch stuff because I almost wanted to save it for it's own episode instead of trying to cram it into this one. But there was no way I couldn't bring it up
I've always had a soft spot for hardcore wrestling, as it was what got me into wrestling in the first place. While some look down on the concept, seeing weapons used and guys fighting outside of the ring, and even in the crowd, just caught my attention in ways a regular match hadn't. I think it's why the first match I remember watching was Foley vs. Funk on Raw, and it peaked my interest to keep checking in on WWE and WCW, until I discovered ECW, and was hooked.
@@DaveKnowsWrestling I feel like czw is the wrong way, I can't even watch it more than 5 mins it's like masochistic with no art. While ECW is equally as violent but it does it right, it's edgy, it's punk, it's gangsta rap.
I'm surprised that I didn't see a mention of Backyard Wrestling Leagues which came from ECW with many trying to emulate it. It inspired 2 video games dedicated exclusively to it...
Speaking of Bears, "the Polar Bear" comes to my mind - it is the nickname of late UFC fighter (who wrestled against Taz in ECW), Paul Varelans : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Varelans
Nice video on hardcore wrestling which i am most definately a fan of and have a vast video collection of from ECW,FMW,W*ING,IWA Japan ,Big Japan ,CZW,XPW plus some of the old school territories that did that no holds barred anything goes style . Have the Kawasaki Dream /King Of The Death Matches both on vhs and dvd . That tournament catapulted Mick Foley aka Cactus Jack into hardcore legend status and solidified Terry Funk's legend even more . Have many of Atsushi Onita's matches . He's 1 crazy SOB especially at his age now still doing that style . Have that Pirahna Death Match on video as well . Some of the stipulations that these guys were willing to do was downright insane . The sickest 1 imo has to be the Fire Scramble Death Match from W*ING Odawara Brazing Night between Gedo/Jado Vs Yukihiro Kanemra/ Shoji Nakamaki with Kanemura getting powerbombed onto fire and having 90% of his back scorched . ECW was good for what it brought to wrestling as it was fesh and in your face . Remember reading a quote by Paul Heyman saying that wrestling was a type of sport that belonged in a mosh pit with really loud music blaring as the hardcore grapplers blasted away at eachother (That quote comes from their ECW Exteme Music cd . Own it . ) Couldn't agree more with that . When ECW ended you had a slew of companies trying to fill that void (CZW,XPW,3PW,IWA Mid South etc. ) but nobody ever came close to the vibe that ECW and its fans had . Have many of their vhs tapes including Best Of's in my collection as the Japanese Death Matches as well Just getting into watching old school Memphis Wrestling which was pretty hardcore and old school match matches of The Shiek . It's like the old cliche in wrestling where Red Means Green . Hell even ROH does hardcore matches as well and have seen many of them . Hardcore Wrestling will always be a part of it for better or worse . Personally i like it .
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I do agree that it will probably always be a part of wrestling to some capacity. And if done right, it can be enjoyable
Onita said himself that he picked up the Hardcore style from his time in Memphis, to which he hated. That's why he went back to Japan. Also, Tarzan Goto had a run in Memphis as well teaming with Akio Sato.
Dave, if you were a real old skool wrestling fan since 1983, who hates the modern product and wishes it was still 1985 pro wrestling. What wrestling forum would you JOIN?
Does Dave knows the history of the NWA Women's Championship? I know Moolah dominated mostly but there were other women that held the title and nobody has done as of yet and accurate account of who held the title yeat.
OK, I'm throwing in my two cents. I feel that the origins of "hardcore" wrestling started with some of the most beloved wrestlers in the industry's history. And your going to think I'm nuts, but thats ok. Thinking about this long and hard, I feel that the roots of extreme wrestling began in Texas with World Class wrestling. Freebirds vs Von Erichs, that feud alone could be considered extreme. Strap matches, gallons of spilled blood, chairs, chains, cowboy boots... they brought it all. The Great Kabuki had nunchucks he used on opponets, Gen. Skandar Akbar's army with the gang mentality, Gino Hernandez blinding Chris Adams with some sort of chemical, the original cage door to the face from Michael Hayes to Kerry, and who can forget the Kings of Extreme.... Abdulla The Butcher vs Bruiser Brody!! No limits in their matches, anything goes. It was wild and bloody, but I think the extreme roots can be easily traced back to World Class. Everyone else just followed suit. World Class was ultra violent with great wrestlers and very talented technicians. Oh, and WCCW had one more extreme that was trended that could be considered extreme.... Cat fights!! Sunshine vs Precious, anyone????
Yes, they were, I guess in my rant, I meant to convey that that style was brought to a national scene by World Class. It was more prominant there as opposed to the candy WWF back then had and NWA focused more on in ring technicians with long storylines. AWA was becoming a wasteland and UWF was mergeing slowly with NWA. Florida was violent as hell, too, as was the Memphis area, but unfortunatly was regulated to the local markets unless you were tape trading. I used to do that, and saw so much that the casual fan missed out on.
I miss hardcore wrestling. I wish it was still common and they still did it. Like I think Mick Foley and Abdullah The Butcher were the first hardcore wrestlers I ever seen. ECW was the first hardcore promotion I seen. At first I hated them I ended up liking it. And when WWE ushered in the Attitude Era that was best thing era cause u seen more hardcore matches and anything and everything happened. Now u don’t see it much and if u do it’s mostly toned down. Another Hardcore Wrestler there was I liked was New Jack. Yo I just got watching a documentary about him and that muthafucka was crazy. Like he is wrestling’s most dangerous wrestler. Shit I think he’s banned in most companies. Hell Vince never hired him cause he’s too controversial for WWE. Like Vince knows the kinda reputation he has. NJ was one man no one messed wit. If u got something or didn’t live up to your word it was over that wrestler cause was gonna he hurt em. He lived up to his Gangsta gimmick lol
Technically speaking, no holds barred just means no holds are illegal. But today's wrestling doesn't make a point of barring any holds, at least not ones that they're willing to advertise. Unsanctioned is the term that they use for Lights Out matches and that means no rules at all
I think ECW hardcore wrestling is a bigger "work." ECW was more inspired by Memphis style of wrestling with music videos and adult language over WWF&WCW kid friendly approach. Outside of Cactus Jack, Sabu, Balls Mahoney, Axle Rotten, Dudley Boyz, Terry Funk, and New Jack most of their focus was on wrestling. Matches might all over the arena but they end on the center ring 1,2,3. I say it's a "work"because the fans came for hardcore wrestling but end up watching Malenko vs Eddie Guarero, 2 cold Scorpio vs Mike Awesome, Rey Mysterio vs Psychosis. No hardcore just wrestling. Why? Because no budget wrestling needs to get the people in the door. WWE isn't really a wrestling show, it's entertainment around wrestling. At WWE you will see fireworks, big screen tv, destroyed cars and backstage run ins/sketches. So hardcore isn't really hardcore. I can't say much for czw or roh. I bet you can see a straight match at CZW and you will see someone use a outside interference at a ROH. It's all about pro wrestling and getting people to buy a ticket.
Those animal matches... the guts you'd need to face off in one, but also, the cruelty of involving the animals in them in the first place. I mean I didn't even like it when Boogeyman ate worms. I just hate seeing anything done to harm animals. That stuff is not okay.
I mean I dunno I guess it depends what they're planning to do. Like if they cuddle a pet dog at the top of the entrance ramp and that's all they're doing, that's very different from I dunno, a bed of scorpions match or something.
