The word “extreme” may have firmly secured its place in the squared circle vernacular by the mid-1990s, when Extreme Championship Wrestling was on the rise and early elements of The Attitude Era were beginning to creep into WWE broadcasts. But make no mistake: The days of dressed-down slugfests and perilous, quasi-sanctioned stipulation matches by no means began in the ’90s.
Instead, it took decades for the roots of hardcore wrestling to take hold all over the world. To get a proper sense of the genre’s gloriously gory past, you must journey to places like a pre-Hulkamania Madison Square Garden, a bingo hall in Philadelphia or an unassuming concession stand in Tupelo, Miss. Some of the ring’s most brutal incidents happened under mainstream lights, while others broke new ground on the fringe. What ties these extreme milestones together is their undisputed influence on the mat game.
The word “extreme” may have firmly secured its place in the squared circle vernacular by the mid-1990s, when Extreme Championship Wrestling was on the rise and early elements of The Attitude Era were beginning to creep into WWE broadcasts. But make no mistake: The days of dressed-down slugfests and perilous, quasi-sanctioned stipulation matches by no means began in the ’90s.
Instead, it took decades for the roots of hardcore wrestling to take hold all over the world. To get a proper sense of the genre’s gloriously gory past, you must journey to places like a pre-Hulkamania Madison Square Garden, a bingo hall in Philadelphia or an unassuming concession stand in Tupelo, Miss. Some of the ring’s most brutal incidents happened under mainstream lights, while others broke new ground on the fringe. What ties these extreme milestones together is their undisputed influence on the mat game.
Which of these extreme milestones had the greatest influence?
June 25, 1937 — ‘Steel Cage’ Match debuts
Jack Bloomfield defeats Count Petro Rossi in Atlanta in the first reported Steel Cage Match. Incidentally, the ring is surrounded by chicken wire.
April 1960 — Florida gold goes brass
Eddie Graham wins the Brass Knuckles Championship, a unique title newly commissioned by NWA’s Florida territory. The prize is defended in wild brawls, often with combatants’ fists taped. Other territories around the country follow suit and add their own Brass Knuckles titles.
Dec. 15, 1977 — Tag tourney turns gory
Brothers Dory Jr. and Terry Funk reign supreme against The Sheik & Abdullah the Butcher in the final of All-Japan Pro Wrestling’s inaugural “Real World” tag team tournament. The battle of Hall of Famers, which sees Terry’s arm get slashed open, makes waves for its unprecedented level of danger.
Aug. 28, 1978 — MSG hosts the ‘rodeo’
Thanks to the petitioning of WWE founder Vince J. McMahon, the New York State Commission approves a No-Disqualification Bull Rope Match to take place in Madison Square Garden. Dusty Rhodes gets the victory against “Superstar” Billy Graham via count-out.
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June 17, 1979 — A mess in Mississippi
Following a tag team match in Tupelo, Miss., Jerry “The King” Lawler & Bill Dundee slug it out with Larry Latham & Wayne Ferris in a sprawling fight that takes over the Tupelo Sports Arena concession stand. A glass jar of mustard finds its way into the mix affectionately dubbed the “Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl.”
October 17, 1983 — ‘Superfly’ soars
Jimmy Snuka performs the “Superfly” Splash from the top of a steel cage onto Intercontinental Champion Don Muraco. An impressionable Mick Foley is in the Madison Square Garden audience that day and witnesses the indelible sight in-person.
Nov. 24, 1983 — Primal rage at Starrcade
The third installment of NWA Starrcade is home to a grisly scene as Roddy Piper and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine quash their grudge in a Dog Collar Match. Wearing collars that are attached by a chain, Piper and Valentine duke it out for 16 minutes before The Rowdy One earns the pinfall.
June 25, 1984 — ‘He broke the table!’
With father Angelo and brother Lanny Poffo looking on, Randy Savage piledrives Ricky Morton through a table in Memphis, Tenn.'s Mid-South Coliseum. The incident occurs after the brothers are disqualified in a match against Morton and Robert Gibson.
July 4, 1987 — WarGames: The Match Beyond
A 10-year tradition is born when WarGames, a five-on-five match held in two rings enclosed by a roofed steel cage, premieres at the NWA’s Great American Bash. The team of Dusty Rhodes, The Road Warriors, Nikita Koloff, & Paul Ellering overcomes The Four Horsemen (including J.J. Dillon).
Oct. 6, 1989 — A new frontier
The hardcore wrestling movement gains traction in Japan with the opening of Atsushi Onita’s Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling, an organization based around no disqualification brawls. Onita honed his taste for the extreme action while brawling years earlier in a concession stand in Tupelo, Miss., in homage to the famous 1979 tag bout.
Aug. 3, 1991 — A hardcore trilogy
On a single night in Philadelphia, Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert compete in a Falls Count Anywhere Match, a Stretcher Match and a Steel Cage Match. The evening brings to a close a monthslong rivalry that also featured a Barbed Wire Match.
Oct. 24, 1993 — Cactus Jack vies for WCW Title
Cactus Jack goes for Vader’s WCW Championship in a Texas Death Matc at Halloween Havoc. The match is immediately hailed as one of the ring’s most physically intense bouts ever. “I was wrestling that match like it was my last ever,” Mick Foley said years later.
Aug. 27, 1994 — The ‘E’ stands for Extreme
A tournament to crown a new NWA World Champion — hosted by the NWA’s Philadelphia-based affiliate, Eastern Championship Wrestling — ends in controversy as its winner, ECW’s Shane Douglas, throws down the title, denounces the alliance and declares a new era of ECW. Soon after, ECW Commissioner Tod Gordon severs ties with the NWA and renames the organization Extreme Championship Wrestling.
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March 19, 1995 — WCW UnCensored
WCW holds the first UnCensored event. Billed as “unsanctioned” and “unauthorized,” the card features mostly stipulation matches, opening with a fight between Dustin Rhodes and Bunkhouse Buck on the back of a moving 18-wheeler.
Aug. 20, 1995 — Cactus’ coronation
Cactus Jack earns the dubious distinction of “King of the Death Match” after winning an eight-man tournament held in Japan at the Kawasaki Baseball Stadium. In the tournament final, Jack prevails over Terry Funk in a “no-ropes barbed wire explosive time bomb death match.”
Nov. 19, 1995 — WWE Championship brawl
Technical wrestling wiz Bret “Hit Man” Hart earns his third WWE Title by unseating Diesel in a No Disqualification Match at Survivor Series. During the contest, Diesel slingshots Hart off the ring apron and through a ringside commentary desk, the first instance of its kind ever witnessed on a WWE pay-per-view.
April 1, 1996 — Mankind attacks The Undertaker
On the same night as his WWE in-ring debut, Mankind ambushes The Undertaker from behind. Within the calendar year, Mankind and The Phenom would fight on three pay-per-views, including in WWE’s first Boiler Room Brawl, a contest that begins in the bowels of a WWE arena.
April 13, 1997 — ECW enters pay-per-view
Shortly after invading WWE, ECW finds another extreme foothold on the national scene by broadcasting its first pay-per-view, Barely Legal, from Philadelphia’s ECW Arena. In the card’s most widely anticipated match, Tazz defeats former tag team partner Sabu. At age 52, Terry Funk wins the ECW Title from Raven in the main event.
Aug. 21, 1997 — ‘Raven’s rules’
Two months after first appearing in WCW audiences, Raven finally competes in the ring, taking on Stevie Richards in a No-Disqualification Match. Raven later insists that all of his matches be fought under these so-called “Raven’s rules,” causing drop toeholds onto steel chairs to become a regular part of WCW programming going forward.
March 1, 1998 — Bigelow, Tazz break the ring
With ECW TV Champion Tazz applying the Tazzmission hold from behind, Bam Bam Bigelow falls backward, driving both Tazz and himself through the canvas in Asbury Park, N.J. The Beast from the East wins the championship after dragging Tazz’s limp body from beneath the ring.
June 28, 1998 — ‘Will somebody stop the damn match?!’
The Undertaker unleashes hell against Mankind inside Hell in a Cell at King of the Ring. First, The Phenom throws his masked rival off the top of the cell and through a table. Then, after Mankind refuses to be stretchered out, The Undertaker chokeslams him through the cage ceiling, prompting commentator Jim Ross to implore officials to end the bout.
Nov. 2, 1998 — WWE Hardcore Championship
WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon bestows the Hardcore Championship, a dilapidated and duct-taped piece of hardware, upon Mankind. An eventual Attitude Era fixture, the championship is defended in Falls Count Anywhere Matches.
July 11, 1999 — A trashy trophy
Finlay wins a Junkyard Invitational, outlasting more than a dozen other competitors in a chaotic brawl held in a sprawling junkyard. For his trouble, The Belfast Bruiser earns the WCW Hardcore Trophy.
Nov. 21, 1999 — WCW Hardcore Championship
WCW formally introduces its Hardcore Championship, won by Norman Smiley in a tournament final against Brian Knobbs. Smiley goes on to wear protective football and hockey pads in many of his subsequent title defenses.
March 2, 2000 — Crash opens up 24/7
One week after winning the WWE Hardcore Championship, perennial underdog Crash Holly — aka, The Houdini of Hardcore — declares he’ll defend the title anywhere, anytime, so long as a WWE official is present. The “24/7 rule” remains in effect for more than two years.
Aug. 27, 2000 — Tables, Ladders & Chairs
The bar is irreversibly raised with the premiere of the Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match at SummerSlam. In a breathtaking display of fearlessness, Edge & Christian retain the WWE Tag Team Championship over The Hardy Boyz and The Dudley Boyz.
Feb. 25, 2001 — Three Stages of Hell
Triple H and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin go to war in a contest billed as “ Three Stages of Hell.” The first bout is a standard singles match, but the last two falls are decided in a Street Fight and a Steel Cage Match. The Game emerges victorious.
Aug. 25, 2002 — An unsanctioned comeback
After a four-year-plus sabbatical from the ring, Shawn Michaels returns to defeat Triple H in an Unsanctioned Street Fight. A chair, a ladder and HBK’s leather belt are all used during the contest.
April 18, 2004 — Randy Orton’s hardcore defense
“Legend Killer” Randy Orton successfully defends the Intercontinental Championship against Cactus Jack in a Hardcore Match at WWE Backlash. WWE’s Apex Predator suffers a harrowing fall onto thumbtacks before coming back to RKO Cactus onto a barbed-wire baseball bat for the win.
June 12, 2005 — ECW reunites for a night
Four years after the folding of ECW, WWE hosts a reunion for ECW Originals called One Night Stand. Legendary rivalries from The Land of the Extreme, such as Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis and Masato Tanaka vs. Mike Awesome, play out at the WWE-produced event.
June 11, 2006 — RVD wins the WWE Title
Before an infamously raucous crowd in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom, Rob Van Dam upends John Cena to win the WWE Championship at a reprisal of One Night Stand. Five days later, ECW officially relaunches as a sports-entertainment brand under the WWE umbrella.
June 7, 2009 — WWE’s new hardcore holiday
WWE creates a new pay-per-view event titled Extreme Rules. The hardcore-themed event is replete with stipulation matches, including a No Holds Barred Match, a Samoan Strap Match and a World Heavyweight Championship Ladder Match between Edge and Jeff Hardy.
June 7, 2010 — A brutal beatdown
Wade Barrett leads the newly formed Nexus, a collection of eight rookies from WWE NXT, in an attack on John Cena. The Nexus members assail Jerry Lawler and ringside personnel, as well as destroy the squared circle, during the melee.
April 29, 2012 — Lesnar’s extreme return
Brock Lesnar loses to John Cena in The Anomaly’s return to WWE action. WWE officials nearly call the Extreme Rules Match prematurely when a Lesnar elbow lacerates Cena’s head in the opening minute.