9. Japanese Deathmatch
In the early 1990s, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling added legitimately deadly weapons and stipulations into the emerging “hardcore” wrestling style, giving birth to the “Deathmatch”. Examples of these weapons include barbed wire, thumbtacks, glass, fire, electrified cages, live piranha fish and C4 explosives!
Many wrestlers in the business made their names working these dangerous matches such as Abdullah the Butcher, Madman Pondo, Jun Kasai, Mister Pogo, Yoshihiro Tajiri, and Necro Butcher. Audiences loved the product enough that Big Japan Pro Wrestling once partnered with the American ultraviolent wrestling promotion, Combat Zone Wrestling, to produce a series of deathmatch “dream matches” to satiate their bloodlust.
Even more dangerous is the “King of the Deathmatch” tournament format, where the finalists must endure three full-length deathmatches in a single evening. WWE Hall of Famers Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack) and Terry Funk squared off in the finals of the 1995 IWA King of the Deathmatch tournament in an No Ropes Barbed Wire Explosives Match.
Today, there are a few independent wrestling promotions in the United States of America still booking deathmatch-style shows, such as IWA Mid South Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling.
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