30 roughest brawlers in professional wrestling history
#10 Harley Race
A seven-time holder of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship between 1973 and 1983, Harley Race earned his accolades in the countless wars he waged against such greats as Dory Funk Jr., Giant Baba, Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair. Through it all, he forged a reputation as one of the toughest men ever to step through the ropes.
Representing the sport’s oldest World Title with pride and defending it with his raw-boned and rugged mat style, Race was so tough and celebrated that he is one of the few NWA Champions who would engage in title unification matchups against WWE Champions like “Superstar” Billy Graham and Bob Backlund.
The fierce competitor eventually brawled his way into WWE during the company’s national expansion and became “The King” Harley Race. This is fitting since, throughout his career, he proved himself one of the true regal grapplers of destruction.
#9 Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar said it himself, and he said it best: He’s an “ass-kicker,” plain and simple.
As evidenced by his fighting style in his WWE return at WWE Extreme Rules against John Cena, Lesnar’s methods inside the ring are nothing short of brutal. Arguably the most-talked about battle of 2012, Lesnar’s vicious assault on the Cenation leader may not have ended in victory for the former UFC Champion, but it cemented his place among the greatest brawlers of all time. With a blunt, hold-nothing-back approach to his offense, Lesnar is one of the biggest threats to ever enter a WWE ring.
And if his wars against Cena, Triple H and CM Punk were any indication of how the brawler plans to assault foes moving forward, the term “here comes the pain” has a whole new meaning.
#8 Stan Hansen
Dubbed “The Bad Man from Borger, Texas,” Stan Hansen was the walking, talking, tobacco-chewing epitome of a no-nonsense cowboy. Though far from Herculean in appearance – The Last Outlaw’s belly unabashedly spilled over his simple black trunks – Hansen was a blustery force inside the ring.
His bullwhip-cracking entrance was terrifying enough; never mind Hansen’s trademark Lariat clothesline, which was thrown with bullet velocity and, as Hansen got on in years, often half blindly.
In 1976, he broke the neck of WWE Champion Bruno Sammartino, and in 1990, he knocked Vader’s eye out of its socket. A bounty-hunting mercenary at various points in his career, Hansen wreaked havoc around the world for nearly 30 years before hanging up the bullwhip in 2000.
#7 Abdullah The Butcher
“The Madman from the Sudan” has been jabbing his fork at opponents and fans across the globe for more than half a century, and in all this time, the 400-pounder’s distinctive look has barely changed — his baggy pants hiked high above his bulging belly, his eyes mad and wandering, his forehead carved so deeply with scars that he can firmly insert quarters into the wounds like a coin slot.
The WWE Hall of Famer never stayed put in one spot for long, inflicting his damage and moving on to the next wrestling company. His most significant exposure came in WCW where Abby terrorized Sting and was fried in an electric chair during the infamous Chamber of Horrors Match at Halloween Havoc 1991.
The terror brawled with a list of victims that reads like a Hall of Fame itself. They all can attest to the same fact — a champion wasn’t a champion until he came face to face with Abdullah the Butcher.
#6 The Undertaker
After more than 20 years of unparalleled intimidation and domination, Undertaker proved at WrestleMania XXIX that he is still as dangerous and as brutal as he’s ever been.
On The Grandest Stage of Them All, The Phenom laid his body and mind on the line in an epic brawl against CM Punk. It was one of the most grueling matches in recent memory. Not only did Taker push The Streak to an ungodly 21-0 and further etch his already hallowed name into the history books, but he also reminded the WWE Universe that any time The Deadman steps inside the squared circle, it’s going to be a knockdown, drag-out fight to remember.
In such a brawl, Undertaker poses as great a threat as any Superstar in WWE history. His diverse move set — with the bruising Tombstone piledriver and the jiu jitsu-inspired Hell’s Gate submission — spells doom for any who dare oppose him. As long as The Deadman lurks on the periphery of WWE, no one is safe from the gloved grip of sports-entertainment’s grim reaper of justice.
#5 Bruiser Brody
Bruiser Brody was the prototypical brawler. A massive, ill-mannered brute with the beard of a mountain man and the unpleasant disposition of a DMV employee, the 6-foot-8 masher from Santa Fe, N.M., pioneered what would become hardcore wresting through his brutal wars with Kamala the Ugandan Giant, The Funks and, most famously, Abdullah the Butcher. Revered for his freewheeling melees from Texas to Japan, Brody intimidated opponents and promoters alike with his blunt attitude and disarming intellect.
A former journalist with a college education, the big man understood that every spurt of red plasma mattered — a quality too often lacking in the most careless of brawlers. In the years after Brody’s untimely death in summer 1988, many would adopt his “intelligent monster” persona. None would do it better.
#4 Terry Funk
When considering Terry Funk on a list of the greatest brawlers of all time, we’re not referring to the clean-shaven, clean cut, wool tights wearing youngster who won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship from fellow WWE Hall of Famer Jack Brisco in 1975.
No. We’re talking about the self-proclaimed “middle-aged and crazy” Terry Funk who returned from starring in Sylvester Stallone movies to piledrive Ric Flair through a table. We’re talking about the Terry Funk who replaced the short arm scissors and spinning toehold with a flaming branding iron and barbed wire as his weapons of choice. Last but not least, we’re talking about the brawling badass who amped up his extreme etiquette in WWE as Chainsaw Charlie while wielding, you guessed it, a chainsaw. OH MY GOD, a chainsaw! Enough said.
#3 The Road Warriors
The Road Warriors are the most dominant tag team in sports-entertainment’s history, period. Bodybuilder thick with their heads shaved into wild Mohawks like some post-apocalyptic monsters, Hawk & Animal’s intimidating appearance immediately brought them attention, but it was the carnage they caused in the ring that truly gave them a following.
For two decades, it was a massacre every time the duo suited up in their motorcycle boots and spiked leather collars. They smashed Baron Von Raschke &The Crusher in Minnesota, stomped through The Midnight Express in Georgia and battered Harley Race & Stan Hansen in Florida. Wherever they went — from the Deep South to Japan — they broke bones and won titles.
Finally arriving in WWE in 1990 as The Legion of Doom, the tough guys immediately disposed of Demolition before defeating The Nasty Boys to become the World Tag Team Champions at SummerSlam 1991. With this victory, The Legion of Doom became the only duo in the history of sports-entertainment to hold the tag team titles in AWA, NWA and WWE. Oh, what a rush!
#2 Cactus Jack
Why was Cactus Jack so dangerous? Because he never got in a fight that he cared if he could win. This deranged Superstar — one of the “three faces” of WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley — didn’t concern himself with victory so much as punishment. He went into each match with the singular mindset of leaving his opponent a quivering mess by the time the final bell rang.
Relive the famous Falls Count Anywhere Match between Cactus Jack and Triple H
True, Cactus didn’t always win the fights, but it’s hard to argue against a Superstar who literally fell onto an explosive device and came back for more. Cactus traveled all around the world, from stints in WCW and ECW to tours of Japan, leaving a trail of pain and suffering in his wake before his grand swan song in WWE — a Hell in a Cell Match against Triple H with his career on the line. That it took a stipulation to finally get him to stop fighting says more than any YouTube clip ever could.
#1 “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
What would “Stone Cold” Steve Austin do? For the most part, the answer involved an awful lot of fighting. This beer-swilling son of Texas loved to throw down against anyone on two feet, from the iconic Rock to “The Baddest Man on the Planet” himself, Mike Tyson.
Austin’s fighting style was pretty basic at its core — locate target, punch repeatedly — but what made The Texas Rattlesnake special was the world-beating attitude with which he carried himself. There was never an ounce of humility in him, and Austin, more so than anyone else on this list, was never in doubt that he was going to win a fight. Oh, and the guy he liked to beat up on the most? His boss. Mr. McMahon felt “Stone Cold’s” wrath more so than any Superstar before or since. Austin ultimately never fought for us, but he always fought like we wished we could, against the people we wanted to fight the most.
So raise your Steveweisers, WWE Universe, and run for cover before “Stone Cold” sees you’ve got your guard down.
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