Pro wrestling isn’t always about who is the supreme mat technician. There have been many ring warriors whose primary talent was simply beating the high hell out of their opponent. This is our top ten.
Honorable mentions: CM Punk, Taz, Kane and the Dudley Boyz.
10: Samoa Joe is a remarkable blend of  size, strikes, grappling, submissions and brutish brawling. He has a weapon for every situation. But it seems he’s at his happiest when he can simply unleash his primal rage. Perhaps the only well-known wrestler of Samoan lineage not related to the venerable Anoa’I family, Joe is a multiple-time world champion. He is also vicious. He became well-known in ROH for his particular fondness for kicking his opponent’s head into the guard rail. His matches can easily devolve into merciless bloodbath.
9: Amongst the upper level of talkers stands Raven. His ability to manipulate is legendary. But just as mythical is his penchant for the hardcore. From his birthplace in ECW to his occasional indie appearance, his knowledge of how to punish his opponent’s body is vast and blood-soaked.
8: Sandman wasn’t that great of a wrestler. He really wasn’t. He could cut a decent promo, had a very limited moveset, and wasn’t exactly a peak athlete. What he did have going for him was a Singapore cane, a hard head, and plenty of beer. Nothing more, nothing less. And that’s all he wanted.
7: Abdullah the Butcher is one of the godfathers of hardcore. Having bled in the ring for a smidge over five decades, he has dueled with nearly all the greats. Having an appetite almost as ravenous for punishment as it is for consuming, it is exceedingly difficult to not find one ’s self intimidated by his size and bulk.
6: Abyss is a monster. To say such a thing is a cliché by now, but the point still stands nonetheless. Standing at 6’8’ and 350 pounds, he cuts a wide swath through a crowd. Whether he’s wielding a chain, barbed wire, or his beloved bag of thumbtacks, it is a guarantee that any match involving him becomes a bloodbath.
5: Undertaker. The name itself sends chills down your spine. Although these days he is constantly billed as “one of the best pure strikers in WWE historyâ€, his style and history have been built on his ability to simply fight. He immortalized the Hell in a Cell. He has built a career on causing his opponents pain and making them suffer for even stepping into the ring with him.
4: New Jack is a thug among thugs, and to New Jack that would likely be a high compliment. What he lacks in wrestling moves he makes up for in weapons and intensity. He will simply hurt you. He will make you bleed. And it is highly probable that he will crash down on you from a high point by the end of the match.
3: Terry Funk is right there with Abdullah as one of the godfathers of hardcore. He brawled and bled before it was cool. After he started out his career as a more traditional, mat-based wrestler, he successfully reinvented himself as a hardcore warrior in ECW and Japan. His tenacity and grit is well-documented. He is willing to duke it out in any environment, from simple cages to exploding, barbed-wire death matches.
2: He is the homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac of wrestling. He is Sabu. Known the world over for having little regard for his own body, let alone that of his opponent, he actually started out his training as a technical wrestler. This obviously didn’t pan out for him, as he soon traveled to FMW in Japan, and the rest is history. With an uncanny knack for launching himself at his opponent and always finding a table to put them through, he is a hard core phenomenon.
1:The one and only, Mick Foley, stands at the top of the heap. Whether it’s Cactus Jack, Mankind, or as himself, Foley has consistently lived up to his moniker of the hardcore legend. His ability to take punishment is the stuff of myth. He almost thrives on it. He “flew” from a staggering height of 16 feet in the air and seemed to bat nary an eye. As a lovely contradiction to his wild and unpredictable ring style, he also is a multi-time best-selling author. A cerebral wild man.
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