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Hardcore wrestling

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Hardcore wrestling (also called garbage wrestling) is a form of professional wrestling that eschews traditional concepts of match rules in favor of matches that take place in unusual environments, using foreign objects that are not normally permitted. Although hardcore wrestling is a staple among wrestling promotions, where they are used at the climaxes of feuds, some promotions (such as Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling) specialized in hardcore wrestling, with many matches performed in this matter.

Garbage wrestling became acknowledged as a major wrestling style first in Japan with promotions such as FMW and W*ING. It then became successful as hardcore wrestling in America with Extreme Championship Wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation capitalizing on the success and introduced the WWF Hardcore Championship. The WWF was not really committed to hardcore wrestling however and soon began to turn the matches into over the top comedy skits with third-rate wrestlers. Hardcore is in sound contrast to traditional mat-based wrestling, where solid technical skills are preferred over stuntwork and blood.

The term garbage wrestling is attributed to Japanese wrestler Giant Baba who used it to describe a style of wrestling which required little wrestling athletic ability and often involved no wrestling at all.

Contents

Rules

The main rule behind hardcore wrestling is that there are no disqualifications or countouts. However, in many promotions such a match can have various connotations. Thus, hardcore wrestling is often separated into distinct "levels" based on the graphic nature of the match:

Because of the nature of hardcore wrestling, hardcore matches are often remembered for their dangerous spots (to the point that some deride it as "spotfests") rather than their actual outcome. The hardcore style has even extended to non-hardcore matches (that is, matches with disqualifications), especially into those where disqualifications are uncommon, where the rules allow or encourage the use of certain foreign objects, or where the rules of the match are ambiguous with regards to disqualification. It is not uncommon to have certain types of matches be no-disqualification affairs to avoid the issue of dealing with suspension of disbelief.

Common weapons

Hardcore matches tend to emphasize the use of certain weapons or the physical toll on the wrestlers, and thus many euphemisms for these matches are employed. For example, Street Fights and Bunkhouse Brawls are hardcore-style matches which emphasize that wrestlers need not be in typical wrestling gear when they are battling, while the No Holds Barred match emphasizes the no-disqualification rule. In World Wrestling Entertainment, ECW rules matches are hardcore-style matches that emphasized the spirit of its former competitor. Other euphemisms, such as the Good Housekeeping match and Full Metal Mayhem, emphasize the use of certain foreign objects as being legal (the former with kitchen implements, and the latter with metallic objects). In a Fans Bring the Weapons match, wrestlers fight with "weapons" that members of the audience bring to the venue. An Anus Explosion Deathmatch was an FMW special deathmatch where the loser or losing team were abused either by objects or fireworks.

There are several weapons that are used commonly in deathmatch wrestling:

Hardcore wrestlers

Many well-known deathmatch wrestlers are from Japan. In addition, most American wrestlers who participated in deathmatches made their mark in Japan.

Hardcore wrestling promotions

See also

 

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