When is Harcore Wrestling Too Much for You?

[Tiffany Stratton's Daddy]

I'm okay with hardcore matches going to the extreme... when the story matters.

I can't get behind promotions like GCW that are there to completely dismantle each other every match. At some point, it's just getting old and I've seen it all before.


I loved the Omega/Mox match in AEW during their original feud. Unsure if it was called a deathmatch, but to me, that's fine. It fits the story, a one-off, all is good.

[Deleted]

Stabbing with sharp objects.

Like drawing real blood by getting poked with a fork or spike or something. That's too much for me.

Blading is fine but thats gross to me.

[J. Hova]

Blood can tell a hell of a story, violence for violence's sake can't.

Light tubes, cheese graters, explosions are my limit.

[facethatrunstheplace]

In addition to what's already been said, Taipei Death and Barbed Wire Rope Matches are not my thing.

[Mozenrath]

No hard and fast rule, I guess, but I always value "more creative" over "more extreme, all things equal.

That being said, needles are always a "no."

[jimmyjackezekiel]

Beds of nails. I have only read about these matches in Foley's book, and even what I read made me never want to watch one.

[greyfmdan]

I’m not particularly a fan of hardcore stuff, but I try to kind of judge it on the artistic & storytelling merits. I sort of enjoyed the Jericho/Gage match for what it was, because of its artistry and the historic nature of it, though I don’t want to watch matches like that every week. And I agree with Cyno’s take on the pizza cutter spot.

For me, I’m probably less tolerant of violence merely for the sake of violence or if it’s a completely nonsensical weapon. I know this is quaint by modern hardcore wrestling standards, but I didn’t like the barbed wire streamers in ECW, partly because I frankly found them to be ridiculous.

And FTR, there’s never a good storyline reason IMO for stuff like scissors, razor blade boards, needles, or maiming by bolt cutter. (There may be ostensibly a storyline reason for it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good storyline reason.)

["Sweet & Sour" ImSoFudginGreat]

This may be a strange way to phrase it, but I draw the line at penetration. Hitting each other with everything not nailed down, weed whackers, boards with with things attached too them, barbed wire are all fine with me. I once saw a match where they used a sickle and they were stabbing (probably pulling short but the camera made it look bad) and that’s when I was like oooh

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

Shots to the head

Anything with an actual blade on it

The thing that passes me off most I a deathmatch especially is no story.

Like, say what you will about a gory match but you can still tell.a story in it.

GCW makes this especially glaring having more than one deathmatch on a show, when someone like Gage or Moxley actually does involve some psychology rather than pure sick spots

Edit: sorry to explain, if you have a story reason for your sick spots they are actually effective and feel worthwhile. Getting covered in glass or set on fire feels utterly worthless when the only reason you did it is to have a sick spot in your match. This is part of what made the Cardona match so fun, because they built the spots up so much.

[H-Virus]

I went to a local Indy show several years back that had a Bring Your Own Weapons match, and somebody brought an actual car windshield, which would have been bad enough on its own, but they had also glued glass Christmas ornaments all over it. And I should point out these weren’t even round bulbs, they were pointy! It was set up on stacks of cinderblocks like a table, and I can still remember thinking to myself “If someone actually goes through that, I’m leaving and never coming back”. Thankfully, they teased suplexing each other through it a few times but didn’t go through with it, but it still makes me wonder what kind of person would even think of bringing something like that to a show in hopes of seeing someone go through it.

[Magnus the Magnificent]

I don't like anything sharp or pointy, really.
Maybe with the exception of thumbtacks, but only if it's back bumps on them.



And also the obvious one:
*WARNING. NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART*

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Spoiler}{SPOILER: CLICK TO SHOW}

Sickening.

[dpg]

Barbed wire instead of ropes match. Had Jimmy Havoc in it. Violent and awful

[Natural Born Farmer]

The intentionally gruesome matches bother me a lot less than really nasty looking botches, or when something like Eddie breaking the Muta scale happens and they don't call the match right away.

[Deleted]

When it's death match "legends".

It's fine when the story calls for it or it's guys that can be placed anywhere on the card. 

But just seeing two guys who's only gimmick is being hit with lightbulbs that's where i lose interest. 

GCW Die for This was a great show, until the main event where it was a just gross.

[06vwgti]

AEW's are usually at my limit. Anymore is overkill even then they've pushed it more than I'd like with the crimson masks

[One-Armed Drummer of Defrebel]

PCO hardcore matches are honestly kinda rough for me to watch these days. Love that he's still at it and still a beast but watching this dude take headshot after headshot and one nightmare bump after the other in certain matches still cause HE'S NOT HUMAN this deep in to his comeback run doesn't feel great. Dude does not look inhuman doing this stuff, he looks like he's in horrible horrible pain. 

[dangerousdanpotato]

When Angel Garza shoved that rose betwixt his fallen opponent's buttocks it really crossed a deep-seated psychological line. Glass, barbed wire, in-ring explosions and cheese-graters - fine. But don't interfere with a man's butt.

[Hypnosis]

Feb 3, 2022 14:49:50 GMT -5 dangerousdanpotato said:

When Angel Garza shoved that rose betwixt his fallen opponent's buttocks it really crossed a deep-seated psychological line. Glass, barbed wire, in-ring explosions and cheese-graters - fine. But don't interfere with a man's butt.

Garza gave Drew Gulak ANAL BLEEDING. 

What a monster!

[Alice Syndrome]

when it's just violemce for the sake of violence.

Like, seeing Nick Gage put RSP through absolute hell for the 2 years of crap he'd gone through was great. Gage and Cardona having another violence fest from a blood feud based in the entire ideologies of wrestling was good too.

If someone's going through 5 sheets of glass in a nothing match to open the card, you screwed up.

[Johnny B. Decent]

It is interesting how Barbed Wire-style matches can be a no-go for some people here, as in theory it's less extreme then say nail boards or weedwhackers, but it can really get damn violent on just the barbed wire alone.