Is Hardcore Wrestling Dead?

[red ass skull muhfukkah]

Hardcore wrestling hasn't been relevant since the WWE revival of ECW in 2006. Even then the hardcore element only lasted a few months.

There seems to be little or no interest in this type of wrestling. CZW is still doing its thing but has focused more on high-flying and brawling than the UltraViolence theme it was known for. WWE is in it's PG era and has pretty much left all hardcore to TLC and Ladder matches. Add the fact that the wrestling community as a whole has taken big steps in the safety of their performers with the recent ban of chair shots to the head in almost all companies. And the recent deaths of CZW wrestler JC Bailey because of apparent brain damage sustained in the ring. It would seem that the once praised style of wrestling has become a whipping boy of wrestling fans and the community in general, being seen as "garbage" and "backyard" wrestling by many.

So I ask you is Hardcore Wrestling Dead?

 

[Disturbed]

I had don't think hardcore wrestling is dead but I think it is on it's last life. ROH also used to have a lot of violennt, hardcore matches but they don't have very many any more. TNA is also taking per caution with banding chair shots to the head. It isn't that it's not popular with the fans because it is.The problem is it is very unpopular with non wrestling fans. People in the news blame pro wrestling way to much, so blame it on those jackasses.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Hardcore wrestling is not dead because they still have hardcore matches. WWE might not be able to within their PG restrictions.... but TNA has a match called the Monster's Ball match. That's essentially a hardcore match. They use all sorts of random weapons and there is a lot of bleeding. Sounds like hardcore to me. Therefore, hardcore wrestling is not dead. It just does not happen as a match type as often anymore.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It is not dead, but we are in PG era in the WWE, which is obviously the dominant wrestling company in the world, with the most exposure. So to keep within the PG guidelines, and to protect the safety of its athletes, WWE is moving away from the hardcore aspect of the Attitude era.

TNA is following by looking at the number of unprotected chairshots its wrestlers are taking which will only help the future health of its wrestlers. While fans love to see violence and weapons, the whole industry is looking at preventing any more unnessecary deaths, which have become all too common over recent years.

I do think eventually we will see a return to more violent matches when the publicity of wrestlers injuries dies down, similar to how steroids made a comeback in the attitude era after the publicity over Vince's steroid trials faded away, but for now I think Hardcore wrestling will be staying on life-support for the considerable future.

 

[RVDgurl]

I don't think that hardcore wrestling is dead, I think it comes and goes in cycles. Let's be honest, there are alot of people that consider this kind of wrestling "junk wrestling". It's not always suitable for the mainstream audience. The WWE is in the middle of a PG era therefore we won't be seeing anything hardcore from them in the foreseeable future. TNA and ROH have consistently been incorporating hardcore matches into their shows for the past several years. I'm sure there will come a point in the future where hardcore wrestling will return to the spotlight, but for now small doses are all we're going to get.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Hardly anything in pro wrestling is every truly or completely dead. Hardcore wrestling isn't going to be the exception to the rule. We simply don't see very many hardcore matches take place all that often and I have no problem with that whatsoever.

I've never been a huge fan of hardcore wrestling and to some degree, as RVDgurl suggested, I do consider it to be junk wrestling. An occassional hardcore match can be a fun novelty match, but that's all that it is for me. It's definitely the least skilled match format and, to be honest, just about anybody can be a hardcore wrestler and I think some degree of masochistic tendencies are probably involved as well. Probably the overall most "hardcore" hardcore matches I've seen in a long time was Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley on iMPACT! a little while back. The match got mixed reviews from most people as they applauded the effort and heart the two veterans put into the match, but it was also criticized for being very violent.

Wrestling companies and fans have realized the kind of trauma hardcore wrestling can lead to, really wrestling in general for that matter, due to the large number of wrestling deaths over this decade and the stories of wrestlers bodies just being work out and broken down by such extreme violence. You can't be concerned about the health and safety of pro wrestlers while booking them in matches that are essentially cock fights with human beings rather than chickens on a regular basis. You simply cannot have it both ways.

Fans that crave hardcore wrestling, all they have to do is start a backyard league because that crap is still going on. But hardcore wrestling is no longer "mainstream" in wrestling for the most part. It's an occassional novelty that'll pop up every now and then and that's the way it should be in my view.

 

[Wrath]

Hardcore wrestling don't work these days anymore because wrestling companies don't know the way how hardcore wrestling works. First of all hardcore is an element to tell a story in a match. The main problem is these days especially TNA use hardcore for making more spots. When a wrestler hits another with a chair he should have a purpose. He should make me believe he chairshots a wrestler because he hates that wrestler too much or he gives everything to win the match. In a situation like that hardcore is used for storytelling and it's a good thing but why would two wrestlers that respect each other try to tear each other apart with barbwired chairs or flamed tables ? It has no sense. So when you put many hardcore matches with no purpose those matches become all meaningless. In these days even WWE fucked up this concept with gimmick PPVs. If you use hardcore with no purpose in every match like once ECW did you can't get more further than a little fan base. So the reason hardcore wrestling seems dead is it's not used for storytelling anymore. It's just used for doing some exciting spots in matches.

 

[LSN80]

I dont think that its a dead part of the wrestling inudstry. When you're only 4 months removed from a TNA PPV called HardCore Justice, it hardly means that its done.

The problem I see with HardCore wrestling is twofold, and hence its declining popularity, is two-fold. One, its inharent risks are becoming more and more evident. It's hard for a wrestling company(and even TNA has seen the light on this) to advocate extreme violence when more men are being injured and whether directly or indirectly, are dying. Two prominent or at least two of the most popular wrestlers in TNA are out for a long time due to hardcore elements of the "sport", in Mr. Anderson and Desmond Wolfe. Anderson because he took the brutal chair shot to the head at the hands of Jeff Hardy, and Desmond because of all of the chair shot he took while in ROH.

The second is the storytelling, or lack of it, that you see these days in hardcore wrestling. Hardcore wrestling used to be about telling a story, and thus, the guys who were able to do so got over. Ric Flair is virtually loved by ALL communities within the wrestling world because not only was he a wrestling technician, whether he wants to admit it or not, he's one of the greatest hardcore wrestlers of all time.

But the lack of telling a story in this match has been lacking over the years. Look at TNA's Hardcore PPV. Other then the Dreamer/Raven match, you just had people beating the piss out of each other for no real reason at all. You had men fencing with lightsabres, for goodness sakes! It's something that should be a novelty, and saved to settle a very personal feud, but it's far too often used just to get added violence onto the show.

So, is Hardcore wrestling dead? No. But its declining in popularity, massively.

 

[Next Jericho]

I am saying that hardcore wrestling is on it's last leg and I say this because WWE is in the P.G era of wrestling, TNA is taking notice that wrestles are dieing and getting hurt to much like LSN80 said Mr Anderson and Desmond Wolfe are not wrestling because they have got concussions (Wolfe a lot more) and even the independent shows like ROH and others do not use as much weapons and chair shots that often so the three main shows in America do not have as much hardcore wrestling. So CZW is the only promotion that allows the no to little skill of hardcore wrestling in it's shows means that hardcore wrestling may as well be dead or dieing because unless an mainstream promotion choices to bring back hardcore then it will just die because backyard promotions have not got enough expose to carry a type off wrestling .

 

[The Crock]

No, Hardcore Wrestling is not dead, but rather it has taken a backseat and is not as relevant as it once was. Things come and go, and wrestling is no different. Sure, Hardcore Wrestling may not be in the spotlight now, but maybe it will be back in a few years. You never know. The product changes, and the types of matches we see depend on that. Just like Jack-Hammer said, nothing is truly ever "dead" when it comes to professional wrestling. It's all dependent on what the fans want to see and what is raking in the money at that particular time. Anyway, we have seen a ton of Hardcore Matches in TNA recently, so that just proves that Hardcore Wrestling is not dead.

The thing about Hardcore Wrestling is that it is interesting in small doses, so honestly, I'm actually pretty happy that we haven't seen much lately. I personally get sick of seeing the same thing over and over, and in Hardcore Matches you're pretty much always going to get the same exact thing. I don't mean to slander the TNA product, but I think that all their Hardcore Matches aren't going to take them anywhere. It's monotonous, you can always expect tons of blood and weapons strewn all over the place... and as a wrestling fan I'd much rather see a nicely wrestled technical match than that.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

As long as TNA is around then hardcore won't be dead because their very lazy system of throws guy out the ring and then gets a table and one of every weapon in the world and uses them systematically without the slightest hint of technical wrestling. Yes ECW spot after spot after spot strung together by spots sytem of making matches is still alive in TNA most notably by EV2 but when they go it'll be abyss and any other takers. Abyss is probably the only guy willing to take glass and tac bumps because most of the guys enjoy wrestling too much. I'm not bitter despite my tone, I think hardcore wrestling in the mainstream COULD be good. But in the current style of writing and planning these matches, there are no good hardcore matches right now.

Weapons are supposed to be used as assistance not the focal point of the match, but some people don't get that.

 

[Pat9010]

I like hardcore wrestling, but only when it fits into a feud or something. I hate blood for the sake of blood and i hate weapons for the sake of weapons. Too me, nothing is better than a wrestling match that tells a story, so if that story needs hardcore and bloodshed, which some do need, then i'm all for it.

I don't believe it is dead because wwe still has pay per views like extreme rules and TLC that use weapons.and TNA does alot with blood and weapons. I just think it's too dangerous to do all the time and if you care at all about wrestling then you would agree

 

[Mitch Henessey]

For the past couple of days, I've been watching some highlights of CZW's Cage Of Death matches. And to tell you the truth, I couldn't stand it, because it was just garbage. It was just a bunch of guys falling through glass and throwing random objects at each other. I even saw a clip of Necro Butcher stabbing someone with a pair of scissors. Everyone was just jumping off of some high spot, and I've never seen such an effort to break as many tables as possible. And why the fuck does everyone sit in chairs and punch each other in the face at the start of the match? This wasn't wrestling. I just saw a bunch of guys trying their hardest to get hurt.

Anyway, hardcore wrestling can be fun to watch, but when you go so over the top with it, it can look terrible. You can't rely on so many high spots in one match, because it just becomes overkill after a while. It's okay to have a few sick spots here and there, but you can only get so many "holy shit!" reactions out of a live crowd.

Also, as others have said, most of these hardcore wrestling matches tend to be shit. I can never forget watching Ian Rotten VS Axl Rotten in a Taipei Death Match on the Rise & Fall Of ECW DVD years ago. They had their taped hands covered in glue and glass, and they just beat the shit out of each other during the entire match. It was so terrible. Seeing a couple of guys bleed like crazy and bash each other with weapons isn't entertaining if you ask me. It's just garbage that very few people like to watch.

Hardcore wrestling isn't dead, but it's not as popular as it used to be. I don't crave these type of matches. It's okay to have an extreme rules match every now and then, but I wouldn't want to see it become a regular trend.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Hardcore wrestling for the most part isn't dead. I grew up watching the old Ecw with my cousins, and to be honest, they did just about everything your allowed to do on live T.v. Back then.

Now for a fact that hardcore wrestling feds are starting to struggle with the new influx if fans that are wanting newer more brutal matches. It just can't be done, wrestlers can't take that without having to abuse steroids or painkillers. Its a known fact that purely hardcore wrestlers are some of the toughest dudes on the planet. But just like regular wrestlers their work line is very hectic. You can only ask a hardcore wrestler to do so much in a month. Only so many thumb tacks and staples can enter into a human body in one year before they just wake up and go.... Fuck this.

Also WWE just decimating the rep of hardcore over the years that Ecw had built by letting us see some ok hardcore matches at the beginning of the new Wwecw kind of killed it. Because at the end of the day it wasn't Ecw, it was just Vinces playing ground to get in new tallent. You can't ask new fresh kids to go out every day and bash their heads in like the old Ecw alumni did.

For me I love hardcore wrestling, but its been taken to far, you just can't do everything that the fans want every day with a limited number of wrestlers. We can only see Necro throw so many people through tables, or sabu allmost break his neck on a chair so much. Its just overplayed because people took it for granted over the years. Oh they'll be ok, and bounce right back. 1 year of hardcore wrestling takes the toll on your body like no ones buisness. Its sad to say, yes hardcore wrestling is dying. But its not dead fully yet.

 

[Strong Style X]

AAA, CZW (to some extent), and BJW are all active wrestling organizations who use hardcore style wrestling that are healthy and very active. Although AAA isn't a deathmatch organization like the others mentioned; it still has certain tendencies of the genre. Is hardcore wrestling dead? To simply put the answer; no. It's on a big hiatus in America and I highly doubt it will ever get big again in the near future. The fact remains though that there is a market for this type of wrestling still in some areas of the world. Until the market ceases to exist: it's not dead.

 

[ABMorales787]

No, I don't think Hardcore Wrestling is dead. I just think it's not executed properly. Nowadays, hardcore wrestling seems to be more about ultraviolence than about emotion or wrestling ability in an open environment. The reason WWE's TLC matches from 2000 and 2001 stood out was never because of the level of violence, but because of the abilities the wrestlers showed they could work with in that open environment. Spearing a guy from the top of a ladder is a hell of a lot more attractive than nailing somebody with a lightbulb tube. Another good example is the already mentioned Mick Foley/Ric Flair match at Before The Glory. It was more about their emotional investment than it was about the weapons. They destroyed each other because they deeply hated each other. They didn't do it as a novelty to show the fans how good they are at maiming themselves. That's what companies like CZW fail to see. In ECW there were actual stories and emotion leading to the involvement of weapons most of the time. In companies like CZW they literally whale each other with deadly weapons for sheer shock value each and every single time.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Hardcore Wrestling isnt dead. They'res still guys like Abyss that like it. But honestly Hardcore only fits into storyline. It gets boring because pretty much no matter what stiuplation all Hardcore matches end up being the same way.

And no TLC that so-called WWE PPV wouldn't be considered hardcore in my opinion.

 

[Freddy4190]

It's not dead, it's just on the backburner right now. I don't think there's a big demand for it right now. If there was another ECW-esque company, I seriously doubt it would work in this day and age. If WWE ever decides to get out of the PG Era anytime soon, they could bring it back slowly. I feel like Hardcore wrestling needs to be shown or watched in small bursts, just to retain that "OH SHIT!" factor. Even the ECW One Night Stand PPV wasn't ALL hardcore blood and violence, there was a few actual WRESTLING matches in there as well. WWE can be as hardcore as anyone else given the right time and circumstances.