Who in history is wrestlings toughest guy

[matt_hud]

So I was just looking up wrestlers on Wikipedia and reading about them when I started noticing some wrestlers had interesting stories about how "tough" they were... Guys like Dynomite Kid, Meng/Haku, Cpl Kirchner, Harley Race, Paul Orndorff, ect ect...

So it got me to thinking to a point I googled wrestling legit tough guys looking for stories where wrestlers have gotten in altercations with each other, fans, police, or whatever... I found some cool stories and decided to see what other readers thought... Here are some samples of stories I found below...

Meng/Haku --- This guy had several stories some being that he had Brutus Beefcake by the throat a couple feet off the ground and refused to release Beefcake until Hogan stepped in and calmed him, also I found a story of him getting in a bar fight where it took 6 cops to get him down during the altercation apperently he was tased 5-6 times and was unfazed....

Dynamite Kid --- Got hit with a roll of quarters by Jaques Rougue lost several teeth but never went down, also apperently was hand picked by Randy Savage to act as his bodygaurd 1 night when Savage went out to a club that rival wrestlers often visited...

Road Warrior Hawk --- There is a shoot interview with Jim Cornette where he talks about Road Warrier Hawk beating the crap out of Dr. Death Steve Williams in the locker room and no wrestler would step in to break it up for fear of Hawk...

Bad News Brown --- Apperently this man backed down Andre The Giant when Andre made a racist comment to him... The story goes on to to say Andre appologized and said Brown was the 1 man he wouldnt wanna fight

Cpl Kirchner --- Apperently 1 of the toughest & stiffest guys in the WWE in the early-mid 80's... Wrestlers were affriad to work with him because he didnt hold back and was always ready to fight...

Paul Orndorff --- Beat the crap out of Vader behind the scenes, keep in mind due to an injury that ended his career Orndorff did this with only 1 good arm...

Hardcore Holly --- Rumors had it that he was Vince's punisher if someone needed staightened out back stage... They were put in the ring with a stiff Holly

Harly Race --- Reed the stories in Ric Flairs book...

Dick The Brusier --- My grandfather actually told me a story of seeing Dick take out 3 bikers in a bar when Dick was in his late 50's... Just think if the man did that at 57 or 58 what he could do at say 30 to 35 years of age

I am sure there are many more out there and would love to hear what other people think... I am also curious to hear other stories people have heard... Maybe we can figure out who the true toughest guy in wrestling history was...

 

[JR83]

Meng/Haku

In every book, interview, and q and a from various wrestlers like bret hart to bobby heenan to chris jericho among others all say that he was the most feared in the locker room and the toughest guy in the business.

Even the Barbarian (other half of the faces of fear and partner of haku in the heenan famil) who was also known for his toughness backstage , said he wouldn;t fight him as Haku would win.

He worked well in the ring with big and small names and made them look good doing it, but if u pissed him off, you were in serious shit.

 

[CyDeez]

I voted other...

I might get killed for this. But fuck it, I'll defend myself later if need be, lol...

Brock Lesnar. I just believe the dude is the ultimate machine when it comes to a fight. He is so powerful that with one punch he could do permanent damage to someone. His strength is unbelievable. I read about a story that Kurt Angle was quoted saying he personally witnessed Brock bench press over 700 pounds effortlessly.

His speed when in a fight is totally unmatched for a guy his size.

As far as him being tough and being able to take punishment... He suffered numerous injuries in WWE and rebounded like it didn't happen. We just saw what happened with Shane Carwin. Lesnar was pounded in his face and head and won. Who in wrestling history hits as hard and precise as Carwin?

To me Lesnar is the ultimate tough guy to ever be in, or come out of Pro Wrestling.

 

[bko]

I've heard many shoot interveiws saying Meng/Haku was one badass S.O.B backstage, but I've never been backstage so I don't fully understand where that comes from. Going by what I've seen I'd say Lesnar, have you seen the guy, hes a fricken monster. Not only the toughest in wrestling, but one of the toughest badass MMA stars in the world.

 

[Tripleb2k1]

Roddy Piper - Been Shot at & stabbed by fans back in the 70's

"Judo" Gene LeBell - creator of Daniel Bryan's LeBell Lock, also has been reputed to supposedly choke out Steven Segal and in Piper's DVD set Piper mentioned his toughness

Dick Murdoch - Dusty used to tell stories of all the barfights Murdoch would get into

Chris Jericho - back in 2003 I believe it was, there was a back stage altercation between him and Goldberg...Jericho had heard from that Goldberg had said some disparaging remarks...took Goldberg down with a front face lock on the floor of the dressing room

 

[AA-Styles]

My answer is simple....

GOLDBERG!!, GOLDBERG!!

This man went 173-0 during his time with WCW. This is approximately 2 years if he had a match each week at WCW Nitro. This man has beaten greats like The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and the list goes on. I reckon he is the toughest S.O.B (after Stone Cold of course) to ever step foot in the ring.

 

[zaculeh]

ken shamrock.. he was dubbed as the worlds most dangerous man before entering WWE and was the first ever UFC Superfight(Heavyweight) Champion hands down

 

[Brahma Bull]

i find it funny that most of the guys chose other. lol.

i actually chose other as well. my choice is kurt angle. as he has stated before numerous times, not only is the guy and olympic gold medalist, but he wont it with a broken freaking neck! wrestling is one of the toughest sports out there, and this was the olympics with the best of the best. how horrible it must had been to wrestler with a broken neck, yet he still manned it out and won the gold.

his toughness stories may not come while he was a professional wrestler, but hands down, he is the toughest s.o.b. to ever set foot in a ring.

 

[jmt225]

To the guy who picked Ken Shamrock, you could not be any more wrong, man. Shamrock was a fun wrestler to watch, but a legitimate tough guy? Give me a break; he was a joke. Shelton Benjamin could kick his ass, no doubt about it.

Anyways, obvious answer is Brock Lesnar. Dude was a NCAA National Champion, and today is the UFC Heavyweight Champion. And unlike Ken Shamrock, he's beaten up impressive names throughout his MMA career, such as Randy Couture, Heath Herring, Frank Mir, and Shane Carwin (the only impressive wins Shamrock had were both over Bas Rutten).

So, yeah... if Lesnar could beat up those guys, then Brock Lesnar could easily beat the shit out of any professional wrestler that's ever existed. That's indisputable.

 

[Rayne]

I, and very likely 99.9% of this board have never been in a fight with any of these folks, and have nothing to go on more than conjecture and hearsay. That being said, no one here is really in a position to even think about picking "wrestling's toughest fighter".

 

[Rasha]

If Jericho was tough enough to take down Goldberg backstage, what does that say about the man Jericho trusted to protect him during his WCW days? That's right, there's only one answer to this question...

RALPHUS!

Sure, you might get lost walking to the ring. But if you mess with Ralphus, you get a finger wagged right in your face!

Alright, serious answer; who knows? Like Rayne said, we have no idea. There might have been some who'd really surprise you. Maybe Steve Blackman was the toughest SOB. Ernest "The Cat" Miller probably could have legitimately taken down most anyone he wanted.

 

[OutsiderDX]

Without a doubt Meng. The stories about this guy being the toughest guy outside the ring are lengendary. Almost every wrestler's biography has a story about him.

There are great stories about Meng backstage, gouging the eye out of one wrestler (can anyone remember who?) There is another story about how Beefcake thought Meng worked too stiff, and Meng pulled Beefcake out of the shower, easily lifted him off his feet and chocked him.

Once at a bar he bit some guy's fingers off over some girls and a racial slur. Then he goes back to the hotel and is at the bar, when 10 police cars roll out, and the Warlord comes out to warn the cops to let Meng finish his drink or else the cops will be fighting all of them.

There is story of this huge denfensive lineman football player who got in a fight with Meng, and said Meng just threw him like he was nothing.

Then there is the most famous story of all, the airport incident with 3 guys, who said wrestling was fake, and Meng knocked all 3 of the guys out, bit the nose off one and spat it at him.

Bobby Heenan said Meng was the toughest- And i believe him.

 

[WJDwjdWJDwjd]

I'm going to go with Steve Blackman.

You don't have to be a complete badass in real life and beat up a ton of people to be known as tough. The man went to Africa, got malaria AND dysentery (a horrible disease that basically makes you have shitty blood and diarrhea along with fever and intense abdominal pain) and was bed ridden for years! He came back to wrestle and had a semi rememorable career as well. Also, if you have never seen his hardcore bouts or even his fight with Shane McMahon, I suggest you check it out. Steve threw Shane off the top of damn titantron. I don't care if its kayfabe or not. To do something like that, you have to have a to be sadistic and be a tough guy. I don't hear many other stories like this pertaining to many wrestlers or if any other cases such as Blackman's exist.

 

[Trill Co$by]

I'm saying either Mick Foley or Great Muta... Muta invented the infamous Muta scale which means he's had to take a lot of pain in his career whereas Mick Foley has taken so many high dive bumps and done so many hardcore matches that I already know not to face that guy in a fight... especially when he'll take a piece of board, wrap it in barbed wire, and then scrape it across my face before lighting it on fire and beating me with it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

For me, I'd probably have to go with either Bad News Brown or Meng. In just about every wrestling book from an old school wrestler I've read, they always talk about Meng as just being this near superhuman wrecking machine that could just beat anybody's ass. Wrestling is full of legitimate tough guys, but Meng is somebody that always gets singled out by a lot of old schoolers.

Bad News Brown calling out Andre the Giant did show balls, no doubt. Andre was freakishly strong and would be able to hold his own with anybody you could name. Brown won an Olympic Bronze Medal in Judo at one of the Olympics, can't remember off the top of my head which one it was, so that's a very impressive feat. If you can win an Olympic medal in something, then that means you're pretty much universally accepted as being among the legitimate best there is at what you do.

 

[Sheabob]

i would say it was ken shamrock, coming from the ufc, to the wwe he had the nickname of the worlds most dangours man, and i think he lived up to that name when he was in the ring

 

[Mustang Sally]

From what I've read, Steve "Dr. Death" Williams was a legitimate tough guy. He wrestled in federations like Mid-South, UWF and All-Japan, where a guy had to really wage war to make it big.

He fought in that "Brawl-For-It-All" thing in WWE and got knocked out and injured (for real) by Bart Gunn, but he came back from that to wrestle again. Then, he beat throat cancer and came back to the ring from that, too.

Some of the wrestlers mentioned above seem tough only in that they were characterized that way by the company they worked for. I mean, The Rock and Goldberg?...... C'mon, I don't think either was a true tough guy.

Dr. Death, however, made me think of bar fights and dockworker brawls. If he wasn't really tough, he did a great job of faking it.

 

[Megadeth]

I am not personally to familiar with him, but I know on Jim Ross' Blog, he constantly brings up a guy named Danny Hodge when asked about legit tough guys. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge on him can help out, but from what I understand, he was known to crush apples with one hand, and could break a set of pliers with his hands. Terry Funk is also quoted as saying he is the toughest SOB in the world. In addition to being a pro wrestler, he also had an amateur wrestling background, and was also a boxer at one point.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

In the kayfabe days, wrestlers were encouraged to be bad ass to "protect the business" where as today, the fear of lawsuits, bad publicity etc would no doubt temper their reactions...

There is something to be said for guys like Jericho, who not only took out one of the percieved hard men of the business, but also stood his ground in front of an angry mob a year or so ago after a show... He could have easily gotten seriously hurt and knew he was on camera, but stood his ground.. he also went on TV and defended his friend who had just commited an atrocity... that's a different type of tough.

At the basic level though, anyone trained to wrestle can damage a man... they just don't pull the punch or shoot the move...their size and muscle memory will do the rest... When I trained, I was told it takes just 15lbs of pressure on an armbar for the arm NEVER to work again... But how do you equate toughness? Is it only wrestlers? Is it a legit fight? Is it beating an illness or injury? Is it being the most damaging to others who are non trained?

After all, Joey Styles famously KO'd Bradshaw... He was never a wrestler, was half his size, yet took his one shot and did the damage... not only physically but reputationally...

Is it guys like Shane McMahon? "The Suit" who has taken bumps and knocks that most "toughmen" would never dare attempt? Or Shawn for surviving a beating by Marines? Or Davey Boy for fighting them off?

Is it Austin? Who finished the match with a broken neck? or Trips for letting Jericho put the Walls on him with his quad rolled up like a canoli?

Is it someone like Regal, who overcame not only addiction but having his heart stopped/heart attacks only to come back better than ever?

Or is it guys like Andre or Bad News, or Tonga? Who could legitematly and violently kill someone if they so chose?

Personally, I'd go with men like Duggan, Williams and Regal and Piper... Who have fought potentially fatal diseases and returned to the ring... Not always stronger than before, Williams and Piper were never the same in their few appearances, but they beat the odds and death itself for one more match... Thats tougher than gouging a guys eye out or drinking 100 beers in a sitting...

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

I'm gonna cast my vote for someone not on the list (recurring theme, right?) and vote for Stan Hansen. Now, he may not be the biggest and strongest guy ever but i think he makes up for it through pure toughness. For starters, his style in the ring was very tough due to poor eyesight. To compensate for this he would work stiff to make sure his moves didn't look fake so when he hit his finisher, The Lariat, he was actually hitting them as hard as he could.

He was also known to have a short temper as this video shows (from 06:18): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuwcgV9BGQU&feature=related

If you can't watch it, basically, he gets knocked out during a match and then recovers to go off script and just beat the crap out of a few people.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I'm gonna cast my vote for someone not on the list (recurring theme, right?) and vote for Stan Hansen. Now, he may not be the biggest and strongest guy ever but i think he makes up for it through pure toughness. For starters, his style in the ring was very tough due to poor eyesight. To compensate for this he would work stiff to make sure his moves didn't look fake so when he hit his finisher, The Lariat, he was actually hitting them as hard as he could.

He was also known to have a short temper as this video shows (from 06:18): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuwcgV9BGQU&feature=related

If you can't watch it, basically, he gets knocked out during a match and then recovers to go off scrpit and just beat the crap out of a few people.

By your reckoning then, Vader would be tougher... He had his eyeball knocked out by Hansen in a match... yet carried on...

The guy who survives what the "tough guy" throws at him has to be tougher surely?

 

[Dum Dum Dudley]

By your reckoning then, Vader would be tougher... He had his eyeball knocked out by Hansen in a match... yet carried on...

The guy who survives what the "tough guy" throws at him has to be tougher surely?

Funnily enough, Vader was my second choice. I am not denying Vader is a tough guy, in fact i would say he was one of THE toughest wrestlers of all time, but i think Hansen edges it. Both guys were renowned in Japan for being tough guys but if we follow the trail, Mick Foley is tougher than Vader because Vader was involved when Foley lost his ear. Using that logic, it would be a never ending trail going from one guy to the other.

I think Hansen's attitude is the key factor. I am not implying Vader is a pussycat (although what the hell he was doing on 'Boy Meets World', i'll never know) but Hansen looks like a snarly, angry son of a bitch. And as i showed in the video i posted, he could snap so easily and just let all the anger out. But then again, Bob Holly did a similar thing in the WWE over issues with a travel car but i wouldn't say he was the toughest wrestler ever. Swings and roundabouts, i suppose.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Yeah, was just backing up my own point really... not having a dig or anything... the crucial point with those is, sure they got beaten up or lost an ear, but its not really the same as those who overcome potentially fatal illness...

Its the one opponent that you can't "beat on any given day"... You have to be mentally tough to survive cancer or similar issues as well as physically tenacious.... Its hard enough to recover and in some cases survive, let alone ever get fit enough to go back into a ring... Duggan lost a kidney and came back...not just for a few indy shows, but a full time WWE schedule... the same schedule that beats many who head to TNA... Anyone in theory can win a fight with a lucky punch...some can withstand a lot of pain or their bones are slightly stronger... but withstanding all that, and coming back to whatever job you do is a different kind of tough...

 

[legendkiller1979]

There's one big reason not to pick Vader. He got his ass kicked by Paul Orndorf. His gimmick was scary and tough but that doesn't necessarily make him a truly tough guy.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying he's not tough, just not the toughest.

There is no debate to this question. This is not my opinion, it's the opinion of every wrestler ever asked this question and the answer is the same ever time....Haku. I know it's hard to say that based on kayfabe. He lost so many matches but everything I've ever read about the things he has done says he is far and away the toughest guy ever.
He once pulled out Jimmy Jack Funk's eye for running his mouth. He lifted Brutus Beefcake up in a hangman's hold for complaining about haku working too stiff. He may have done alot of damage but he let him go at the request of Hulk Hogan who he respect. He was arrested years ago for biting off the nose of a police officer. There have been too many people that have said that haku is far and away the toughest guy to choose anyone else.

 

[Wolfdemon]

Damn someone already said it before me but I have to go with Ken Muthafucking Shamrock. The dude was built like an animal. His gimmick was that he was Mr MMA and he was in the WWF to kick ass and take names. He changed both the WWE and the UFC forever.