For a long time, both wrestling fans and athletes have had to deal with accusations claiming the sport is “rigged” and the matches are fake. Yes, maybe a lot of what you see in the WWE is staged, and most of the fights are scripted. Nevertheless, this does not take away from the excitement fans get from watching their favorite wrestlers defy gravity and bludgeon each other with moves that would leave 90 percent of the human population crippled if they attempted to do the same.
To honor the punishment these superstar athletes put themselves through, we put together a list of some of the WWE's most violent matches ever.
10 Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose Fighting on Thumbtacks
Chris Jericho is one of the biggest trash talkers in the history of the WWE. Dean Ambrose is one of the most impulsive wrestlers to ever step onto a WWE ring. Adding both of those ingredients to the same package (a cage) and telling them to fight it out is a recipe that could only yield a lot of blood and cheers from the crowd.
Nevertheless, fighting it out was not enough for Jericho and Ambrose, as they made good use of thumbtacks spread on the floor of the ring by slamming each other onto the tacks. The result was just as bloody as you can imagine.
9 Shane McMahon Flying onto the Undertaker During WrestleMania 32
Shane McMahon has made a name for himself in the WWE as a daredevil. The man is just unstoppable. There is no other way to explain the things he does. After all, there are not many other words fit for a man who will leap from the top of a 20-foot cage onto the announcers' table, just so he can finish off The Undertaker.
Still, that is exactly what Shane McMahon did during WrestleMania 32. There was not much blood involved in this match, but the sheer violence of McMahon’s fall was enough to earn him a spot on this list.
8 Shane McMahon’s Leap of Faith at SummerSlam 2000
While it was one of the most memorable moments of his career, the 20-foot drop at WrestleMania 32 was not the first time Shane McMahon decided free-falling from a ridiculous height would be a good idea. He did something similar back at SummerSlam 2000.
McMahon climbed a steel structure trying to run away from Steve Blackman, who relentlessly chased him with a kendo stick onto the structure. While hanging on for dear life, McMahon suffered several blows and was ultimately not able to hang on, falling from the steel structure onto the concrete floor of the arena in what was probably one of the most painful moments of his career.
7 Eddie Guerrero Vs. JBL at Judgement Day 2004
If you are one of those fans who think blood and wrestling go hand in hand, there is no better way to get your fix than to watch the 2004 battle that took place at Judgment Day between Eddie Guerrero and JBL. The two put on a show of professionalism as they put their bodies on the line to give the fans a match they would never forget.
It was also a great example of why the WWE has decided to ban activities like blading from professional wrestling. Even old-school wrestling fans who were used to blood were left stunned by the volume of scarlet liquid gushing out from Guerrero after a little blading went wrong. There was so much blood on his face that an unaware viewer flipping through channels might think they'd stumbled on a horror movie like Carrie, not a wrestling match.
6 Kurt Angle Throwing Shane McMahon Through Windows at King of The Ring 2001
Most wrestlers in the WWE take a lot of punishment throughout their careers. Still, it is hard to find a wrestler who has gone through as many painful situations as Shane McMahon. As if falling from absurd heights was not enough, McMahon has also been subjected to some rather bloody punishment. A good example happened during his King of the Ring match in 2001 against Kurt Angle.
While stunned on the concrete floor after an intense match, McMahon had little fight left in him and could barely struggle as Angle picked him up and threw him through the windows of the King of the Ring set, leaving a shocked audience apprehensive to see whether McMahon would manage to recover from the impact.
5 Triple H Vs. Cactus Jack at Royal Rumble 2000
Back in the day, versatility was the name of the game in wrestling. Versatility in this sense means the number of ways a wrestler is able to take punishment. Not a single person in the history of the WWE has gone through the sort of punishment Mick Foley has through during his illustrious career.
His first appearance on this list comes from his 2000 Royal Rumble match as Cactus Jack against Triple H. This match had a little bit of everything. Triple H and Foley used all kinds of weapons in as many vicious ways as any fan could ask for, with the cherry on top coming at the end when Triple H pedigreed Cactus Jack onto a puddle of thumbtacks.
4 Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker Hell in a Cell 2002 for the WWE Championship
Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker are easily two of the strongest and most crowd-pleasing wrestlers the WWE has ever employed. Needless to say, a match between these two would come with both a high payout for the company and quite a high level of expectation from the fans, who would not be happy with anything less than a match for the ages.
A match for the ages was exactly what they got. Both wrestlers used the best moves they had in their arsenals, and a deep cut to The Undertaker’s forehead added the visual effect necessary for fans to grasp the real viciousness of that bout.
3 The Rock Bashing Mankind at Royal Rumble 1999
Mick Foley and his antics were so intense that he had to change identities from time to time. In this specific instance, he was wearing the skin of Mankind, who was perhaps the most violent of Foley’s personas. In a 1999 match against The Rock, Foley went beyond anything that could be expected of a wrestler, putting his body on the line to the point that his infant daughter was brought to tears as she watched her dad get mauled by Dwayne Johnson.
The Rock had one game plan, which was to attack Foley’s head as often as he could. Johnson used chair shot after chair shot to get his way in what was one of the most brazen displays of violence in WWE history.
2 Edge vs Mick Foley at Wrestlemania 22
Mick Foley is the first name that comes to mind on the subject of the most violent and bloody matches in WWE history. The tough task is deciding where to rank each of his legendary bloodbaths. It was a close call, but spot number two on this list went to the all-around display of violence Foley and Edge put on during WrestleMania 22.
Chair shots, throwing each other against props, body slams, thumbtacks, and the spectacle of Edge putting Foley through a table covered in fire... this match for the ages was one that nobody who was in that building has ever forgotten.
1 The Undertaker vs Mankind at WWE King of the Ring 1998
Last but not least, we have what was arguably one of the most dangerous matches in the history of wrestling. What wrestlers do on a daily basis is already dangerous enough, as they defy gravity on the ring by body slamming and throwing each other around in awkward and dangerous positions. But the WWE took it up a notch when it decided to put a juggernaut like The Undertaker and a relentless fighter like Mankind on top of a cage to fight it out.
The end result was as vicious as one could expect, with The Undertaker throwing Mankind off the cage onto the announcers’ table. And if that weren’t enough, Mankind got up, climbed back onto the cage, and eventually got himself thrown through the cage onto the canvas.