The era of the Monday Night War is filled with giant personalities clashing during perhaps wrestling's most profitable phase, all mixed in with the party lifestyle of the time and the egos that go along with it. In short, there were a bunch of huge athletic showman tossed into an environment together, mixed with various substances, all having to act as the toughest guy in the room. Something's gotta give, right?

Well, what came from this cocktail of conflict are dozens upon dozens of wrestling stars being outed as pretenders while other legitimate tough guys rose to the top when the testosterone overflowed and fisticuffs were thrown. They quickly found out whether they belonged at the bottom of the toughness totem pole or near the top. Maybe not at the top of the business but certainly in the eyes of the men they shared the locker room with they had revealed their true mettle. Some of the names are surprising, as in you'd genuinely be shocked to hear that that particular guy has a reputation as someone not to mess with, or it's painfully obvious and yet still they had to prove it despite common sense or self-preservation. Wrestling is nothing if not a hotbed for stories and we've compiled a bunch of them as well as the relevant reputations of the men involved to nail down who were the real deals, and who were the pretenders who only played tough guys on television.

16 Real Life - Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho may not be the biggest dog in most fights around WWE, but when he thinks he's right you don't want to get in a scuffle with a Hart Dungeon graduate. In WCW Jericho essentially conjured up a one-man feud with Goldberg that the man didn't appreciate. When they crossed paths in WWE, both were still not fans of the other. This led to Goldberg badmouthing Chris into a fight and Chris choking out Bill with a headlock before the pair were separated.

The Hurricane recalls it vividly as a very humbling moment for Bill and a triumph for Jericho and smaller guys with real athleticism to show.

More recently Chris Jericho must've taken out a life insurance policy because he got into a verbal altercation with Brock Lesnar over The Beast cutting Randy Orton's head open at SummerSlam '16. Jericho almost got into blows with a former UFC Heavyweight champion over his convictions. He's either got great faith in his headlock game, or he's tougher than he looks and willing to go to war with anyone over it.

15 On-Screen - Bradshaw

The king bully of WWE and with enough unpleasant stories to make an entire list of on his own, Bradshaw still wasn't half the tough-guy he portrayed on television. Between ambushing the Blue Meanie on PPV to get some cheap shots in, messing with junior wrestlers, referees, and personnel, and having other hazing stories about him spanning literal decades, the man has proven himself utter garbage. He was famously knocked out in one punch by former ECW commentator Joey Styles after going too far. He also mistakenly pushed and pushed until Steve Blackman unleashed a flurry of blows that toppled the Texan and left him in no doubt that he wasn't half the man he boorishly portrays on and behind the camera.

It's not surprising that with fans chanting for his resignation after he bullied Mauro Ranallo off of SmackDown, and with the sudden rise in reporting of men abusing their positions at work, he elected to step aside all of a sudden to pursue goals outside of WWE. Once a coward, forever a coward in this case.

14 Real Life - The Undertaker

Legendarily tough both in and out of the ring, Undertaker may not have had to fight very often but that's mostly due to the respect he commanded and the implications of what he'd do if anyone dared step up to him. There's the time he threatened Shawn Michaels to make sure he jobbed to Steve Austin at WrestleMania XIV or Taker would beat him senseless, calmly taping his wrists to drive home the point. Michaels wisely complied. Or the time he thought Kurt Angle was attacking Vince McMahon (they were rumbling in the aisle on a flight) and so he choked out the Olympic Gold Medalist to protect his boss. Or the time he wrestled in Hell In A Cell with a broken foot (that 'little known' match where Mick Foley fell from the top twice).

Or how about the time his fiery pyro went off all around him giving him third-degree burns and he still wrestled an Elimination Chamber match. In the words of Jim Ross, tougher than a two-dollar steak.

13 On-Screen - Shawn Michaels

He may be in the short-list discussion for the 'greatest of all time' but Shawn proved a-plenty that his athletic prowess in the ring didn't translate to the real world, particularly in his 90's d-bag phase. He got his tail kicked by marines in a bar when he got caught hitting on one of their girls. He got in a fight with Bret Hart where Bret left with a clump of Shawn's hair in his fist after the two rolled around and Bret ended up on top. His former partner Marty Jannetty reckons he once had to lay Shawn out for being insufferable.

On top of that are the numerous incidents where he caused trouble backstage and onscreen and generally made a mess of everything around him. He may have turned it around and ended up as one of the greats but he spent the first half of that time proving that he wasn't much of a real fighter or a generally good guy, which he now freely admits to.

12 Real Life - Dan Severn

Dan 'The Beast' Severn was an early adopter to UFC. He won the UFC Championship off of Ken Shamrock and won the Ultimate tournament pitting former champions against each other in a new tournament. He was (and probably still is) a tough dude and when he came to WWE in the late 90s carrying his NWA World Championship, there could be little doubt that the man had the physical tools to ruin anyone who looked at him cross-eyed. If he'd had a little more charisma, he could've been the Brock Lesnar of his day, but creative missteps didn't allow that to happen.

None of that diminishes the fact that the entire locker room was wary of the man, worried he'd snap during a match and use his insane wrestling abilities to essentially embarrass whichever opponent drew the unlucky straw. While he spent a short time in WWE, he wrestled more extensively outside the company while continuing his MMA career, earning over 100 victories. He may have thought it was a joke at his expense, but there was a reason the wrestlers respectfully called him 'Mr. Severn'.

11 On-Screen - Goldberg

Goldberg looks the part of a genuine tough guy like few others but when it came to a head, he was a little too fond of his public persona over his own actual ability level. When you're constantly reminded that you're a badass, undefeated fighter you need to remember that you might not, in fact, be all that good when a real fight presents itself. Such was the fate of Goldberg when he confronted Chris Jericho. Stemming from legitimate animosity the two had from their WCW days, Goldberg was reportedly badmouthing Jericho and when Chris found out he got in Goldberg's face. The two ended up rolling around in a scuffle that multiple people attest was won by Jericho when he put Goldberg in a front face-lock.

Unlike in a regular match, in a real fight such a move is basically a top-rope finisher with a twist. Chris got to stand tall over his antagonist and prove his credentials, while Goldberg had to re-evaluate his self-worth and who he badmouths.

10 Real Life - Kurt Angle

It's a rarely noted thing that Kurt Angle won an Olympic Gold medal with a broken 'freakin' neck. Okay, that's a lie, it's practically a catchphrase for him. But it's only one of the myriad of double-tough things Kurt has on his resume. He competed at WrestleMania XIX in the main event with another broken neck situation, and it wasn't the last time. If arguments with wrestlers happened, such as one incident with Eddie Guerrero, he was forced to employ his exemplary wrestling to subdue and defeat them in short order, including a couple of times he went around with Vince McMahon. He even challenged Brock Lesnar to a straight-up wrestling contest and reportedly came out the victor.

He wrestled through injury and through addiction, finding ways to continue where others might not have. Kurt Angle may not be a saint if you ask him, but the guy remains one of WWE's toughest ever athletes.

9 On-Screen - Diamond Dallas Page

We suspect DDP would claim to be a lover and not a fighter, and his tranquil existence as a yoga aficionado these days is wildly commendable, but during his wrestling days he got himself into a few scraps that were above his pay grade. The most notable of them came not once but twice against Scott Steiner, who you shouldn't fight at the best of times. DDP came to his wife's defense after she got caught ratting out Sunny, which led to Scott Steiner entering the equation and knocking DDP down because of course he did. He's Scott 'madder-than-a-bag-of-cats' Steiner.

The other time came near the end of WCW when Steiner was given a live mic and basically said whatever he wanted, which included badmouthing DDP. DDP decided he needed an advantage this time, so he jumped Steiner, but he hadn't learned from the first time and Steiner was only more volatile, leading to him handing DDP another beating before the two were pulled apart. I guess this is a bonus entry on Scott Steiner as well. Avoid him at all costs, the man is a sandpaper volcano filled with bees.

8 Real Life - Steve Blackman

Besides Meng/Haku, Steve Blackman is routinely listed as the WWE guy nobody would want to fight in the real world. His rep began before he was even signed, having to postpone his WWE tenure due to being bedridden with illness for nearly two years, after which he spent a few more years adding to his dangerous repertoire of martial arts. By the time he finally entered WWE, it was as a supremely scary individual. Within WWE he was tested a few times by the other wrestlers and besides Ken Shamrock, they all went home sore and sorry. Big Show once stood over Blackman as he was lying on concrete (because real hard dudes sleep on concrete) and when he refused to move away Blackman heel-hooked him to the ground and had him screaming in pain.

JBL got in Blackman's grill once and paid the price with some rapid-fire punches to the face for his trouble. Apparently only Steve's leg getting caught in a bag handle at the airport stopped him from kicking Bradshaw's head in on another occasion.

When Ken Shamrock himself reckons you could've made a go of it in The Octagon, maybe everyone else should leave you well alone. Plus, he was nicknamed 'The Lethal Weapon'. Bit of a hint to let him go about his business.

7 On-Screen - Lex Luger

Whether you think he's overrated or underrated (yes, some people think that) Luger was most definitely someone whose physique was the major thing he brought to the table. Unfortunately for him, it belied the truth of his lacking in fortitude. One time Luger refused to lose to legendary brawler Bruiser Brody, causing the man to scare Luger completely out of the match for fear of what the notoriously violent Brody would do to him for his prima-donna ways. Reports differ on what caused Luger to essentially leap out of their steel cage match only minutes in, but what we do know is that Luger wasn't down for whatever price Brody was demanding he pay for his behavior.

Lex also has a hilarious clip on Youtube of him struggling mightily to remove a shirt that's too tight, so when you even lose out to inanimate apparel, you might not be the toughest customer in the queue.

6 Real Life - Ken Shamrock

Like Dan Severn after him, Ken Shamrock came from the world of MMA and was a UFC Superfight champion before jumping into professional wrestling. As such he boasts practical skills in forms of combat other wrestlers haven't even heard of, and experience against the greatest fighters available at the time including Royce Gracie, the first UFC Champion. WWE called him the World's Most Dangerous Man and that fit him perfectly, his real ability to tear limbs out of sockets and generally incapacitate opponents meaning nobody in their right mind would challenge him. Well, wrestlers aren't often in their right minds, so there are stories of Shamrock heel-hooking Big Show (who was pestering him) and making him cry and wail on the ground.

Other wrestlers tried their luck and caught a painful time to show for it. Essentially Shamrock was a wolf among a lot of sheep in wolf outfits, and sometimes they forgot the difference and he reminded them painfully and swiftly.

5 On-Screen - Buff Bagwell

The popular mid-carder of WCW fame and WWE ignominy is another grappler whose ego wrote some checks his posterior couldn't cash. There's the time he had his mother calling up WWE offices on his behalf which went about as well as that can be expected to. He slapped a WCW stagehand for trying to do his job while Buff blocked a doorway which is just cowardly. He got into it with Shane 'Hurricane' Helms in the short time he was in WWE, slapping the man which got him a bottle of water thrown at his head and a collection of punches he'd thoroughly earned.

Another wrestler he tried to bully was Ernest 'The Cat' Miller who had done a parody of him and Bagwell took offense. Another slap from Bagwell and another flurry of punches ended the issue. You'd figure a guy would learn that going around slapping people only to get punched repeatedly in the face would put two and two together, but whether between the ears or in the toughness department, Buff didn't have the stuff.

4 Real Life - Bart Gunn

While he's most famous for being knocked out clean by the circle-shaped human known as Butterbean, or as one half of the Smoking Gunns who won three WWF Tag Team Championships, Bart Gunn is legitimately tougher than most. He proved it in what is still considered Vince Russo's worst ever idea to make it onscreen (let that sink in), the Brawl For All tournament. Having '90s pro wrestlers, notorious for thinking they're tougher than they were already, try to prove it by legit knocking each other out on live television only proved the opposite.

The one exception was Bart Gunn who was supposed to be fodder for expected winner Dr. Death Steve Williams (more on him later), but instead showed that he had a dynamite left hook and could flatten the entire roster in these contests. For someone struggling for relevancy, this should've been a major boon, but we all know how it ended. That doesn't take away from the facts though, and among the wrestlers in WWE at the time, Bart Gunn stood tall.

3 On-Screen - The Ultimate Warrior

A look, an entrance, an aura, The Warrior had those in spades like Goldberg a generation later. What he also had in common with the ex-footballer was a misplaced belief in his own hype that got him into trouble more than once. One of the notable episodes of non-toughness came at the hands of Andre The Giant himself who worked with Warrior when he was on the rise. Andre instructed Warrior to do some moves a certain way, and when Warrior kept performing the sequence harder and faster, Andre took action as only he can do. As Warrior charged in, much too fast again, Andre held up his ham-sized clenched fist and The Warrior ran full-tilt into it, effectively punching himself in the face at Mach 5 speed. The next night he followed Andre's instructions to the letter, The Giant legendarily quipping "He's learning".

2 Real Life - Steve Williams

An amateur wrestling champion, as well as a collegiate football star, the man who became known as Dr. Death came into WWE in 1998 with the reputation as one of the baddest men walking the wrestling world. He had a legendary run in Japan, almost 18 years long, and according to Jim Ross, the entire Brawl For All tournament could be used to set him up as a legitimate badass opponent for then WWF Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin. While those plans didn't materialize due to a hamstring injury and Bart Gunn's miraculous left hook, Steve Williams is still considered one of the toughest and meanest wrestlers to ever come through the WWE. He even went on to survive a battle with cancer, so even outside the business the man was made of stern stuff.

1 On-Screen - Hulk Hogan

The 80s' greatest money-maker and central to the 90s' rejuvenation of pro wrestling, Hogan nevertheless has earned a reputation among his peers as a bit of a weasel and someone who routinely won't stand in the face of hardship unless he thinks it's an easy win. There are reports of Glacier (WCW's Sub Zero ripoff) choking Hogan out after Hogan got wind of him boasting about replacing Hulk who then tried to fight him. Hogan also isn't worried about hurting weaker individuals, infamously choking out Richard Belzer on national TV and letting the man drop to the floor and crack his head open. He once insulted Harley Race, who then pulled a gun on The Hulkster when Hulk thought he was bluffing.

He's famous for his wild lying and exaggerating as well, on top of all his nefarious machinations behind the scenes to maintain his position. His current reputation now seems to have been accumulated from years of bad karma buildup and tells a sad story for the formerly venerated wrestling megastar.