Follow TV Tropes

This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.

Following

Nightmare Fuel / Professional Wrestling

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mick_foley_blood_3147.jpg
We should probably note that he has bled EVEN MORE than this at times!

Yes, even the so-called "soap opera for men" is capable of scaring the living daylights out of fans, as evidenced by these examples:


  • The 1989 match in CSP between Manny Fernandez and Invader #3. The Invaders of Puerto Rico were some of the most hardcore of wrestlers, pretty much defining the barbwire match before FMW got the idea to replace the ropes with it, but this was far more disturbing than any gimmick match, just Manny Fernandez trying to crush 3's stomach and chest with knee drops, which resulted in him sputtering out blood. Fernandez said he was trying to kill 3 in revenge to avenge the death of Bruiser Brody, but if that is true this was a case of Mistaken Identity, as 3 had nothing to with that incident.
  • WWE's Elimination Chamber and TNA's Steel Asylum, both of which add more opponents, more steel and chain, and more opportunity for bloodshed and injury. Remember, kids, Professional Wrestling is fake, but the odds of getting hurt are real. Just ask Mick Foley.
  • A non-wrestling fan's first thought on seeing a hardcore match is something like "Oh my God, that guy's got tacks in his arm, how the hell are they faking this?". Then you realise they aren't.
  • Se7en, the gimmick that never was. When Dustin Rhodes came back to WCW after his run as Goldust, he was presented as a mysterious white-faced figure who lurked outside a child's window, watching him. The suits at Turner immediately nixed the gimmick, finding him too scary, and finding him uncomfortably similar to a child abductor. Can't say anyone blames 'em.
  • In early 2014, TNA had a feud between Mr. Anderson and Bully Ray. At the time, Bully Ray was being portrayed as completely unhinged with an arsonist vibe after Anderson caused the Aces And Eights to be disbanded. The two had a confrontation promo that took place in a funeral parlor. The camera work was a very strange (for wrestling) cinematic style with multiple cuts but was nonetheless effective. Bully threatened to burn down everything that Anderson cared about and directed his attention to an open coffin. Mr. Anderson reached inside and pulled out... a set of children's pajamas. Anderson turned around but Bully had vanished without a trace. It's one thing to beat up an opponent in the ring, or jump them in the back, or ram their car with a semi, but this is the first time a wrestler has threatened to burn down an opponent's home with his children still inside.
  • Ring of Honor had the debut of The Age Of The Fall: Jimmy Jacobs recruits Tyler Black, Lacey and Necro Butcher to his cause, and then after the Briscoe Brothers conclude a ladder match, the four of them proceed to beat the shit out of the Briscoe Brothers... and then they suspend Jay Briscoe by his legs from the rafters. And it got better: Jimmy proceeded to stand directly under Jay (who barely moved and actually did look like he was dead or unconscious) and started giving a speech about how he, Tyler and Necro were done with being shunned and had decided to start making their own way up the ranks instead of waiting for invitations that would never come... while Jay's blood was falling on him. ROH deemed it to be too disturbing to show, until the fans managed to convince them to show it. Hell, the crowd were even chanting 'You sick fuck!' at the beginning.
  • From the unscripted side of things: any time at all that someone suffers a horrible injury in an event not catered around it. Yes, you expect to see such things in matches with names like "Hell in a Cell" or "No ropes barb-wire match", but even plain-Jane bouts have gruesome consequences sometimes. Some of the more famous "highlights" through the years include:
    • Bob Holly getting suplexed through a table and ending up with a SIXTEEN INCH gash across his back.
    • Owen Hart visibly crushing Steve Austin's neck at SummerSlam 1997 with a botched piledrivernote 
    • Any time Sabu pulls a botch more severe than a flat crash landing...
    • Most infamous was the horrific, horrific injury Sid Vicious suffered at WCW Sin in 2001. He attempted a flying dropkick on Scott Steiner, but Sid botching the move lead to him landing right on one foot, which unsurprisingly couldn't withstand his entire 300lb+ weight, resulting in his ankle snapping in half and bending at a 90 degree angle! The injury was so gruesome his leg almost had to be amputated. Watch it here. WARNING: Graphic.
  • You've been trading wrestling tapes, were convinced this series revolving around some "ChickFight" of Cheerleader Melissa was worth something you parted with despite your doubts of it being something silly in the vein of GLOW. Sure enough there is some of that but not as much as feared, then you get to a Real Quality bit where Melissa renders an opponent unable to continue by severing one of the ligaments in her leg with a pop can...ouch.
  • Jana's assault on the five foot nothing Luscious Latasha at WSU included several splashes after Latasha stated she couldn't afford to get in the ring because she was pregnant. Less so later, when it was revealed Latasha was mistaken and Jana, (who by now wasn't just sick of Latasha's constant blunders but also violently insane) was giving her a "good" reason to go the hospital but was to many who saw the event before the reveal.
  • Veda Scott's match with Cherry Bombnote  at Absolute Intense Wrestling: Girls Night Out 4, which proceeded normally until the end, when Cherry Bomb set Scott up for a dropkick into the turnbuckle... and Scott's head went straight over the turnbuckle and into the ring post, knocking her unconscious.
  • In the Feb. 22, 2015 edition of World Wonder Ring Stardom in Kōrakuen Hall, Yoshiko inexplicably broke from the script and attacked Act Yasukawa for real, beating her to a bloody pulp, complete with broken orbital bone, broken nose, and concussion. She also repeatedly attacked her eyes, even though Yasukawa had been struggling with Graves' disease which weakens the eyes and threatens blindness. As the security guards drag her away and Yasukawa is taken to the hospital, Yoshiko gives a smug smile.
  • Leva Bates' promos from SHINE 25 onwards have her murdering unknown people with the camera having the viewpoint of the victim, juxtaposed with dreamy love songs and Leva's passionate words about how she's fighting evil. It's like a horror movie.
  • Lucha Underground has Matanza, an unseen monster who wiped out Black Lotus' village, has committed God knows how many other atrocities, and straight up murdered Bael by eating his fucking head. The poor bastard didn't even get time to scream.
  • That time one of The Young Bucks gave Candice LeRae a superkick while he was wearing a shoe with thumbtacks glued to the sole. There was blood everywhere. In the same match, the Young Bucks shoved thumbtacks into Joey Ryan's mouth and then kicked him in the face. Not to be outdone, Candice at one point ballsplexed one of the Bucks into the turnbuckle, dropped a handful of thumbtacks down his pants, and then ballsplexed him again…into the remaining thumbtacks.
  • The July 20th 2019 edition of WWC Superestrellas capped off with a contract signing between "The Precious One" Gilbert and Orlando Colon. It's been done to the point of cliche. A wrestling promotion tries to convince fans the big show match they've been hyping for three months+ is in fact going to happen by having the competitors publicly state they will show up in writing. Words may be exchanged to give one an idea of what tone this will match have, there may even be a quickly broken up physical exchange to give one a preview of the action. That Gilbert had El Gran Armando and Pedro Portillo III with him was a sign things may be a little different and sure enough Gilbert jumped to the physical part early and beat down Orlando with their help. The fans called for Orlando's cousin Eddie to save him but Comandante and Doom Patrol standing in preparation for any baby faces that might interfere suggested more would be needed. Eddie did get past the "guards" but his next opponent on the Aniversario tour, "El Rebelde" Noriega, came out and handcuffed Eddie Colon's wrist to the bottom ring rope so he could only watch as Armando and Pedro held Orlando still while Gilbert stripped of his clothing and then broke a wine bottle over Orlando's head. Gilbert proceeded to beat Orlando from head to toe with the broken bottle until he had nothing but a shard of glass in his hand and Orlando was wearing a suit of his own blood.

Top