Toughest wrestler?

It depends what you mean by "tough". Terry Funk has been through some serious shit, but kept on going.
 
harleyrace.jpg


Those mutton chops alone would beat the shit out of 3/4 of today's roster at the same time! God forbid the rest of Harley showed up with them!
 
Quake defeated a goddamn python. Legit kill on his record which makes him, Scott Hall, and Invader 1 the toughest.
 
Kevin Von Erich. He lost all his brothers - three of them were suicides. That he was able to continue on with a remarkable level of dignity and mental health is a testament to just how amazingly well he dealt with a level of adversity most people will never know. This is a level of mental toughness that is just incredible.

For a combination of physical and mental toughness, Harley Race was the toughest. He didn't take drugs so his strength and toughness wasn't enhanced by substances such as PCP (unlike at least one notoriously tough wrestler who not surprisingly did things such as assault police officers) which can give a man inhuman strength. Being out of control to the point you need to be subdued by police on more than one occasion shows a lack of discipline and is a sign of mental weakness. Overall, physically and mentally, Harley was simply the toughest wrestler there ever was.

Honorable mention goes to Danny Hodge.
 
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The Brooklyn Brawler.
 
I remember watching a tape of old Japan matches and there was a tag match involving Haku, Race, Brody and Hansen. I think that's what it was but I could be wrong.

I remember thinking that these were surely the 4 legit toughest wrestlers to ever all be in the same match at one time.

Can you imagine if a shoot broke out during that?

I'm reading Ric Flairs book at the moment, his toughest list was:

  • Harley Race
  • Black Jack Mulligan
  • Dick Slater
  • Mad Dog Vachon
  • Wahoo McDaniel
 
Meng's reputation and wrestlers stories about him are pretty much at folklore status in the industry.

A lot of tough wrestlers but im going to give special props to Vince. When he popped both quads and didn't even yelp or break character -- just sat there and kept jawing at the ref and wrestlers was pretty bad ass.

Him taking that table bump off the cage always makes me cringe too. As crazy as that guy is, he's probably one of the few executives in corporate America willing to do shit that even the lowest employee on the roster wouldn't want to do.
 
Meng
Stan Hansen
Bruiser Brody
Harley Race
Terry Funk


A lot of the old school guys were just straight up tough dudes. They were gritty and lived a hard lifestyle. I can see Hansen and Brody cleaning out some bar in a small texas town.
 
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