Most Dangerous ECW Wrestlers

Lasting from about 1992 until 2001, Extreme Championship Wrestling was a pivotal company in the 1990s. For nearly a decade, ECW strived to deliver a pro wrestling alternative to die-hard fans who were sick of the cartoonish happenings in WCW and WWE. While the promotion featured a variety of pro wrestling styles, ECW was best known for its violent, weapons-laden matches, which became known as hardcore wrestling.

The 20 Most Violent And Bloody Matches In ECW History

Wrestling fans will instantly associate the ECW with carnage and bloodshed, and we're counting the league's 10 most violent matches.

Because of this, some of ECW’s most beloved stars were its most violent, many of which to an intimidating degree. Let’s take a look at the 10 ECW wrestlers who seemed the most dangerous — at least one of whom was legitimately dangerous.

10 Rob Van Dam Had A Unique Style

RVD Combined High-Flying & Hardcore

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1996-2001	ECW Television Champion, ECW Tag Team Champion

One of the most beloved ECW stars ever is Rob Van Dam, who looked a bit like his action movie namesake Jean-Claude and enjoyed epic reigns with the promotions’ TV and Tag Team titles. With a style that fused martial arts, high-flying stunts, and hardcore wrestling, RVD delivered loads of high-risk moves that fans had never seen before — often with chairs. One of his great go-to signatures is the Van Daminator, in which puts a chair in front of his opponent’s face and kicks it.

9 Bam Bam Bigelow Was One Of ECW’s Great Big Men

Bigelow Had Already Had Runs In WWE and NJPW When He Showed Up In ECW

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1996-1998	ECW World Heavyweight Champion, ECW Television Champion

Given that he wrestled for WWE during the Golden Era, Bam Bam Bigelow was a weird fit for that promotion. After all, he was a huge, bearded man with missing teeth, a huge head tattoo, and was ridiculously athletic for his size. Ultimately, he seemed like a better fit for ECW, and wrestled there in the mid to late 1990s. During his time in the promotion, he tangled with many ECW mainstays including Rob Van Dam, Sabu and the Dudleys, and felt like a powerful, unstoppable force. ECW fans certainly remember his match with Taz, where they ended up crashing down through the ring.

8 The Sandman Was An ECW Icon

The Five-Time Champion Had A Kendo Stick Pretty Much All The Time

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1992-1998, 1999-2001	ECW World Heavyweight Champion (5x), ECW Tag Team Champion

While he eventually moved on to all the other major promotions of the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Sandman is best associated with ECW. While some fans tend to write off his in-ring abilities, his vibes were undeniably intense.

10 Things Fans Should Know About ECW Legend The Sandman

While The Sandman reached the top of ECW, he was never a huge player in other promotions, so fans today might not know too much about him.

Fans need to look no further than his ring entrance. The Sandman would take forever to make his way through the crowd, smoking, drinking beer, smashing the beer can on his head — all while wielding a kendo stick. Labeled a “Singapore Cane” for topical reasons, Sandman would hit pretty much everyone in sight with it.

7 Mike Awesome Was One Of ECW’s Most Underrated Stars

Awesome Was Ridiculously Intense

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1993-1994, 1997-2000	ECW Tag Team Champion, ECW World Heavyweight Champion (2x)

One of those performers who seemed destined for great things but never really got the shot he deserved, Mike Awesome did his best North American work in ECW. One of wrestling’s most underrated big men who had deceptive athleticism, Awesome was known for his intensity as well as his penchant for delivering a variety of impressive powerbombs, including his signature Awesome Bomb. Of course, die-hard fans know Awesome best for his rivalry with Japanese star Masato Tanaka.

6 Masato Tanaka Was Mike Awesome’s Blood Rival

The Two Had Multiple Legendary Matches

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1998-2000	ECW World Heavyweight Champion, ECW Tag Team Champion

It should come as no surprise that Masato Tanaka was no slouch in the danger department. From 1994 to 2005, Tanaka and Mike Awesome clashed across multiple promotions in Japan and in the States including ECW, WWE, and even a clash in All Japan. More than just a fierce competitor, however, Masato Tanaka was a successful one in ECW as well, as his feud with Awesome resulted in Tanaka capturing the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, albeit for only several days.

5 Terry Funk Was The Elder Statesman Of ECW

Funk Pretty Much Pioneered The Hardcore Wrestling Style

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1993-1999	ECW World Heavyweight Champion (2x), ECW Television Champion

Over the years, ECW had its fair share of veterans venture into the promotion, with the most significant and appropriate being the late, great Terry Funk. Nicknamed “the Hardcore Legend,” the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion helped innovate the hardcore style in his home territory of Texas, which gave rise to hardcore and deathmatch wrestling, which Funk regularly took part in throughout the 1990s. During his time in ECW, Funk had some of the promotion’s most violent matches, some of which involved barbed wire and even, at one point, fire.

4 Sabu Also Combined High Flying & Hardcore

Sabu Used Chairs To Jump Even Higher

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1993-2000	ECW World Heavyweight Champion (2x), ECW Television Champion, ECW Tag Team Champion (3x)

The aforementioned Terry Funk barbed wire match happened at Born To Be Wired, and his dance partner that evening was Sabu, himself no slouch in the hardcore department. In that bout, Sabu infamously cut his arm open and closed it up with surgical tape to finish the fight, guaranteeing his place on this list.

10 Things Wrestling Fans Should Know About The Legend Sabu

Sabu is a hardcore legend beloved by leagues of wrestling fans. Let's learn more about the former ECW World Champion!

Like his tag team partner, Rob Van Dam, Sabu combined hardcore wrestling with high-flying maneuvers, but even more so. One of Sabu’s signature moves was a tope onto opponents standing on the floor, but one assisted by a chair set up in the ring so the legend could get a little extra height.

3 Balls Mahoney Was Nicknamed “The Chair Swinging Freak”

Mahoney Had A Penchant For Steel Chair Violence

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1996-2001	ECW Tag Team Champion (3x)

Given how many wrestlers resort to using steel chairs as weapons, it takes an especially violent wrestler to be strongly associated with them. While his ring name was a bit silly, ECW legend Balls Mahoney was nicknamed “The Chair Swinging Freak” for good reason: that’s exactly what he did. During his time in ECW, Balls was infamous for bashing dudes with chairs as hard as possible. The danger there is obvious, but fans shouldn’t consider him a sadist, because he was also willing to take stiff chair shots himself.

2 Taz Was One Of ECW’s Most Intense Stars

The Future Commentator Was Nicknamed The Human Suplex Machine

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1993-1999	ECW World Heavyweight Champion (2x), ECW Television Champion (2x), ECW Tag Team Champion (3x)

Not every ECW star was known for their love of weaponry. For proof, look no further than Taz. Nicknamed “The Human Suplex Machine,” Taz relied on said move, proving able to throw opponents in a variety of ways, not to mention making them tap out to his signature submission, The Tazzmission. His in-ring abilities were bolstered by his personality, which coupled intensity with a ridiculously bad attitude, making him a perfect fit for ECW, a promotion that was just as much about attitude as it was violence.

1 New Jack Seemed Legitimately Dangerous

New Jack Was Involved In Several Infamous Incidents

ECW Run	Accomplishments
1995-2001	ECW World Tag Team Champion (3x)

It’s tough to imagine a wrestler who embodies the spirit of ECW — risky, line-crossing, and violent — than New Jack. First debuting as one half of the tag team The Gangstas, New Jack gained a notoriety that his partner Mustafa Saed never attained. In the ring, New Jack had wild hardcore matches and did huge dives from high places, but he also became controversial for how many times he legitimately crossed the line. Just considering his time in ECW, New Jack was involved in a number of incidents, including the infamously bloody “Mass Transit incident” as well as breaking another wrestler’s leg on purpose.