re: Toughest Professional Wrestlers in real life

Sean O'Haire

Related to Finlay, Steven / William Regal is up there too.

That’s more as a shooter than as a bar fighter, though, but he and Finlay had a somewhat legendary match in 1996 where they went out and beat the shite out of each other in a way not done in the US at that time.

Greatest Doink the Clown Story Ever

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So I'm working at Hooters. Been working there for about six months when we hire this big barrel of a guy. Not too tall, but super wide. After a week or so I get to talking to him, and he tells me he used to be Doink the Clown. It's like 1998, so this is before you could find out everything on the internet in two seconds. So I'm not sure if I believe him or not, but he's got STORIES and he knows his shite.

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And so I go back behind the kitchen, cause I'm making like four bucks an hour after taxes and frick if I'm gonna take a beating for that.

But then the two dudes start shoving, so me and my buddy, we're like, "What the frick do we do, call the cops?" and my buddy's like, "frick no, if that guy is really Doink the Clown, then what the frick, he should be able to do stuff right?"

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So we go get Doink and I say, "Hey man, there's shite about to go down out here with these two guys." And he drops the dish he's cleaning and he goes, "SOMEONE IS STARTING shite IN MY frickING RESTAURANT?"

Like, super-serious.

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And this Bulls fan is like, "Shut up ****," and Doink gets in his face and says, "THAT'S REAL BIG TALK."

And that guy says, "frick you fat boy," and right then Doink grabs the dude, with one hand by his crotch and the other hand by his shoulder, and fricking suplexes him down on the ground. Just like in the fricking ring. And that guy's back is just SLAMMED on the hard ground. He's done. Doink looks at me and he goes, "CALL THE frickIN' COPS, THIS DUDE IS OUT."

And I did, and the cops came and arrested the dude. Doink was a hero, man.

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Maybe Doink should be in the discussion? Just sayin....

I don't know much about today's wrestlers, but Mid-South Wrestling was loaded with accomplished athletes and real-life tough guys in the 1980s. "Hacksaw" Butch Reed, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and "Hercules" Hernandez were all said to be legitimately bad dudes. Steve "Dr. Death" Williams was likely the toughest of them all. Many of his exploits have already been mentioned in this thread. He once tore a burning car apart with his bare hands to save a stranger's life when he happened upon a fiery accident while traveling. The story's out there if you'd care to look.

Mid-South Wrestling's owner, "Cowboy" Bill Watts, was a tough man who didn't tolerate his wrestlers being candy-asses. Watts said if any of his wrestlers got into a fight outside the ring, they'd best win or they'd be fired.

These guys wrestled when most folks thought what they saw on TV was real, so "bad guys" were often accosted in public. They had to be double-tough.

Ernie "The Big Cat' Ladd 6'9" 325 lbs

And it aint even close

utube

Current day wrestlers

Minoru Suzuki (NJPW)

Jon Moxley (AEW/NJPW)

Doink was Matt Borne. Never heard of him being in the restaurant biz, but it’s possible. He was involved in Flair’s favorite fight (and lost)

LINK

The Snuka incident was after he murdered his gf Nancy back in the early-80s. He was around 40 at the time.

Hawk
Bruiser Brody
David Lee
Terry Gordy
Dustin Rhodes
Harley Race
Jacques Rougeau
Haku
Steve Williams

Norman Smiley aka The Big Wiggle. Actual showmanship and top notch professionalism.