More often than not, people involved in the pro wrestling industry tend to get a false sense of toughness. Now, backing up just a little, there's an argument to be made that simply being involved in such a legitimately arduous business requires at least some degree of mental and physical strength, but the fact that wrestling is far more exciting when performers co-operate (as opposed to going into business for themselves) cannot be ignored. John Bradshaw Layfield - once considered one of the WWF/WWE's roughest and toughest - had his reputation taken down a notch or two by an extremely unlikely source. Throwing his weight around, Layfield was knocked on his ass by the diminutive announcer, Joey Styles, during a backstage confrontation several years ago, putting paid to his supposed toughness. Contrast that with the guts and pain tolerance that Triple H showed in 2001, managing to finish a tag-team match on Monday Night Raw even though his quadriceps muscle had literally detached and rolled up his leg, and it becomes clear the kind of people this list focuses on, those who have some authentic to crow about. Bluff has no place here, this article is only for those people in wrestling who have a legitimate reputation for being 'hard' men. The big question is, just how justified are those claims, and who is the hardest guy to ever work in pro wrestling?
Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.
