10 Most Brutal Women's Wrestling Matches Ever

2. Combat Toyoda Vs. Megumi Kudo – FMW 7th Anniversary Show

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FMW

Speaking of Combat Toyoda's retirement bout...

During its initial 1989-2002 run, FMW became famous for putting on some of the most violent wrestling matches seen around the world at that time. To be fair, once a promotion was founded by legendary hardcore icon Atsushi Onita, you always had an inkling that this company may be a tad more than just your basic mat-based action.

In 1990, Onita brought in Noriyo Toyoda alongside Megumi Kudo and Reibun Amada to form a group called the Three Outbreakers. Skip ahead barely a month, Toyoda and Amada had a change of attitude, turned on their stablemate Kudo, and Toyoda dropped the Noriyo in favour of Combat.

So often it's been said how it's better to go out with a bang rather than a whimper, and it was with a literal bang that Toyoda called time on her career. Having established herself as one of the most violent women in wrestling history, she handpicked Megumi Kodo for her retirement match in '96 - which was as an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch.

Just seeing Toyoda, championship gold in hand, staring a hole through her BFF-turned-rival-turned-BFF is enough to send a shiver of terror down your spine.

Like so many of the best deathmatches, Combat Toyoda vs. Megumi Kudo doesn't do too much too soon. Instead, the early goings finds the pair feeling each other out, desperate to avoid the barbed wire that surrounds them.

Once things really get going though, man, do they really get going. Barbed wire pierces plentiful flesh, bodies are burned, and there are countless shots of a watching audience who have their heads in their hands at what they're seeing.

The end saw Kudo get the win, leaving even Onita in awe, as Noriyo 'Combat' Toyoda rode off into the sunset.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.