Although they exist in countless varieties, deathmatches all have two things in common: they're the grisliest, bloodiest matches in the wrestling industry, and you're never likely to see one in the WWE. The older, deadlier brother of the mainstream hardcore match, the deathmatch first rose to prominence in Japan in the 1980s, propelling stars such as Terry Funk and Abdullah The Butcher to stardom. They were brought to semi-mainstream American attention by ECW the following decade, and even saw their influence appear in some of Mick Foley's more brutal matches under the McMahon banner (although it would be a stretch to describe even the most violent of these matches a true deathmatch). The rule of thumb when booking a deathmatch seems to involve finding something which should never feature in a wrestling bout, and basing the entire match around it. Wrestling history has seen glass, barbed wire, small explosives, nails, thumbtacks, light tubes, gardening tools and staplers, all used legitimately to create an ultra-realistic spectacle for the industry's most bloodthirsty fans. Deathmatches are understandably frowned upon by large sections of the wrestling community, not only for their extremely dangerous nature, but also because they tend to be sloppy, low-quality affairs.
