10 Stiffest Wrestling Matches Ever
1. Vader Vs Nobuhiko Takada - 1994
When it comes to stiff, there's no outdoing the UWF. The company had three separate iterations, but they were all shoot-style promotions, with a focus being put on reality. Matches were decided by submission or knockout (and later, with a point-based system), the strikes were stiff, and the holds were tight.
There were many stars in the UWF throughout its existence - including founder Akira Maeda, legend Yoshiaki Fujiwara, and original Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama - and one of the legends of the league in its later days was former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Nobuhiko Takada. Takada's early '90s feud with reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vader (known in the UWF as Super Vader) was a huge moneymaker for the company, and resulted in what was possibly the stiffest worked match in wrestling history.
On August 18, 1994, at Budokan Hall, Vader defeated Takada for the UWF's Real Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship. The size differential meant that the bout was a precursor to the Danielson-Morishima match, but this was even more intense - Vader was absolutely mauling Takada, and the kicks that the champion threw in return were rib-breaking in their intensity. In the end, Vader beat Takada so badly that he couldn't get to his feet, and a new champion was crowned.