10 Ways Wrestlers' Bodies Changed Forever Because Of Wrestling

Deathmatch wrestling is a niche within a niche. A subgenre reserved only for those with the strongest stomachs and wills to match, it is, to the untrained viewer, an artless execution of the sport serving only to shock and awe.

While making the audience gasp through grim, grisly visuals is certainly part of that, distilling deathmatches down to such a reductive description does wrestlers like Masashi Takeda, Atsushi Onita, and Megumi Kudo a great disservice. When performed at the highest level, nothing else captures the looming threat of legitimate danger. People consume deathmatches for reasons similar to those who watch horror movies, though the element of risk is real here, and no wrestlers bleed for their cause like those mentioned above.

While any one of dozens of names could have justifiably filled this spot, few have had their skin torn to shreds like Japan's 'Crazy Monkey' Jun Kasai. The man's torso is repulsive. His back and chest are so torn up he makes Sabu look like Chris Masters, with 20+ years of barbed wire, razors, light tubes, and scissor boards leaving many a mark.