10 Wrestling Legends Who Bled The Most For Their Art
6. Atsushi Onita
Tangled up in barbed wire whilst explosives go off beneath you. Sounds more like a WWI trench than a wrestling ring yet former FMW ace/disgraced politician Atsushi Onita found himself doing this in the Tokyo Dome on the regular.
The first official graduate of All Japan’s dojo, he was afflicted with various injuries during his run as their junior heavyweight ace. After a brief comeback attempt, Onita took 3 years away from the ring to recuperate. Upon returning, Onita reinvented himself as the masochistic, chain smoking rebel that’s left buckets of blood all over the world.
Often regarded as the original king and creator of the deathmatch, Onita’s sadistic displays were a smash hit with Japanese audiences and led to deathmatch wrestling becoming a staple throughout the wrestling world to this day. Controversial to the end, deathmatch wrestling still sickens and entertains audiences in equal measures in promotions such as Big Japan and Botchamania favourite CZW.
A multiple time retiree, the only thing one can really trust in regards to Onita is that his bouts will not be appropriate for the whole family.