10 Wrestling Matches So Brutal They Hurt To Watch
3. Cactus Jack Vs. Randy Orton (WWE Backlash 2004)
Randy Orton deserves a medal for the pain he was willing to put himself through at Backlash 2004. Up against Mick Foley's maniacal Cactus Jack persona, the then-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champion tortured his frame beyond belief. More accurately, sharp thumb tacks tortured Orton.
Facing Foley in a Hardcore battle, Randy and his peer used such delights as barbed wire boards, a barbed wire baseball bat, meaty bumps off the entrance stage and the aforementioned drawing pins to great effect. Watching this match with a non-wrestling fan is an enlightening experience, because they are very much likely to stare in abject horror and question preconceived ideas that wrestling isn't real.
When Orton goes for his patented RKO onto the tacks, instead receiving a flat back bump on top of them, fans in the front row just about seem to lose their lunch. The gore isn't exactly wild, but the shaking Randy performs upon feeling the pins pierce his skin seems totally real.
Seeing little trickles of blood trail down his back from each puncture mark is grim, it's very unlikely anyone can watch this match without feeling their eye twitch and face start to contort.