The word "Hardcore" brings many images, matches, and memories to mind for wrestling fans. Arguably, hardcore wrestling was the catalyst for the wrestling boom of the late 90s, but the evolution of the style goes back decades and this article will rank the true pioneers of the blue print of hardcore. From the world's most famous bingo hall, the ECW arena in Philadelphia to the legendary Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, the hardcore style thrilled (and terrified) fans for decades. While the industry as a whole evolved and the hardcore trend ran it's course during much of the 90s, the impact of the style changed the wrestling business, even to this day. More specifically, there was much more to the revolutionary style than blood, barbed wire, and fire. The pacing of both the matches and storylines were drastically changed after the more extreme style became apart of main stream wrestling TV. However, long before Mankind became the WWE hardcore champion in 1998, Crowbar was WCW hardcore champion in 1999, or an alphabet soup of independent promotions started promoting "ultra violent" matches in the early 2000s, there was a group of individuals that provided the foundation for all of it. Consider these, The Godfathers of Hardcore:
