8 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Jan 27)

7. Atsushi Onita Is Still Blowing Himself Up

Atsushi Onita, garbage wrestling pioneer, set the wrestling landscape of the early 1990s literally ablaze by popularising an unhinged sub-genre (and sub-genre, and sub-genre) of death matches, each with a more convoluted and painful-looking name than the last, in his revolutionary Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling promotion.

Incinerating and tearing apart his own flesh with explosives and barbed wire, the lunatic compensated for the technical skill he lacked to make it in one of the big two traditional promotions by crafting a style predicated on suspense - he would teeter into the wire with an agonisingly slow wobble - and ultra violent release. Atsushi Onita was ravaging himself in Barbed Wire Barricades Death Matches in 1990. Twenty-seven years later, after multiple, reneged-upon retirements, he's doing the same thing. On January 22, he won a Current Blast Royal Rumble - and, just for laughs, with a broken leg - after narrowly averting an explosion to cover the 52-year-old TARU for the pin.

Much like the similarly decrepit Iron Sheik at WrestleMania X-Seven, Onita had to win because he was physically unable to take a bump over the top rope. Being in perilously close proximity to explosives was fine, though.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!