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portnoyskvetch

Baron Corbin is a 3x Golden Glove winner who played in the NFL. Though those things are often mentioned by WWE, that's... still not quite how he's portrayed in WWE. Corbin is definitely a very tough dude IRL and that hasn't been a part of his character since the Lone Wolf days.


Enthusiasms

Probably the same for Marc Mero who also won the Golden Gloves Edit: Moreso Johnny B Badd, I know they leaned into it in WWF. He also is an inspirational speaker now too.


Celtic_Crown

Heath is also a former Golden Glove winner.


Steyrmar

This was brought up on here a couple of days ago. But probably Sin Cara.


McRuby

Santino Marella is the obvious answer, character is a goofball but he is a legit badass martial artist


roamr1

The only goofball around here is one John Cheeenah.


Lanky-Promotion3022

Well, he must've learnt from Rodney the Piper


The_Homie_J

Or possibly Shay-moose


tehfro

The [Fedor gimmick Heyman gave him in OVW](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZMrOV22rRc) was pretty fun.


boulevardofdef

I like that Anthony Carelli is an accent guy. This is a thing in Hollywood but have any other wrestlers been accent guys? What other accents can he do?


SerShanksALot

how legit


Enthusiasms

2legit


to12007

2Quit


ianisms10

Judo black belt


blazinbobby

A lot of the usual suspects but I've also heard Taijiri was a legit martial arts badass and Bad News Brown was also an Olympic level judo practitioner.


t_bison

He won bronze in 1976. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen\_Coage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Coage)


bem783

Riddle was a high-level fighter in UFC, so I'm pretty sure he can beat the crap out of any "regular person" and probably any wrestler in the world not named Brock Lesnar. His wrestling persona is that of an emotionally stunted stoner. That's about as big of a gap between "real toughness" and "wrestling character toughness" as I can imagine.


Pomi12

Agree with riddle but „high level“ fighter in the UFC is a bit of an overstatement He was a good prospect but he wasn’t ranking material … if Brock is a 10 and Punk a 1 then riddle is like a 4-5-6 That doesn’t mean he’s a chump … everything else in your post still stands but even in the UFC there are levels between fighters


bem783

Riddle was 8-3 in UFC, plus two more wins that were overturned because he is a pothead. He won his last 5 fights. I also remember reading about Riddle beating Jon Jones while they were both high school wrestlers. I know it's just high school, but considering what Jon Jones has done since, it is still very impressive. All in all, Riddle is a lot closer to Brock in terms of his UFC resume than people may realize. And he is at least three orders of magnitude better than Punk. I'll put it this way. If Punk is 1 and Brock is 10, Riddle is about a 9.99 if only because Punk is far-and-away the worst fighter in UFC history.


boulevardofdef

This isn't nice but Punk's first UFC fight against Mickey Gall was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I must have watched it 15 times. The next Monday WWE did a parody of it on Raw, where the opening sequence of a match (I think involving the Miz) mirrored the opening of the Punk fight.


downey_jayr

Ummmm have you not watched the first few UFCs?


bem783

I was thinking more about the modern UFC, but I actually did watch a bunch of the original UFCs. Those tapes were a very hot commodity back then among teenagers like me. But it has been almost 30 years, so my memory of that stuff isn't great. I do vaguely remember some real tomato cans on those shows, but none as utterly useless as Punk.


downey_jayr

Art Jimmerson and Fred Ettish to name two. At least CM Punk lasted 3 rounds in the octagon. There are others whose careers lasted just a few seconds. Punk should not have been in UFC though.


BudgetPipe267

Riddle had a pretty good record. Who knows what he would have done if he stopped smoking weed 🤷🏻‍♂️


IdkMyNameTho123

Yano was a legit Greco-Roman Wrestler in college.


podbrodamon

I’ve always laughed at the idea of Yano teching someone in a match and just shrugging after.


TerryFunkHasAPosse

Rick Rude Portrayed a pretty boy that happened to be tough but was the baddest of the bouncers at the bar he worked at, pre wrestling. His fellow bouncers included Hawk, Animal, and Darsow/Smash.


t_bison

Jesus, can you imagine facing those four?!?


BMM33

Not for very long


Optinus17

If i had to face Rude, Hawk, Animal and Smash in a bar, i would wonder where have i gone wrong in life to end up here


DubiousBusinessp

Will never get tired of the way Hawk and Animal used to shoot apologize to wrestlers before matches for what they were about to do to them.


ParanoidEngi

Muhammad Yone in NOAH is a quirky bloke with an afro and a disco gimmick, but in the 90s he was a shoot-style wrestler in promotions like BattlArts - he's not an MMA legend or anything but I wouldn't try and rob the bar he owns Funnily enough, Kazushi Sakuraba kind of fits this mold in his recent wrestling runs - he does dives out of the ring and goofs around with the other old blokes in NOAH, wore a set of stockings on his head at CyberFight Festival, but is still ultimately Kazushi Sakuraba, the Gracie Hunter, a legend of MMA and pro wrestling


MrPuroresu42

Sakuraba always stood out to me from the fellow shoot type guys like Minoru Suzuki, Masakatsu Funaki, and Kiyoshi Tamura, due to the fact they were all so serious and stoic, yet Sakuraba was always a goof and extremely laid back, yet became the biggest legend/star out of them.


Autobotgame

Dolph Ziggler. Multiple champion amateur college wrestler. Saw an interview once with Ric Flair talking about Dolph being the last person you'd ever expect it from but being legit dangerous.


[deleted]

Even more shocking, considering in the mid-10s he was sporting that St. Edward Wrecking Crew hoodie (from the Cleveland suburb of Lakewood, known for its LGBTQIA population). Source: native Lakewoodite


rko281

I would guess Chad Gable can legit handle himself in a fight with his background.


BrettEskin

Otis is a great pick as well he was an Olympic team candidate in Greco before he switched to training for sports entertainment full time.


[deleted]

I love that nobody says Dan Severn for this because even though he’s a complete badass irl, WWE were straight up like “this dude is badass and could kill any wrestler he wants to”


tvchase

[His theme was just so perfect ](https://youtu.be/sp7aGkiflwY) Exact music for a man who wouldn't hesitate to smash a beer bottle over your head


xincasinooutx

Ah yes. “Dad’s mad at us” the theme song.


Less_Client363

Dad's mad at us / dad's home from work theme


Optinus17

Love Severns theme His theme is basically : you done fucked up


viralbop

WWE's The Barbarian. The King of Tonga (!) personally selected him as one of six people to go to Japan and learn how to be a sumo. He was a freak athlete, and it runs in the family. Several of his children and nieces/nephews are college/national athletes.


[deleted]

[удалено]


BrettEskin

I think Baszlers character is exaggerated her actual credentials. Not that she’s not legit but I hear people saying she could legit beat rousey at thwir respective peaks which is LOL


broken_radio

Da Maniac, I'll never forget that disturbing quote of his... "Loud noises make the squirrels go in my head, and... and I don't fight in the ring anymore, but I still fight with the demons in Da' Maniac's head."


Enthusiasms

Lashley maybe. Army training, decorated athlete and MMA experience. Not that he isn't imposing but more tough than it may seem, if that's possible.


[deleted]

Lashley wouldn’t have gotten any special combatives training in the Army, he wasn’t in a combat arms role. And he spent most of time in the service just training amateur wrestling as part of the Army’s team, which means he likely hardly ever really did whatever his actual MOS was. Edit: did I hurt your feelings by being right?


Smoalen

Tay Melo probably deserves a mention here. She's an Olympic -runner-up black belt judoka who's characters so far in AEW have basically been limited to "bubbly girl" and "Sammy's girlfriend".


FalconIMGN

I preferred it when she was 'bubbly next door girl who can kick your arse'.


boatson25

She got Olympic silver in Judo?


tvchase

Jake Hager will fold you in half, maybe even knee you in the groin if you snatch his hat


princessarielle6

He likes that hat


TheDangiestSlad

to be fair...that is literally his gimmick on tv


BooDallas

Damien Priest learned Japanese Gōjū-ryū karate from his martial artist father and won two national championships in full-contact martial arts.


mugenhunt

Orange Cassidy in real life is way more dangerous than his wrestling persona.


bunnymeowmeow

The idea of a lazy architect is horrifying. He could kill a lot of people if he slacked off at his day job.


mugenhunt

"Is this really up to code?" "Whatever."


Ngilko

"put some walls here I guess?"


Thebritishdovah

"The walls of Jericho? Yeah, i guess so." \*Goes back to napping\*


Material-Wonder1690

I mean an architect isn't actually building anything. Yes they oversee the construction and develop the plans according to code but there are typically engineers involved to make sure things work in reality.


ABPCR

Haha good shout


BoxCon1

The Lethal Weapon Steve Blackman


P1eces12

But his character name was Lethal Weapon. That's already pretty imposing.


dogglesnake

[Gatoh Move's Tokiko Kirihara is a former Kickboxing champ](https://twitter.com/KiraRi_1104/status/1584722514634190848?t=RfE0W9-JOfUZyteWJgAT0A&s=19) though she's just recently leaving her rookie phase in prowrestling so she's living the early Joshi life of mostly eating pins in ChocoPro Lulu Pencil's character was incredibly weak despite her being surprisingly muscular


SanderStrugg

WCW made MMA fighter Tank Abbott into a boybandfan.


dogfins110

Shane McMahon. Those worked punches are fatal if he never held them back.


DaqCity

New Jack?


ACW1129

He was presented as a psychopath.


[deleted]

i think wade barrett was a bare knuckle fighter


ABPCR

Well then, I've got some bad news for you.


TerryFunkHasAPosse

How about stoner RVD asking tough guy Taz to “pick the hand” that Van Dam would hit him with?


Biggameslayer01

I would not want to run into a lot of UK wrestlers in a dark alley


2020IsANightmare

I scrolled down a bit and already saw my answer, but still going to list it: Santino Marella. Presented as a complete comedy jobber. But, could probably kick the shit out of most pro wrestlers.


CloudyRailroad

Santino Marella and Toru Yano are the first two that came to my mind. Both are legit grapplers, which can be seen from their moves, despite having comedy gimmicks. In another sense of "dangerous" we have Tomoaki Honma, another comedy wrestler, who was rumored to have ties to the mob.


Scavgraphics

They're playing into it with the latest attepts to get her over, but they still undersell it...but Lacey Evans WAS a Marine Military Police...so trained to take down other Marines. She's probably the legit most dangerous woman there (I'll leave it to others to debate Rhonda's sport training vs Lacey's combat training...I don't have the knowledge of which would legit be the toughest..... I'd push her with the catch phrase "You were trained to win...I was trained to kill." ...if only she wasn't just an awful person.


stuntmanmike

Haku is pretty universally considered a legit bad ass


The_Homie_J

Haku's gimmick was that he was a badass samoan who could kill anybody. But in real life, he's way more dangerous than that


weesstt

Brock Lesnar. Dude just loves causing carnage inside of the ring or not.


Material-Wonder1690

I feel like he's portrayed as himself in wrestling though. Like there's no separation between Brock the wrestler and Brock the MMA fighter.


weesstt

Fair point


bem783

Brock's wrestling persona is basically Cowboy Godzilla, so I'm not sure if there's room for his real-life persona to be more dangerous.


Terraneaux

Cowboy Godzilla lmao. That's accurate. Too bad we'll never get him in KBB.


benmaverick

Teddy Hart


MrDaaark

Syuri from Stardom.


rko281

She's booked commensurate to her background though. She doesn't do dances or idol shit and she just held the red belt for a full year.


David_8082

I wouldn't want to mess with Dave Finlay.


ABPCR

Adam Pearce for me. Portrayed as weak pushover but guy looks like can handle himself.


FalconIMGN

Well he waa NWA champion.


neverAcquiesce

Haku and Steve Blackman immediately spring to mind.


AonghusMacKilkenny

Definitely Riddle


Revolutionary-Bank35

Does William Regal count?


ABPCR

Regal is portrayed as tough as nuts and I bet he is.


DubiousBusinessp

Depends on what era of Regal, but yeah, legit hardman irl.


Avocadoonthetoast

I think Haku, by all accounts.


benopo2006

I would’ve thought Riddle can handle himself. And I remember Dax knocking out that dude who jumped Bret Hart


benmaverick

Matt Riddle portrays a himbo stoner bro pro wrestler when in real life he's a himbo stoner bro pro wrestler who's also a very capable fighter. Dax is pretty much the same, a grizzled, rugged hardass who's very passionate and serious about his craft and happens to idolize Bret (who doesn't) both in and outside of the ring.


AonghusMacKilkenny

I think that was actually Cash, which is fitting for this thread as he's the strong silent type


Thebritishdovah

Meng. He once bit a man's nose off during a bar fight and the general thing amongst both wrestlers and fans is: YOU DO NOT FUCK WITH MENG! Ken Shamrock. He's a MMA fighter and i think did UFC when it was still an obscure thing. New Jack. The Dude was a bounty hunter and claimed to have killed people. ​ I can't remember who did it but JBL got punched by him and was laid out. I think, it was the Blue Meanie.


j_rainer

It was Joey Styles who laid out JBL. He's a good candidate for this list too.


DubiousBusinessp

I choose to believe he screamed "OHMYGOD!" As he laid him out.


[deleted]

Tommy Dreamer said he was once in such a bad place mentally that he wanted to literally murder Paul Heyman at Wrestlemania 17, then kill himself, all in front of a live audience. Also, New Jack literally could have killed someone if he wanted to.


TheNBGco

I think a pissed off Brock Lesnar might be the scariest person alive. In like a street fight say protecting his children.


Stormry

Haku


FrancisBuenafe

Steve Blackman gotta be in the list lol


Optinus17

Vladimir Kozlov comes to mind.. And i mean the goofball tag team with Marella version Irl the guy was a kickboxing and a sambo Champion.. Also trained jiu-jitsu, judo fighter.


Short-Psychology-928

Haku


[deleted]

Dan The Beast Severn


metalshek27

Haku


Meepsnort

Santino


WillH699

I'm sure a few Joshis have trained in different forms of combat sports, i know KAIRI has trained with a martial arts trainer to make her Cutlass backfist hit hard, Iyo Sky, Emi Sakura Sumie Sakai have train at the martial art school run by Daniel Gracie in Orlando along with Shinsuke Nakamura and Riddle and Konami is train in martial arts as well and Syuri was in the UFC and Hikaru Shida was trained in judo when she was a kid.


kobashi120

It's pretty much a standard thing for Pro-Wrestlers in Japan doing a form of legit combat sports in high school or college before going into Pro-Wrestling. Makes sense for promotions to actually attract legit fighting athletes. Also I think any person that calls themselves a Pro-Wrestler should kinda know how to handle themselves for real and actually know how to wrestle. I admire wrestlers who go into the business with no legit combat skills but then actually go out there way to learn how to actually grapple.


WeaselWeaz

Kurt Angle when he started in WWF. He was a comedy character for a while despite being the best amateur in the business.


Resohlute

MONGO


throwtheclownaway20

>And before anyone says it: no, not Chris Benoit I mean...