Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega’s match at Full Gear was intense, violent, and a thrilling nod to old-school wrestling. AEW’s decision to go “lights out,” literally cutting the lights and restarting them to signify the “unsanctioned” nature of the bloody brawl, was a cool touch. But before we dive into that, let me tell you about a guy named Bull Curry.
You know AEW got something right when a search for “Moxley” this week automatically pairs with “vs Omega,” and the results are filled with debates like “Did Moxley and Omega Go Too Far?”. That’s the kind of heat you want.
But this is nothing new. Wrestling promotions have been turning to unsanctioned, hardcore, no-rules matches for decades. These matches have invaded mainstream wrestling before, most notably in the mid-to-late ’90s with ECW’s rise and the subsequent creation of hardcore divisions, wrestlers, and championship belts in both WWF and WCW. Japan’s wrestling history is also filled with hardcore matches, featuring talent from around the world. A prime example is IWA’s 1995 King of the Death Match in Kawasaki, which culminated in Terry Funk and Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack) slamming each other onto barbed wire-wrapped boards charged with C4 explosives. On the flip side, look at WCW’s mid-’90s run of Uncensored pay-per-views for some of the worst attempts at “non-company sanctioned” matches. Even today, some promotions fully embrace ECW’s legacy, sanctioning only “unsanctioned” matches—take CZW, for example.
If people are asking whether Omega and Moxley went too far, it’s likely because they’ve forgotten hardcore wrestling’s dominance 20 years ago. They may not remember when the Undertaker shoved Mick Foley’s tooth up Foley’s own nose (or when Foley did it to himself against Taker), nor do they pay attention to underground promotions still pushing the style.
If they don’t remember that Hell in a Cell, they definitely won’t remember Bull Curry. But whether you’re watching Mike Awesome and Tanaka powerbomb each other through tables in ECW, Mick Foley destroy his body against anyone, Triple H’s sledgehammer-infused “street fights” at WrestleMania, or any wrestler bleed from a chair shot, you’re witnessing something that began on a national scale with Bull Curry.
While his name might be obscure now, Bull Curry was a household name in the ’50s and ’60s. You could even buy “Wild Bull’s Overnight Fire Logs” to “turn the heat up!” Curry’s wild man persona, inside and outside the ring, commanded attention. His bushy black eyebrows and wild curly hair only added to his madman look. He honed his craft in wrestling’s most organic environment: the carnival.
Born Fred Koury to a Lebanese-American family, Bull Curry started working at a circus as a teenager because his family was too poor to provide otherwise. He performed as a tough man, taking on challengers from the crowd. As an adult, Koury became a policeman, and as the (wrestling) legend goes, he earned his nickname by wrangling and subduing a bull that had escaped from the stockyards—using only his bare hands.
In the ’40s, Wild Bull Curry began working in the Detroit wrestling territory and developed a “hardcore” style, often using arena folding chairs and other weapons on his opponents (who often reversed the intent and bloodied Curry instead). His reputation grew to the point where, when boxing champ Jack Dempsey toured the country, Curry was chosen to put on an exhibition match with him (kayfabe, of course).
Curry shot to national fame in the ’50s when he started working in the Texas territories. His violent, street-fighting style made him one of the sport’s biggest stars. Promoters were hesitant to put any major titles on Curry because his style diverged so much from the norm, but his popularity was impossible to ignore. The Texas Brass Knuckles Championship, later the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship, was created just for Wild Bull Curry. Every hardcore division and title since owes a debt to that belt. Curry became the first sanctioned “unsanctioned” champion, with the Brass Knuckles division becoming a staple of wrestling shows.
Curry did eventually win the NWA Tag Titles and even the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship for brief stints, but it was his hardcore style and the Brass Knuckles division that kept him in the spotlight. In fact, he remained popular long enough to regularly team with his son, “Flying” Fred Curry, in the mid-’60s. Fred’s clean-cut, athletic persona was almost the complete opposite of his father’s wild man image.
Like ECW and the style it inherited from Curry, Wild Bull’s unsanctioned approach often led to fan riots and violent interactions between wrestlers and the audience. Curry’s use of brass knuckles, cinder blocks, chairs, and any other weapon he could find often incited real violence in the crowd. His antics led to at least five documented fights with fans during or after matches, including one incident in 1958 when a fan in Galveston bashed Curry in the head with a metal pipe during a match against Pepper Gomez. This echoes moments like Cactus Jack being pelted with soda cups as he brawled with Van Hammer through the crowd or Tommy Dreamer getting a free beer from a fan after beating down an opponent at the railing.
So yes, the Moxley-Omega match was shocking. Cody vs. Dustin Rhodes in AEW was a bloody affair that some called unnecessarily messy (which, given their lineage as Dusty Rhodes’ sons, it should be). But that’s only because unsanctioned wrestling has been pushed to the margins of the mainstream. AEW isn’t shying away from the unsanctioned style, and the “lights out” match is a direct nod to the days when promotions would push supposedly “unsanctioned” matches to settle intense feuds.
The WWE has hinted at a return to hardcore with its 24/7 Title, though they seem more focused on rewarding long-time mid-carders like R-Truth or broadcast personnel rather than out-of-the-ring brawlers. Maybe this signals the beginning of a rebirth for the unsanctioned style in the mainstream.
Such is the cyclical nature of wrestling. If it does come back into fashion, let’s remember Wild Bull Curry and his bushy eyebrows, the man who pioneered the unsanctioned style.
