Who invented the Texas Deathmatch?

AEW has announced that a Texas Deathmatch will take place on Fyter Fest: Night Two. Jon Moxley retained his IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Karl Anderson at this week's AEW Dynamite: Fyter Fest event.

The following week, his old rival, Lance Archer, emerged to challenge him to a Texas Deathmatch. Moxley accepted the challenge and the match is on for next week's show.

But what is a Texas Deathmatch? The rules of the match have varied over the years since its origin in Amarillo, Texas. The first-ever recorded Texas Deathmatch was fought between Dory Funk Sr. and "Iron" Mike DiBiase. Both wrestlers are credited as being pioneers of the match-type.

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What happened in the first-ever Texas Deathmatch?

The origin of the Deathmatch itself may be a mystery, but the first-ever Texas Deathmatch was born in the NWA Southwest wrestling promotion. The promotion was a pioneer in hardcore wrestling.

The rules of a Texas Deathmatch state that a wrestler must pin or submit their opponent. The match does not end there, as, after the fall, a ten-count starts. If the opponent is able to get up by the count of ten, then the match continues. However, if they fail to make it to their feet, then the wrestler who pinned or submitted the opponent wins.

In the first-ever recorded Texas Deathmatch, Dory Funk Sr. fought "Iron" Mike DiBiase for more than three hours. The exact amount of time is not known and varies between more than three hours to four and a half hours.

Both wrestlers are credited with creating the Texas Deathmatch. In that match, neither man was declared the winner. There were more than 30 falls between the two of them, but they kept getting up. In the end, the match had to be called because of the town's curfew. Both men went to the hospital and received medical treatment. Dory Funk Sr. received 32 stitches for his wounds.

A Texas Deathmatch sees the use of any and all weapons, with wrestlers usually bleeding freely. Back in the day, it was made popular by Dory Funk Sr and Terry Funk, with them having wrestled in hundreds of death matches over their careers.

Dory Funk Jr. explains Texas Deathmatches

The match-type is known for being vicious, and while there have been multiple versions of the match since it was first introduced, the Texas Deathmatch is not as popular in recent times.

Jon Moxley and Lance Archer are no strangers to the match type as they battled in a Texas Deathmatch in NJPW at the Wrestle Kingdom 14 pay-per-view. Moxley won that match and got back the IWGP United States Heavyweight title.