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Wrestling is a sport of gross extremes. The biggest, fastest, most agile, most impressive athletes display their skills in front of audiences all over the world.
However, while all wrestlers are much stronger than the average person, some of them go beyond the pale and flirt with superhuman power. Their feats of strength are captured on camera for the world to see, making them truly immortal.
Here are ten of the strongest wrestlers of all time.
1.Dino Bravo
An Italian who emigrated to Canada, Bravo began his career as more of a technical wrestler. However, when he began his second WWE run Vince McMahon was so impressed by his massive physique-he was bigger around the chest than Andre the Giant-that Bravo was given a 'strong man' gimmick instead.
Bravo once attempted to lift 715 pounds on WWE television-a world record at the time. However, he faltered and his spotter Jesse Ventura helped lift the bar. The two heels would play it off as if Bravo had lifted the weight successfully with Ventura claiming to have only put a pound or two of pressure on the bar.
Bravo would feud with such legends as Ken Patera, Ultimate Warrior, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He would hold no singles titles in the WWE and eventually retired penniless to Canada. Unfortunately, he lost his life in what some claim to be a mob hit.
2. Doug Furnas
Furnas started his career as a champion powerlifter. Though he was in one of the smaller weight classes-the 275-pound division-his lifts were astonishing. Furnas is one of the few men to lift over 2400 pounds-twice.
He found great success in Japan with partner Phil LaFon as the Can Am Express. Furnas worked for WCW and WWE but failed to capture any major titles although he did capture the ECW Tag team championship during his time with that promotion.
Furnas passed away due to complications from Parkinson's disease but he left behind a legacy in both powerlifting and pro wrestling.
3. John Cena
Big Match John, even entering his forties, is still one of the strongest men in the wrestling business.
Cena may have gotten noticed for his rapping and 'hustle,' but his tremendous physical strength has been equally responsible for keeping him relevant. The fact that he can perform his finisher, the Attitude Adjustment, on any size opponent and even multiple opponents, is incredibly impressive.
Even as Cena winds down his wrestling career and focuses on movie roles, one cannot help but be impressed with the levels of power he can harness.
4. Hercules Hernandez
Hercules Hernandez is the gimmick by which Raymond Fernandez was best known. However, he was also known as Mr Wrestling III and the Masked Assassin before employing the gladiator style persona of Hercules.
Hernandez is best known for his feud with Ultimate Warrior and the tag team he formed with Paul Roma, but his career spanned many decades and continents. Not only was he a powerful wrestler, he also appeared in numerous bodybuilding magazines due to his chiseled and shall we say Greek God-like physique.
Hercules passed on due to heart disease in 2004, but he remains an icon of the WWE classic era.
5. Big John Studd
At six feet, ten inches tall, Studd was one of the strongest wrestlers of his era by default. Only men like Andre the Giant and Ernie Ladd could match his power. However, he was more than just a powerhouse.
Studd had been trained by Killer Kowalksi and had a much more scientific move-set than most big men. Suplexes, backbreakers and even the Victory Roll were never off limits to the athletic Studd.
He never captured the big belt of any federation but held numerous mid-card championships and tag titles. Studd is probably best remembered in the US for his $10,000 body slam challenge match against Andre the Giant.
Studd passed away young at 47 from Hodgkin's disease and heart failure. His contributions to the world of wrestling will never be forgotten.
6. Ken Patera
Patera is a gold medalist weightlifter and former Olympian and World's strongest man finalist who has also enjoyed an illustrious wrestling career.
With his legitimate power, he would often show off for the wrestling fans, such as driving nails into wood with his bare hands or bending metal bars over his head. There was one feat of strength that cost him two years of his career, however.
Patera was angry because he couldn't be serviced at a closed McDonald's restaurant. His response was to throw a large rock-witnesses described it as a boulder-through their plate glass window. When the local PD arrived at his hotel room to issue a citation for destruction of property, the inebriated Patera brawled with them and wound up spending time in prison.
Patera held many regional championships but his biggest title was probably the WWE Intercontinental championship. The former Olympian is in his seventies but still going strong, though he hasn't wrestled in some time.
Tony Atlas
A three-time bodybuilding champion, Tony Atlas earned the name "Mr USA" during these competitions. The name stuck when he turned to pro wrestling.
In Greek Mythology, Atlas was a titan who held the entire world upon his shoulders. Tony Atlas brought what seemed like superhuman strength to the wrestling ring, gorilla press slamming and pinning Hulk Hogan and body slamming Andre the Giant.
Atlas has struggled with substance abuse issues throughout his life, but in the last decade he seems to have overcome them. He was most recently seen as the manager of fellow strongman Mark Henry.
8. Andre The Giant
The loveable French national almost needs no introduction; He was a wrestling and entertainment icon during his lifetime and remains one today.
Andre's feats of strength are as legendary as they are impressive. He once turned over a car full of drunks foolish enough to anger him. Imagine how they explained to the police that an angry giant had caused them to wreck!
His strength of limb was matched by great fortitude. He once drank 116 beers in one sitting, and then had wine with his dinner. Andre held many championships including, briefly, the WWE world heavyweight title.
9. Haystacks Calhoun
Not all of the strongest men are chiselled bodybuilders. Haystacks Calhoun brought muscle earned by working on his family's farm to the wrestling ring.
Though he started as a heel, he eventually became a fan favourite, wrestling primarily in the southwest and Texas territories. One of the highest drawing talents of the 1950s and 60s, Calhoun wrestled many years and captured the tag team titles of various promotions with many different partners.
Calhoun passed away at age 55 due to complications from diabetes, but will always be remembered as one of the first best super heavyweights.
10. Mark Henry
Henry was always a huge wrestling fan. He weighed 225 pounds in fourth grade and started weight training at the age of ten. Once he tried to touch Andre the Giant at a wrestling show and fell over the barricade. Andre picked him back up and set him in his seat, a touch with greatness that would change Henry forever.
Henry has won numerous powerlifting championships and was an Olympian in 1996, where he came in tenth despite struggling with debilitating pain from a back injury. He was signed to a ten year deal with the WWE, and quickly joined the Nation of Domination stable.
Henry's WWE career has had its share of ups and downs. He was involved in punitive gimmicks such as "Sexual Chocolate" and having a relationship with an eighty year old woman. However, he finished his WWE career on a high note by capturing the WWE world heavyweight championship and delivering one of the best swerves in wrestling history.
Mark Henry is now retired, and a WWE hall of famer.
There you have it; Ten of the strongest wrestlers who ever lived.
