Piranha Deathmatch
Big Japan Wrestling (BJW) has a long history of putting on some of the most extreme events in the business. And their deathmatches are known throughout wrestling fandom as can’t miss spectacles.
For those who don’t know (and why would you), a deathmatch isn’t a match that ends in a literal death. It is, instead, a style of wrestling that is very hardcore.
Stipulations for these matches can include barbed wire ropes and even explosions. It’s grim, it’s break, and it can be highly entertaining.
In 1996, BJW put on Summer Night Dream — a fittingly Shakespearean name for the high-brow tragedy fans were about to enjoy. Because in the match between Kendo Nagasaki and Mistuhiro Matsunaga, there would be a tank of live piranhas in the ring.
Called the Yokohama Amazon River Piranha and Barbed Wire Board Match (deep breath), this bout would go down as one of the most original concepts in wrestling.
And after all, what could go wrong when dunking human beings into a tank of flesh eating fish?
The clip is not for the faint of heart, it isn’t even for the reasonably stout of nature. But it definitely is one of the strangest and most extraordinary moments in wrestling.