Dick Greco
"Hardcore"
"Deathmatch wrestling is the best drug I have ever done."
Dick Greco, a deathmatch wrestler known as “Hardcore”, is a man of contradictions. A vegetarian pacifist outside the ring, Greco channels his pain, creativity, and love for art into the ultraviolent world of deathmatch wrestling. For him, deathmatch wrestling isn’t just a sport—it’s therapy, art, and a way to confront the challenges of his past. From a troubled childhood to becoming a "weapons master," Greco’s journey is one of resilience, creativity, and finding balance in life.
Dick Greco’s early life was marked by hardship. Growing up in Amsterdam, New York, he faced the collapse of his parents’ marriage at age 12, the challenges of raising an autistic younger brother, and the trauma of abuse at the hands of a family friend. "We had a family friend. He took very much advantage of my parents being gone a long time. He abused me for, I don’t know exactly how long. It weighs on me heavy still," Greco recalls. His younger brother, Aaron, was diagnosed with autism. "My little brother’s very autistic. Super genius. No social skills. Very hard growing up with that," he says.
Greco admits his family life was far from ideal. His parents’ divorce and his mother’s mental health struggles left him as the de facto anchor for his family. "Being the most mentally sane one in the family is very hard, especially when you have your own stuff to deal with... I love my family dearly, but they’re all absolutely insane," as he exhales a breath of smoke. Despite the challenges, Greco found solace in wrestling, a passion that would eventually define his life.
For Greco, wrestling became a lifeline. What started as backyard matches with friends evolved into a full-blown passion. Wrestling provided an outlet for his anger and a sense of community during a time when many families in his hometown were falling apart. "Wrestling was the escape. Wrestling was a reason for friends to get together, to not have to think about their recently divorced families," he says. Wrestling wasn’t just a hobby—it was a way to survive. "It very much saved us... I think it kept a lot of people from going through a deep depression and getting involved in stuff they probably shouldn’t have been involved in."
Greco studied special effects makeup at Tom Savini’s school in Pittsburgh and even worked in LA on music videos and low-budget films. But he quickly realized that turning his passion for art into a career drained the joy out of it. "When it comes to doing something artistically as a profession outside of wrestling, I cannot do it because it sucks all of the passion out of it for me," he explains. Greco’s love for art remains, but he refuses to monetize it. "Art is never for the money for me.”
Instead, Greco found a way to merge his love for art with wrestling, creating weapons for his matches. "I enjoy creating things. The fact that I get to be creative with deathmatch, I think satiates all of my needs in life," he says. His creations range from bats covered in razor blades, thumbtacks, or shark teeth, to intricate light tube contraptions.
Greco’s past struggles with self-harm, particularly cutting, have deeply influenced his approach to deathmatch wrestling. For him, the physical pain of wrestling serves as a release for emotional pain. "As a former cutter, yeah, it’s 100% plays a part in it... I like to think of it as an accepted form of self-mutilation," he says. Though he did end his self-harm before deathmatch, the adrenaline rush and euphoria he experiences in the ring are similar to what he felt when he used to self-harm. "The euphoria lasts for a solid week and physically, maybe 2 to 3 days, but mentally you ride that wave for as long as you possibly can."
