Define classical martial arts.
Oh, sorry, I forgot to answer this. By classical martial arts, I was referring to the stuff that was being published in magazines like Black Belt and Martial Arts magazine during the time.
IIRC, one of the reasons they were met with such hostility, is because the 'techniques' they were testing were representative of those that were being featured in popular martial arts magazines and when they denounced those techniques, basically calling them failures, they also named the names of their proponents and principle advocates, who happened to be well-respected in the martial arts community. That's always one way to make a lot of friends and supporters. haha!
These guys were hard core. They would actually "surprise" each other, pretending to be a mugger or a robber. lol!
Its one thing to be in a dojo, when your blood is already pumping, when you are in work-out attire, your state of alertness at a high, and not only are you 'ready' for something to happen, but in most cases you know what is about to happen.
Its quite another to be coming home from the grocery store and have a gun shoved in your face. They recognized this is the inherent flaw in any martial arts discipline; it is controlled, scripted, you are prepared, aware of what is about to happen; i.e. it isn't reality. So they decided to bring an element of reality into their work. Crazy bastards.