The 10 most notorious weapons in WWE history

The 10 most notorious weapons in WWE history

Foreign objects have had a long, storied history in the WWE. Every broken table, every smashed steel chair, every twisted, mangled ladder left in the ring doesn’t just signify a superhuman effort on behalf of the WWE Superstar who leaves it there; it’s another timeless moment in the annals of WWE. And as we march toward WWE’s TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs pay-per-view, WWE.com brings you the ten most memorable, devastating, and just plain bizarre foreign objects to ever appear in a WWE ring. Proceed with caution.

"Barbie"
Who else but Mrs. Foley’s baby boy could have created this one? A baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, the notorious “Barbie” was Mick Foley’s weapon of choice throughout his entire career, and marked some of his most memorable moments in WWE, WCW, ECW and beyond. The bat was used against its creator on more than one occasion as well, but given his propensity for absorbing pain, it did little to slow The Hardcore Legend down in the long run.

Steel chairembedcolon25032450
The steel chair is an oldie but a goodie in WWE history. Plenty of Superstars have seen titles won and lost off the effects of a well-placed attack with a chair. In recent months it’s become the signature weapon of World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry, who used it to hobble Big Show and Kane over the summer of 2011, putting both out of action for a number of months. Edge and Christian also had a special place in their hearts for the steel beauty, as one of their signature moves as a tag team was the devastating “Con-Chair-To.”

And even in the WWE's more PG-friendly era, the chair still looms large. Last year’s TLC pay-per-view saw John Cena defeat Wade Barrett by dropping a whole string of chairs on the then-Nexus leader’s prone body. But the cleverest use of the weapon belongs, always, to the late Eddie Guerrero, who would fake an attack from his opponent in order to get them disqualified (WWE Champion CM Punk used a similar strategy to win a title match against Alberto Del Rio on Raw SuperShow in November 2011).

embedcolon25047207Kendo stick
The mere mention of the kendo stick should be getting ECW fans all misty-eyed and nostalgic. This unforgiving implement was the signature weapon of The Sandman for many years, although it’s been much more widely adopted by the likes of The Miz and Randy Orton, who made special use of a gift-wrapped stick during his “Miracle on 34th Street Fight” with David Otunga on the SmackDown holiday special.

Sledgehammerembedcolon14045722
A personal favorite of Triple H, some of his most memorable moments in WWE are directly associated with the use of the sledgehammer. The Game has ushered the hammer into WWE lore through several vicious attacks on his fellow Superstars, even breaking the weapon over Vince McMahon’s back at Unforgiven 2006. But The Cerebral Assassin has also tasted the hammer’s sting himself, most recently during a locker room assault at the hands of Kevin Nash.

embedcolon25048371Chain
The steel chain is a weapon that goes all the way back to the early days of WWE, when it was the signature weapon of Hercules. The towering brawler would walk to the ring with the chain in hand and use it to defeat his opponents, at one point participating in a tug-of-war with The Ultimate Warrior that broke the implement in half. The chain has become much less prevalent in recent years, although it does pop up now and then in the odd street fight or two.

Bull ropeRandy Orton hits Dusty Rhodes with cowbell at GAB 2007
Seeing a bull rope in a WWE ring is a rare event, and yet there are still some Superstars who have made the unforgiving strap their signature weapon in the sparse, but vicious, history of its use. Among the WWE Legends to feel the rope’s sting are “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (known as the match’s innovator) and” Superstar” Billy Graham, who used the rope to pulverize each other during a classic Texas Bull Rope Match, which Rhodes won by count-out. Rhodes made his return to the bout he created at The Great American Bash in 2007, although he lost to Randy Orton.

Tableembedcolon25048166
An Attitude Era mainstay, the table has become a calling card of sorts for Sheamus, whose vicious, hard-hitting style suits him perfectly to the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of a Tables Match. The Celtic Warrior captured his first WWE Championship in such a contest at WWE TLC 2009, thwarting an attempted superplex by John Cena to put The Champ through a prone table in the middle of the ring and capture the gold for himself, becoming the first Irish-born WWE Champion in history.

Almost two years later, The Great White would drop The United States Title to Kofi Kingston in yet another Tables Match at Extreme Rules 2011 after suffering a Boom Drop off the top turnbuckle. You win some, you lose some.

embedcolon25048162Guitar
The Honky Tonk Man wasn’t just the WWE’s longest-reigning Intercontinental Champion, he also toted one of the most unique weapons sports-entertainment has ever seen: a genuine, honest-to-gosh guitar that he would bash over his opponents’ heads. The weapon was co-opted by several other WWE Superstars over the years, but none wielded it with quite so much precision as The Honky Tonk Man.

With that said, things didn’t always work out in the rockabilly’s favor when the guitar came into the mix. He was a surprise entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble, but was only in the ring for a few seconds before Kane bashed Honky Tonk with his own six-string and tossed him unceremoniously from the match.

Brass knucklesembedcolon25048372
In 2002, William Regal used a set of brass knuckles to defeat Edge for his Intercontinental Championship, and the rest, as they say, is history. Regal made special use of the weapon throughout his illustrious career, using it to fell his opponents and capture several championships along the way. Apart from his Intercontinental Title victory over Edge, the Englishman also used the knuckles while teaming with Lance Storm to secure the tag team titles from Booker T and Goldust in 2003.

embedcolon15004334Ladder
The ladder (and, subsequently, the Ladder Match) has been associated with hardcore specialists and high-flyers over the years, but what many forget is that the Ladder Match goes all the way back The Showstopper himself, Shawn Michaels. Although HBK didn’t win the contest (that would be Bret Hart, who escaped the contest with the Intercontinental Championship at a 1992 show that actually pre-dated Monday Night Raw – we’re old, folks), he did go on to compete in several more, including a classic Intercontinental Title bout with Razor Ramon at SummerSlam in Pittsburgh.

The ladder's association with daring, Herculean efforts remains even to this day. During last year’s WWE TLC pay-per-view, Sheamus and John Morrison battled with, over, around, and between several ladders, with The Prince of Parkour ultimately scaling the rungs to defeat Sheamus and earn a WWE Title match against then-champion The Miz. We’re not positive, but we’re pretty sure Sheamus went under the ladder at one point. So on top of everything, that’s seven years’ bad luck, fella.

For more foreign object mayhem, tune into WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, live Sunday December 18th at 8ET/5PT, only on pay-per-view.

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