Most Dangerous Weapons WWE Used During Matches That You Rarely See Today

WWE matches once featured weapons and spots that would look extreme compared with much of the company's modern programming. Steel chairs to the head, thumbtacks covering the ring, barbed-wire bats, steel chains and even flaming tables appeared in some of WWE's most violent matches, particularly during the Attitude Era, Ruthless Aggression Era and WWE's version of ECW. Many of these objects were used in Hardcore, No Holds Barred, Street Fight, Extreme Rules and Hell in a Cell matches, where normal disqualification rules were removed.

Not every weapon on this list has been banned by WWE. Tables, ladders, chairs and kendo sticks, for example, can still appear today. The bigger change has been in how they are used. WWE's approach to intentional head trauma changed considerably as knowledge and concern around concussions grew. In 2010, WWE's concussion policy specifically prohibited intentionally striking an opponent in the head with a folding chair, with fines or suspensions possible for violations. WWE publicly reiterated that rule in 2013 after Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan were fined for chair strikes to the head.

That creates a clear difference between older WWE and today's presentation. A 2009 Chairs Match between The Undertaker and Batista, for example, included a direct chair shot to Undertaker's head. By the following year, intentional chair strikes to the head were prohibited. Weapons haven't disappeared from WWE, but some of the more hazardous ways they were once incorporated have.

Here are 10 of the most dangerous weapons associated with WWE matches, along with some of the bouts and moments that made them unforgettable.

10. Steel Steps

Steel ring steps have always been sitting in plain sight, which made them an easy weapon whenever WWE booked a match without disqualifications. Wrestlers have been thrown into them, slammed onto them and struck with them, while the steps themselves have occasionally been brought into the ring.

One of the better examples came when Batista faced Triple H inside Hell in a Cell at Vengeance 2005. That match featured several objects on this list, including a chain, sledgehammer and barbed-wire chair. The steps became part of the finish. Triple H was hit with a spinebuster onto the steel steps before Batista followed with the Batista Bomb to retain the World Heavyweight Championship.

Another frightening incident happened during the Singapore Cane Match at One Night Stand 2008. Big Show lifted the stairs at ringside before John Morrison struck him from behind with a cane. The stairs came down and struck Big Show, opening a wound above his eye that WWE reported required eight stitches. Steel steps haven't vanished from WWE, but extended sequences involving wrestlers being dropped directly onto them are far less synonymous with the product than some of the wild scenes of earlier eras.

9. Steel Chains

Chains became particularly useful in WWE's hardcore-style matches because they could be introduced without requiring any special setup. They could be wrapped around a wrestler, used during a strike or incorporated into another move. One memorable appearance again came during Batista vs. Triple H at Vengeance 2005.

The Hell in a Cell stipulation allowed both wrestlers to turn the environment into something far removed from a standard championship match. WWE's own recap specifically listed the steel chain among the weapons brought into the contest.

Chains have also appeared throughout WWE history as character-specific objects and in chain-based stipulation matches. Unlike intentional chair shots to the head, the chain itself isn't something WWE has publicly declared universally banned. It's simply an object that doesn't appear with anything close to the frequency associated with older hardcore wrestling. That rarity is part of why seeing a chain introduced today immediately makes a match feel different.

8. Kendo Sticks/Singapore Canes

The kendo stick became synonymous with ECW largely because of The Sandman, and that association followed the weapon when ECW became part of WWE. WWE even booked entire matches around it. In July 2002, Brock Lesnar faced Tommy Dreamer in a Singapore Cane Match on Raw. Dreamer tried using the weapon against Lesnar, but Lesnar survived the shots before winning with the F-5.

Sandman later faced Matt Striker in a Singapore Cane-on-a-Pole Match on WWE's ECW in 2006, while Carlito faced Sandman under the same stipulation at The Great American Bash 2007. One Night Stand 2008 went even further by putting Big Show, CM Punk, Tommy Dreamer, Chavo Guerrero and John Morrison into a Singapore Cane Match.

Kendo sticks haven't disappeared. Alexa Bliss and Bayley, for example, wrestled a Kendo Stick on a Pole Match at Extreme Rules 2017. The difference is frequency and presentation. During WWE's ECW period, the cane could be the centerpiece of an entire match. Today it is more likely to appear occasionally in a weapons-legal stipulation.

7. Ladders

Unlike several entries here, ladders remain an essential part of WWE. Money in the Bank matches still require them, and ladder matches remain one of WWE's established stipulations.

What earns the ladder a place here is how it has historically been used beyond simply climbing toward a championship or briefcase. Wrestlers have been knocked from ladders, sandwiched between them, thrown onto them and sent crashing through tables after falling from them. The Hardy Boyz, Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian transformed tables, ladders and chairs into an entire match concept around the turn of the century. Their matches helped establish TLC as its own WWE stipulation.

Jeff Hardy in particular became associated with frightening ladder spots, often jumping from heights that turned the ladder into a platform for attacks rather than simply a means of reaching the prize. Modern WWE still uses ladders and still features dangerous-looking falls. But the company doesn't need every ladder match to continuously escalate into something more hazardous than the one before it. The ladder survived the changing eras because WWE can use it in spectacular ways without relying on some of the objects farther down this list.

6. Sledgehammer

Few WWE weapons have been connected to one wrestler as closely as the sledgehammer is connected to Triple H. It became an extension of The Game's character. Triple H brought it into championship matches, faction storylines and personal rivalries, often waiting for the referee to be down before attempting to use it.

At Unforgiven 2002, Triple H reached for his sledgehammer during his World Heavyweight Championship match against Rob Van Dam. Ric Flair eventually grabbed it and struck RVD, helping Triple H retain and beginning the alliance that eventually developed into Evolution. The weapon appeared again during Triple H and Batista's Hell in a Cell fight at Vengeance 2005.

Triple H also used the sledgehammer throughout his rivalries with stars including Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon and others. WWE itself has described it as his personal weapon of choice. The sledgehammer could make a segment feel dangerous simply by appearing in Triple H's hands. You rarely see anything equivalent in current WWE — a weapon so closely attached to one wrestler's identity that its appearance alone tells the audience what might happen next.

5. Tables — Including Flaming Tables

Tables remain common in WWE. Flaming tables are a very different story. Standard tables have been broken for decades, with The Dudley Boyz perhaps doing more than anyone to turn the table into one of wrestling's most recognizable weapons. But WWE occasionally took the concept much further. The unforgettable example came at WrestleMania 22, when Edge faced Mick Foley in a Hardcore Match.

The contest had already featured thumbtacks, steel objects and barbed wire before Lita poured lighter fluid onto a table at ringside and set it on fire. Edge then speared Foley from the apron and both crashed through the flaming table. WWE's official match history identifies that spot as the finish of the match.

WWE's ECW One Night Stand 2006 also featured fire and barbed-wire boards during the six-person match involving Edge, Foley, Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, Lita and Beulah McGillicutty. Tables themselves aren't going anywhere. Setting them on fire, however, represents the type of escalation associated far more strongly with WWE's past than its current weekly presentation.

4. Barbed-Wire Steel Chairs

A normal steel chair was already one of wrestling's most recognizable weapons. Then WWE occasionally added barbed wire. Perhaps the clearest example is Batista vs. Triple H inside Hell in a Cell at Vengeance 2005.

The match included a steel chair wrapped in barbed wire alongside the sledgehammer, chain and steel steps. WWE's contemporary account described all four objects becoming part of the violence inside the Cell. The visual alone made the chair different from the dozens of ordinary folding chairs audiences had seen used over the years.

It wasn't something WWE could casually introduce every Monday or Friday. Objects like this were generally reserved for matches designed to feel outside the boundaries of an ordinary wrestling contest. That's also why they are remembered. Modern WWE can still make a chair central to a storyline without wrapping it in barbed wire. Seeing this version today would therefore immediately recall an older style of hardcore WWE presentation.

3. Barbed-Wire Baseball Bat

Mick Foley had a name for his barbed-wire baseball bat: “Barbie.” The bat became one of Foley's signature objects across his hardcore wrestling career, and WWE itself later ranked it among the company's most notorious weapons. One of its best-known WWE appearances came during Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack at Backlash 2004.

That Hardcore Match became a defining night for the young Orton. Foley introduced him to tables, thumbtacks and other objects before Orton ultimately won with an RKO onto the barbed-wire bat. “Barbie” returned for Foley's WrestleMania 22 Hardcore Match against Edge.

WWE's account of the match describes Edge absorbing blows from the barbed-wire baseball bat before the match escalated to thumbtacks and eventually the flaming-table finish. The bat worked because it immediately told viewers they were entering Foley's world. It's also a perfect example of the difference between then and now. A normal kendo stick or chair can still appear relatively easily. A baseball bat deliberately covered in barbed wire belongs to a far more extreme category.

2. Steel Chairs — Especially Head Shots

Steel chairs themselves haven't been banned from WWE. Intentional chair shots to the head are the part that changed. For years, wrestlers taking chair shots directly to the head was an accepted visual in mainstream wrestling. WWE's 2009 Chairs Match between Batista and The Undertaker even included Batista striking Undertaker in the head with a chair.

That would soon become unacceptable under WWE policy. In 2010, WWE amended its concussion-management rules to eliminate intentional folding-chair strikes to an opponent's head. The policy allowed fines or suspensions for intentional violations. And WWE demonstrated that it wasn't merely a written guideline.

After Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton used chair strikes to the head during their 2013 Street Fight, both men were fined. Triple H publicly stated at the time that WWE did not allow chair shots to the head and took the matter seriously.

Chairs still appear regularly. Wrestlers strike backs, ribs and other areas, and entire Chairs Matches have existed even after the policy change. John Cena and Wade Barrett, for example, had one at TLC 2010. So the chair perfectly illustrates the difference between old and modern WWE: the weapon survived, but one of its most dangerous traditional uses did not.

1. Thumbtacks

Few objects can change the atmosphere of a wrestling match as quickly as someone pulling out a bag and pouring thousands of thumbtacks across the canvas. There is no hiding what is coming next. Mick Foley helped make thumbtacks famous to WWE audiences. His legendary 1998 Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker included a bag containing thousands of them.

Foley later told WWE that he had planned to use the tacks during the match. After everything he endured that night, he didn't even remember using them until someone pointed out that roughly 100 were still stuck in his shoulder.

Then came Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack at Backlash 2004. Foley covered part of the ring with thumbtacks. Orton attempted an RKO, Foley countered, and Orton landed back-first across them. WWE later described Orton as essentially becoming a human pincushion from the impact. It became one of the defining images of Orton's early career.

Thumbtacks appeared again when Foley faced Edge at WrestleMania 22. Edge went into them during the Hardcore Match, and WWE's account notes that tacks were still protruding from his back after the match. Unlike the intentional chair shot to the head, there isn't a comparable public WWE rule saying thumbtacks are universally banned. They are simply far rarer than they once were.

And that distinction matters. WWE hasn't necessarily outlawed every extreme object from its past. Instead, its presentation has evolved, with certain weapons appearing less frequently and some hazardous uses — most clearly intentional chair strikes to the head — specifically prohibited.

WWE Weapons Then vs. Now

Old-school WWE could use weapon violence as one of the central selling points of a rivalry. Foley could scatter thumbtacks across the ring, Triple H could reach for his sledgehammer, Sandman could enter carrying a Singapore cane, and a Hell in a Cell match could contain chains, steps and barbed-wire chairs all in the same contest. WWE's own historical list describes tables, ladders, chairs, kendo sticks and sledgehammers as some of the objects that became familiar parts of its wrestling history.

Today's WWE still has Street Fights, TLC-style spots, ladders, tables, chairs and other weapons when the story calls for them. What has changed most is the approach to unnecessary head trauma and how often the company relies on the most hazardous objects. The clearest dividing line came with WWE's concussion rules: the steel chair remained, but intentionally swinging it into someone's head did not.