10 Best Foreign Objects In Wrestling
Fun fact - long before contemporary politically-correct culture became ubiquitous, executives at Turner had issued the mandate that the word “foreign” could no longer be used in their programming, therefore unknowingly altering the term "foreign object" in WCW. As a result, when a heel would nefariously use a weapon, they would be using an “international object” instead.
Related: 5 Classic Wrestling Weapons (& 5 Terrible Ones)
Weapons in professional wrestling aren’t really called "foreign objects" anymore, but they still are prevalent in the industry. When a superstar breaks out a weapon, the complexion of the match changes immediately and causes fans to get out of their seats, waiting for something violent to happen.
10 Tables
When Bret Hart got hurled into the Spanish announce table at Survivor Series 1995, the table spot had arrived in WWE. The visceral sound of a body getting slammed through a table rings out like an explosion across any arena. While many weapons are household items, plenty of fans can visualize just crashing through their dinner tables. It also didn’t hurt that for nearly 20 years, Bubba Ray would scream for D-Von to “Get The Tables!”
9 Ladders
For anyone that has accidentally fallen off of a ladder knows full well the damage you can do to yourself. Thanks to Bret Hart and Stampede Wrestling, the Ladder Match was suggested to Vince and first used by Bret and Shawn at a house show.
Related: 10 Ladder Matches Where The Wrong Wrestler Won
Popularized, of course, by the now mythical WrestleMania X contest between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon, it’s always a huge (and painful!) site to see a superstar fall of a ladder to the floor.
8 Chairs
You’re sitting on one right now, aren’t you? All kinds of chairs have been utilized in wrestling. Wooden chairs have crashed through skulls (and famously used in the Magnum / Tully I Quit Cage Match), but for the most part, steel chairs have been wrapped across the backs of wrestlers the world over for decades now. With what WWE and most of the world now knows about concussions, chair shots to the head have been banned more or less, but the chair is still a huge weapon to bring out during a match.
7 Barbed Wire
Weaponized barbed wire is such a versatile, visceral, and violent weapon. In a hardcore match, there are seldom scarier weapons to be used. You can wrap it around the ring ropes, a chair, your own body, a baseball bat, or a 2x4. If getting cut up by barbed wire wasn’t bad enough, plenty of hardcore legends were well-versed in setting their barbed wire weaponry on fire to assault their opponent with.
6 Bats
As the vigilante Sting watched the nWo tear WCW apart from the rafters, he finally would make his move. Week after week, The Icon would head to the ring, hand his trademark baseball bat over to his opponent, and turn around to give them a free shot.
Related: Why Sting Was The Best Signing In TNA History (& Why It Was Kurt Angle)
When they didn’t take it, he would take his bat back and nod his head in approval. At Uncensored 1997, Sting finally made his move and started swinging that bat at anyone wearing nWo colors before pointing it at Hollywood Hogan to make his intentions known.
5 Brass Knuckles
They haven’t been used in a long while, but a great heel like William Regal knows how to use Brass Knuckles to a tee. The foreign object is small enough to conceal in your trunks, to pull out when the time was right, and then easily toss away or put back in your tights. During one of Regal’s last runs, he was able to make it a big gimmick and promote it as “the power of the punch.”
4 Sledgehammer
As the signature weapon of The Game, when Triple H pulled his favored weapon out from underneath the ring, the entire crowd knew that business was about to pick up, as Jim Ross would often say. During The Attitude Era, while several stars used all sorts of violent tools, The Cerebral Assassin made this piece of his plunder his own, usually leaving opponents bloody in the process.
3 Guitars
Imagine having the explosive sound of a musical instrument right in the palm of your hand. Anytime a wrestler uses a musician gimmick, they are generally known to carry a guitar around and for the most part can’t play a tune to save their lives, which is part of the gimmick! But the tune that guys like Honky Tonk, Double J, and Elias can play is smashing a guitar right over their opponents’ heads.
2 Kendo Stick
In the early 90s, a global news event occurred when a young American man was punished for allegedly vandalizing cars in Singapore.
Related: 10 Former ECW Champions That Never Won The WWE Champion
He was caned for his actions, which led to The Sandman wandering around ECW with a “Singapore Cane,” which he would use to whip opponents with. His signature weapon became one of the most iconic weapons in the industry. Despite a Kendo Stick having nothing to do with putting the ring together, there’s always a surplus of them underneath the ring.
1 Mist
It’s amazing what a little food coloring and water can do for presentation. Wrestlers from all over Japan have had the ability to blind their opponents with the Mist, most recently Asuka has been using the Green Mist stateside. Depending on the color, an opponent can be blinded temporarily for the match, or for months. There’s also mist that can confuse an opponent or even paralyze them.
