Over the years, foreign objects have become as integral a part of pro wrestling as rest holds. Sometimes they’re weapons like kendo sticks or they’re everyday items like beer. Signature objects help wrestlers stand out in the crowd. It becomes something special that fans associate with those wrestlers.
Objects and props have been an integral part of WWE’s presentation since the company’s inception. Objects and weapons bring much-needed variety to pro wrestling and they were never more popular than during wrestling’s most popular period, the Attitude Era.
10: Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman) – Mobile Phone
Paul Heyman has been involved in wrestling for a long time. Before he became famous as the mad genius behind the success of ECW in the mid 90’s, Heyman plied his trade in WCW way back in 1988 as Paul E. Dangerously.
Armed with his brash New York attitude, Heyman managed wrestlers like Arn Anderson and Rick Rude. Brandishing his trusted mobile phone, Heyman prowled ringside doing whatever he could to help his clients get the win. This included shots from the aforementioned mobile phone.
Younger fans who may not understand how a shot from a mobile phone can be devastating, need to look at the clunky mobile phones of the late 80’s. It was close to the size of a brick, and Heyman wasn’t afraid to use it.
9: Jeff Jarrett – Guitar
Long before the whole Global Force Gold scheme, Jeff Jarrett was a bashing people’s heads in with acoustic guitars. The former 6-time Intercontinental Champion became synonymous with his guitar, his weapon of choice during both his WWE runs in the nineties.
Even though he rarely played the guitar in front of the live crowd, the guitar was a crucial part of his first run with the ‘Double J’ country singer gimmick and his later and more famous run during the Attitude Era.
8: Al Snow – Head
Al Snow’s WWE career was floundering for the first few years. He’d gone through a number of terrible gimmicks like Avatar (a luchador-esque gimmick) and Shinobi ‘The Ninja Assassin ‘. His first big push came as part of The New Rockers as Leif Cassidy.
After years of trying to get over with fans, Al Snow finally found success in ECW, all thanks to a mannequin head. His character portrayed a person with schizophrenia who used a mannequin head as a prop to project his madness.
He returned to WWE during the Attitude Era as one of the most successful mid carders of the era, accompanied by Head. The gimmick was also a treasure trove for innuendo, which WWE’s writers exploited to the fullest.
What does everybody want? HEAD!
7: Razor Ramon/Scott Hall – Toothpick
Scott Hall debuted in WWE in the early 90’s as a Scarface-inspired Cuban-American villain, Razor Ramon. With him came tons of machismo, gold chains and the now iconic toothpick. Razor Ramon got into opponents faces and flicked his toothpick at anyone who crossed him before delivering savage beatdowns.
When Scott Hall left for WCW in 1996 he took the toothpick gimmick with him and it’s safe to say the toothpick will always be synonymous with him in wrestling lore.
6: Hardy Boyz – Ladders
The Hardy Boyz turned ladders from an everyday household object to one of the best foreign objects in modern wrestling. Their innovation and penchant for putting their bodies on the line made them household names during the Attitude Era.
All their most memorable moments involved ladders and it even led to them pioneering TLC matches against Edge and Christian and the Dudley Boyz (more on them later). Whether it was Matt Hardy’s Twist of Fate from the ladder or Jeff’s trademark Swanton Bomb, ladders were as important a part of Team Extreme as manager Lita.
5: Dudley Boyz – Tables
The Dudley Boyz are the second Attitude Era tag-team on this list which just goes to show how influential that period of wrestling was, not just for individual competitors but tag teams too. That period influenced and helped shape modern wrestling more than any other era. Boundaries were smashed, new paths were tread and tables were broken. The Dudleys did most of the table breaking, so much so that it’s impossible to think about them today without tables.
The Dudleys first arrived in WWE from the all out warzone that was the original ECW. They quickly established themselves as maniacal and dastardly villains coming out of Dudleyville who put their opponents and sometimes friends through tables to settle scores or just because. Their 3D through the table is one of the most devastating tag team finishers in all of wrestling history.
“D-Von! Get the tables!”
4: Mankind – Socko
Mick Foley is a legend. All of his personas in wrestling are legendary. Whether he was Cactus Jack, Dude Love or Mankind, Foley was always hardcore. He left it all on the line in the ring for the fans, and took brutal bumps throughout his career for our entertainment. He was the everyman champion long before Daniel Bryan came to the fray and his immense popularity eventually helped WWE win the Monday Night War.
The Monday Night War switched to WWE’s advantage the night Mankind won the WWF World Championship from The Rock and millions of fans switched the channel from WCW to WWE.
Who was at Mankind’s side when the maniacal anti-hero won his beloved championship? Mr.Socko, Mankind’s sock puppet. Though it started off as a one-time joke, the gimmick caught fire and has become an iconic part of Mankind’s character.
Soon Mankind began putting the sock on his hand before applying his finisher, the mandible claw, stuffing a smelly sock in the mouths of opposing wrestlers. This even led to the brief The Rock ‘N Sock Connection tag-team with The Rock.
3: The Undertaker: Urn
Younger fans might not realize that The Undertaker was not always associated with the urn nor was his first manager Paul Bearer. The Undertaker made his debut at Survivor Series 1990 as the mysterious last member of Ted DiBiasie’s Million Dollar team.
His first manager was Brother Love a short while later. The urn first appeared with Paul Bearer in a funeral parlor segment shorty after Brother Love gave up managing Undertaker. From then on, when The Undertaker would be knocked down during matches, Bearer would raise the urn and The Undertaker would immediately sit up. There were times that Paul Bearer also used the urn as a weapon. The urn was said to have a supernatural effect on the Deadman.
The urn has been a signature of Undertaker’s characters over the years, from his beginning as the Western mortician, the Ministry of Darkness incarnation during the Attitude Era all the way to the modern era.
The urn was said to have contained the ashes of Undertaker’s parents whose deaths he was said to have been responsible for. In the early years, it was even said that whoever possessed the urn could control The Undertaker.
2: Triple H: Sledgehammer
Triple H has come a long way since his WWE debut as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the blue-blooded Connecticut aristocrat during WWE’s New Generation Era. He first started showing signs of greatness when he became a member of Shawn Michael’s DX, before eventually taking over DX himself.
The Cerebral Assassin first used the sledgehammer in 1999 against The Rock. The Rock was trapped in a metal casket and Triple H beat the holy hell out of him, even breaking his arm.
Since then the sledgehammer has become synonymous with HHH’s brutality. He’s delivered vicious beatdowns with it to every superstar from Stone Cold, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan etc.
1: Stone Cold Steve Austin: Beer
Stone Cold Steve Austin led wrestling through the boom period of the late 90’s as the beer-swilling, anti-establishment, middle-finger raising anti-hero. Stone Cold would come out, kick some behind and deliver a Stone Cold Stunner to anyone who would get in his way.
Some of my first memories of WWE involve Stone Cold and beer. I remember the beer more clearly than some of those matches. Even though Stone Cold wasn’t the first wrestler to drink alcohol in the ring, he was the one who made it iconic.
Stone Cold drinking beer is one of the lasting images of the Attitude Era. Even today, Stone Cold drinks a beer every time he comes to the ring. It’s something fans have grown to expect as a part of his appearance.
