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The central premise of professional wrestling sees athletes competing against one another using their bodies—no guns, no knives, no other weapons besides their own physicality and the ring itself. Wrestling has broadened its scope across time, including wrestlers having signature props that they carry to the ring, often as not to use as weapons.
More so than instruments of traditional warfare, wrestling weapons tend to be items that are not conventionally used for violent purposes but that have rather become extensions of characters used to cheat, to equalize, or situations that otherwise supersede an old fashioned wrestling match and its rules.
This article takes a look at ten particularly iconic weapons associated with memorable wrestlers from the last thirty years. No list of this nature could ever be exhaustive, but these are examples that stood the test of time and, in more than one case, influenced the wrestling world beyond the specific character at hand.
#10 Triple H and his sledgehammer
After he moved up to the main event level in WWE, Triple H got his own signature weapon, the sledgehammer. It’s a device that’s not only befitting the gravitas of his more serious persona, but one befitting the Attitude Era when The Game rose to prominence for being a little over the top, with the potential to truly hurt someone if a non-gimmicked version of the sledgehammer were earnestly used as a weapon.
As part of The King of Kings’ arsenal, the sledgehammer has become something of a super finisher in no holds barred scenarios. Whereas the Pedigree itself is one of the most over finishing manoeuvres in wrestling, a headshot from the sledgehammer is even more decisive.
Triple H has used it for such memorable moments as breaking the sledgehammer in a blow to Vince McMahon that essentially ended the DX-McMahons rivalry of 2006, besides using the head of a sledgehammer to defeat Sting in a legends’ showdown at WrestleMania 31.
#9 Sting and his baseball bat
The Monday Night War era saw WCW take on a more realistic edge that was in so many ways influential upon the direction WWE, and the wrestling business, on the whole, would take for the years to follow.
Chief in WCW's new approach to creative was the New World Order as a rebellious invading heel force with an irresistible edge. Hollywood Hogan stood at the fore of this stable, striking a unique balance between playing a hated heel character within a group that grew quite popular for its cool heel antics.
Sting stood up against the group as a lone wolf character. To equalize the many situations in which he found himself outnumbered, a baseball bat became The Icon’s weapon of choice.
Members of the nWo wielded bats at times, too, and so Sting carrying one underscored the shades of gray attached to his character and the early intrigue about whose side he was on. The bat lived on as a signature part of Sting’s gimmick.
#8 John Cena and his chain
Nowadays, John Cena doesn’t really have a signature weapon, as he’s better known for his squeaky clean, kid-friendly image. However, when he was coming up through the ranks in WWE, and after he unlocked his personality via a rapping gimmick, he began frequently using a chain for a weapon.
In a particularly memorable spot, he used one to knock out the Big Show and beat him for the United States Championship—Cena’s first main roster title—in Madison Square Garden at WrestleMania 20.
While the chain mostly disappeared from Cena’s repertoire in the years to follow, it’s noteworthy that it didn’t disappear altogether. When Brock Lesnar returned from UFC in 2012, Cena was the first opponent to fall into the Beast Incarnate’s crosshairs. In their Extreme Rules match, Lesnar mostly dominated the action, but Cena ultimately stole the pin after wrapping his trusty chain around his fist to lay out Lesnar.
#7 Mick Foley and Mr. Socko
While so many of wrestlers’ signature weapons are blunt objects used to hit their opponents—often as not knocking them into unconsciousness—it’s fitting that Mick Foley would have a quirkier weapon of his own that evolved over his time in WWE.
As Mankind, Foley took to using the unconventional mandible claw as a submission finisher, but as he transitioned into a character that was less dark, more eccentric, he began using Mr. Socko. The sock puppet was introduced in vignettes during which Foley tried to cheer up Mr. McMahon in the hospital but soon became a signature part of his act, and putting it on became the precursor to him applying the mandible claw hold.
Mr. Socko stands in stark contrast to Foley’s next most famous weapon, Barbie—a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire—though he did bridge the gap between them in one occasion, wrapping Mr. Socko in barbed wire, including for his match with Edge at WrestleMania 22.
#6 The Undertaker and his urn
The Undertaker has been on the WWE landscape for so long that it can be easy to forget his campier elements from early on in his tenure. It was the more outlandish, supernatural elements of the early gimmick that in so many ways defined who he would become, though.
After all, elements like his slow march to the ring or signature Casket Match might seem out of place if introduced today but were natural extensions of his character as it was originally portrayed.
One piece of the Dead Man persona that stuck longer than others was The Urn. It was a fittingly morbid prop for Paul Bearer to carry to the ring for Undertaker matches, and moreover, a weapon that occasionally came into play to incapacitate someone.
The urn also took on more supernatural significance, as an implied source of power for The Phenom, particularly during his first face run. It would come back around as a deeply symbolic element in The Undertaker’s WrestleMania 29 feud with CM Punk, shortly after Paul Bearer had passed.
#5 The Big Boss Man and his nightstick
The 1980s and 1990s in WWE are largely known for over the top occupational gimmicks, through which it was implied that wrestlers came from or even simultaneously held normal day jobs that helped shape their identity.
The Big Boss Man prison guard gimmick was one of the more successful examples from its time. WWE first cashed in on the intimidation factor of a prison guard persona, casting him as a big rival for Hulk Hogan. Later, Boss Man was a keen face, who gained sympathy in particular for his program against ex-convict Nailz.
As both a heel and a face, the nightstick was a logical weapon of choice for The Big Boss Man. As a heel, he used it with malicious intent to attack faces, and it even transitioned well to the Attitude Era iteration of his character, to add an extra sense of real danger to his character. As a face, the nightstick was an equalizer, used to dole out justice efficiently, and more to the point equalize matters for overwhelmed good guys.
#4 The Sandman and his Singapore cane
The idea of labelling a weapon as a Singapore cane may not come across as all that politically correct, or even coherent for a character with no obvious connection to Singapore. However, in the 1990s, the case of American visitor Michael Fay getting caned for transgressions abroad was fresh in people’s minds. The nature of the weapon at hand and its controversial nature lent themselves nicely to ECW’s edgy brand of the day.
So it was that The Sandman became synonymous with the cane in wrestling, going so far as to hit himself with one until he was bleeding before he even set foot in the ring, working the crowd into a frenzy against a backdrop of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”
The Sandman never crossed over to all that much success in more mainstream wrestling, but he was an important part of what would later be called a kendo stick becoming a popular foreign object in the wrestling world.
#3 The Mountie and his shock stick
While some wrestlers of the 1980s and 1990s became icons based on cartoonish occupational gimmicks that they made their own, Jacques Rougeau was probably more of a victim than a beneficiary of this style of booking as a talented, deceptively strong wrestler became best known for playing a Canadian law enforcement professional, complete with a silly take on the Mountie uniform and his signature shock stick.
The shock stick was actually a fairly novel weapon for its time—not just a blunt object to hit someone with, but a more dangerous device that threatened to truly incapacitate its victim—not to mention a blatantly unfair device for a heel to subdue and steal victories from better face competition.
The Mountie would peak with a short Intercontinental Championship win, though the use of this weapon arguably inspired the use of tasers and cattle prods to come, particularly in WCW. Notable uses included Harley Race taking out Cactus Jack with one on Big Van Vader’s behalf at Halloween Havoc 1993, and all the more memorably Scott Hall using one on Goldberg at Starrcade 1998 to help Kevin Nash end the streak.
#2 IRS and his briefcase
When WWE wanted to develop a steady mid-card heel character in the early 1990s, inventing a character to represent the IRS was a pretty sure bet to garner heat from adults who resented having to pay their taxes, and kids who would immediately recognize the straight-laced character who wrestled in a shirt and tie as someone who was no fun.
Mike Rotunda fit the part nicely as a rock solid, reliable hand in the ring who’s charisma and size weren’t going to elevate him to the main event level, but who could be trusted to play this part well over a period of years.
The briefcase made a natural accessory for IRS as he could explain it to contain tax documents, while readily wielding it as an easy to see and understand blunt object weapon. The briefcase served him well throughout his singles work and was a nice addition to help his Money Inc. tag team with Ted Dibiase to victory.
While it’s hard to call IRS an icon, there’s an argument to be made that the way he wielded the briefcase set up that object to become an even bigger part of the WWE landscape years later in the form of Money in the Bank. More so than the world title opportunity the briefcase has represented, the briefcase itself has remained a compelling weapon.
#1 Hacksaw Jim Duggan and his Two By Four
Most of the weapons discussed in this article can be most readily identified with a heel character who would use them to cheat to win. The two by four board that Hacksaw Jim Duggan would carry to the ring is a prime example of how a face, too, could benefit from a distinctive prop, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.
Duggan’s two by four was one of the most recognizable pieces of his act. On the national stage, Duggan was almost exclusively a face character and used the board to fend off heels when they outnumbered the good guys or to even the odds against an overwhelming foe with bad intentions like Andre the Giant.
The two by four was pretty uniquely connected to Duggan’s persona, though WWE did see a brief resurgence of the device when members of The Union briefly took them on in their Attitude Era war against Shane McMahon and company.
