"It's thumbtacks!! Hundreds and thousands of thumbtacks!" Jim Ross in shock said it best when seeing a shower of silver tacks pour from a sack onto the ring canvas while calling a WWE match. Thumbtacks in wrestling were used in overseas matches before becoming popularized in North America by ECW in the 1990s.
Some weapons used in wrestling are gimmicked for theatrical and safety reasons but when it comes to thumbtacks, there are no substitutes; they are 100% real. Thumbtacks are a dangerous match addition but one that WWE was not shy to use occasionally.
8 Mankind vs. The Undertaker
The introduction of thumbtacks in WWE came from "The Hardcore Legend" himself Mick Foley while in his Mankind persona in June of 1998. The infamous Hell In A Cell match against The Undertaker at King Of The Ring still gets talked about to this day for Foley's falls from atop the steel structure. As if plummeting from the top of Hell In A Cell twice was not bad enough, Mankind who miraculously was still willing to compete pulled out a sack from under the ring at one point and poured out a sea of thumbtacks.
While applying the Mandible Claw to Undertaker, 'Taker stood up with Mankind on his back and fell backward, making Foley slam onto the thumbtacks. A chokeslam by Undertaker to Mankind onto the tacks followed. Undertaker then delivered a Tombstone Piledriver right beside the tacks to get the pinfall to end the carnage. Foley was very concussed from the match, so much so that afterward backstage he apologized for forgetting to use the thumbtacks. Foley was then told to look at the thumbtacks still in his arm.
7 Mankind vs. Kane
Once was not enough in the calendar year, let alone 2 months, for Mick Foley to be in a Hell In A Cell contest as Mankind was booked for a second cell match in the summer of 1998. Fortunately for Mankind, this cell match was not against The Undertaker. Unfortunately, the match was against Undertaker's younger brother Kane, taking place on the August 24 edition of Raw. Midway through the match Mankind crawled under the ring and reappeared with a steel chair and a cloth sack.
After hitting Kane with the chair, Mankind emptied the sack of thumbtacks. Kane clotheslined Mankind from behind knocking Foley forwards into the tacks. Mankind would fight back and deliver a piledriver to Kane and the ensuing momentum bounced Kane backside-first into the tacks. This overlooked physical and violent match would end in a no-contest after interference from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
6 Cactus Jack vs. Triple H
In his third reign as WWE Champion, Triple H went into the 2000 Royal Rumble against what was ultimately his biggest threat and greatest test of ruthlessness up to that point. Challenging him for his world title was Mick Foley's most violent persona Cactus Jack in a Street Fight. Helmsley first met Cactus Jack on Raw in 1997, losing to Jack in a Falls Count Anywhere match. That match came a month after Triple H lost to Mankind in a Steel Cage match. Already with a past of hard-hitting matches against each other, Foley teased a return to his violent roots in Japanese wrestling.
The Royal Rumble Street Fight contained chair shots, barbed wire, and of course thumbtacks. Cactus Jack introduced the tacks but would be on the receiving end of a back body drop becoming a human pincushion. In what is still seen as the most brutal thumbtacks landing ever in a WWE ring, a bloodied Triple H would go on to deliver a Pedigree on Cactus Jack into the bed of thumbtacks to get the win. Thumbtacks could be seen sticking into Foley's head, miraculously missing his eyes.
5 Cactus Jack vs. Randy Orton
Beginning his "Legend Killer" persona in the summer of 2003, a young Randy Orton made a name for himself by attacking industry legends. That June, Orton attacked Mick Foley on Raw that ended with Randy kicking Foley down a flight of stairs. Despite having a confrontation at the 2004 Royal Rumble and being in a handicap match at WrestleMania 20, they had yet to fight one-on-one. Orton scored a pinfall over Foley at WrestleMania but the final chapter came the next month where Orton was challenged for his Intercontinental Championship in a No Holds Barred match against Cactus Jack at Backlash. Mick Foley warned Orton that he was going to "make him a man."
The ECW-inspired match was ultra-violent with several weapons used. After Orton sent Jack into a barbed wire board, he retrieved a cloth sack and poured out a mess of thumbtacks. Orton then went for an RKO but Jack threw Randy straight down into the tacks. The look of shock and pain on Orton's bloody face could truly be felt. Randy surprised everyone by later getting the win by pinfall following an RKO on a barbed wire baseball bat. Orton would later reveal that he legitimately lost sleep leading up to the match from the thought of landing in the thumbtacks.
4 Mick Foley vs. Edge
Shocking the wrestling world in January 2006, Edge won his first world title but only held it for a few weeks before losing it right back to John Cena at the Royal Rumble. A championship rematch took place on the February 13 Raw between Cena and Edge with Mick Foley as special guest referee. Cena won the match despite all of Edge's tactics and desperation. As a target for his anger and frustration from the loss, Mick was attacked by Edge and Lita. Igniting a feud between the two, Foley and Edge would meet at WrestleMania 22 in WWE's last-ever Hardcore match.
At Saturday Night's Main Event weeks before WrestleMania, Foley and Edge had a segment that saw Edge slam Mick face-first into thumbtacks in the ring. The thumbtacks would be re-introduced in their Hardcore match following some barbed wire play, bloodying both combatants. With thumbtacks laid out on the canvas and Edge with the upper hand, Foley swung the momentum and delivered a backdrop suplex on Edge into the tacks. This match had the infamous ending of Edge spearing Mick Foley off the ring apron through a flaming table at ringside to get the pinfall.
3 Ric Flair vs. The Big Show
Mick Foley and "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair developed a fierce rivalry in mid-2006 that drew on personal animosity between the two. On the July 10 Raw, Flair came to the ring to speak about Foley, and Mick intervened via video conference. Flair called out Foley for some hardcore wrestling but instead got ECW General Manager Paul Heyman who introduced Ric to the new ECW World Heavyweight Champion The Big Show. Show pointed out that he had done something Flair hadn't, and that was to win the WWE, WCW, and ECW world titles. With his being the one title Ric was missing, Show proposed a title match with Flair the following night for the July 11 ECW on Sci-Fi.
Ric accepted the challenge but would receive a cobra clutch backbreaker to end the segment. Flair indeed went "extreme" in his title shot the next night, attacking Show with a barbed wire bat, steel trash can, and chair. Flair would then pull out a cloth sack and pour out many thumbtacks. Flair threw several chair shots to Big Show's head to eventually get the giant to fall backward into the tacks. This angered Show who would come back to win by submission with a cobra clutch. Post-match, Big Show would toss Flair onto the tacks.
2 Ric Flair vs. Mick Foley
The culmination of the Ric Flair-Mick Foley 2006 rivalry came at SummerSlam; the two would cut scathing promos on each other in the weeks building up on Raw. Flair had defeated Foley at Vengeance that June in a 2-out-of-3 Falls match, winning 2-0. Their animosity continued to grow and it was decided that they would settle the score in an I Quit match at SummerSlam. Foley entered the fight with a trash can full of weapons and attacked Flair right away. Foley would introduce "Naitch" to Mr. Socko as well as a barbed wire board which he would use that would make Flair bleed heavily.
Since the barbed wire did not make Flair quit, Foley then turned to the signature cloth sack, revealing hundreds of thumbtacks. Foley would get Flair up and slam him into the thumbtacks, making Ric wail in pain. The two would exchange attacks with a barbed wire baseball bat before Foley took a fall from the ring apron to the floor and onto a trash can. Mick's friend Melina came down to check on him and would try to quit for Foley. A deranged Flair demanded to hear Foley quit and would line up to strike Melina with the barbed wire bat. Foley then grabbed the microphone and quit. This match was very graphic and violent.
1 Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho was delivered a message by Dean Ambrose on the April 11, 2016, Raw regarding his Highlight Reel talk show. Jericho's show was being replaced with The Ambrose Asylum hosted by Dean. Infuriating Jericho, this sparked a feud between him and Ambrose. The two fought at Payback where Ambrose won by pinfall. The next night Jericho would attack Dean with "Mitch" the potted plant. The following week Ambrose would steal and destroy Jericho's $15,000 light-up jacket and days later Chris would place Dean in a straightjacket and unfairly attack "The Lunatic Fringe." This led to the first and only Ambrose Asylum match at Extreme Rules 2016; essentially a steel cage with weapons affixed to the top for retrieval.
Weapons used were a mop, nunchucks, a kendo stick, belt, strap, a barbed wire 2x4, and of course the cage itself. Ambrose would retrieve a bucket from atop the cage and reveal its contents, a cloth sack. To the delight of everyone, Dean poured out a sea of thumbtacks. Jericho would later go for a Codebreaker but would be caught mid-air by Ambrose and then dropped back-first onto the thumbtacks. Ambrose connected with a Dirty Deeds close to the tacks to get the pinfall victory. 69 tacks ended up being removed from the body of Jericho and Chris would later reveal that Dean had wanted to use thumbtacks in his WrestleMania 32 match with Brock Lesnar which got denied. The honor was then bestowed upon Chris.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKeoqqSowaa%2BjZympmenrLJuucCtmqGdo2LEs7HSraOeqqNiuaK6w56bZqeeYsGpwcybq5qbm6h8