Barbed wire match

A barbed wire match is one of any number of professional wrestling matches that utilizes strands of barbed wire in some capacity.

Types

Hardwired Match

Named by fans ("Hardcore" and "Barb Wired" combined), this match was an ECW Classic match, where all weapons has barbwire attached to a degree (barbwired steel chairs, barbwired bats, barbwired kendo sticks, barbwired tables, etc).

Ropewired Match

Named by fans, this ECW Classic match was voted "Most Bloody Match Ever" by ECW fans and Alumni alike and appeared on the "Professional Wrestling's Most Brutal Matches" DVD. In this match, the ropes are replaced with barbed wire. The only match in Classic ECW to occur involved Sabu and Terry Funk and one of wrestling's most famous moments happened when Sabu missed his signature Air Sabu on Funk and became entangled in the barbed wire, which resulted in a gash that required over 100 stitches to close up. Amazingly, Sabu got some athletic tape to close it temporarily and was able to finish the match to its scheduled conclusion, which saw Sabu win the ECW World Championship.

No Rope Explosive Barbwire Deathmatch

The ropes are replaced with barbed wire and barbed wire boards with "C4 explosives" attached are placed within the ring. The idea behind the match is that the ring is set up to detonate at a specific time in the match, whereby explosives under the corners of the ring causes fire to shoot upward. The most famous proponent of this match was the Terry Funk vs Cactus Jack, King of the Deathmatch final (Where the ring failed to detonate, causing no further injury to either man)

The match is extremely dangerous, and it is usually used to finish a rivalry. The first ever match of this kind was Atsushi Onita vs Tarzan Goto in the FMW promotion in 1990, and it became a staple during the deathmatch era in FMW.

No Rope Explosive Barbwire Steel Cage Deathmatch

This match was created also in the FMW promotion, and consists of replacing the ropes with a cage with Barbed Wire and C4 attached with no ropes whatsoever. The first one was Onita taking on Goto at Kawasaki Stadium in 1992, and also was used later in an Onita vs Genichiro Tenryu and a year later in Onita's retirement match against Hayabusa in 1995.

No Rope Explosive Barbwire Double Hell Deathmatch

Another deathmatch created by FMW in which the barbed wire was only set on 2 sides of the ring, and the other 2 sides were without any ropes, so if somebody fell on those sides of the ring there was a table set with barbed wire and C4 attached to it.

Circle of Fear

Circle of Fear is a generic term for any match where the mats covering the arena floor around the ring are removed and replaced with boards covered with barbed wire.

This match was (arguably) first used in the finals of the Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJPW) Deathmatch tournament on May 4 2001, when John Zandig versus Kintaro Kanemura was to be fought with these stipulations.

Barbed Wire Massacre

This is a match where the ring ropes are replaced with barbed wire and there are barbed wire boards and weapons surrounding the ring. The first one was between Sabu and Abyss at TNA Turning Point 2005. It was voted Match of the Year by TNA fans on tnawrestling.com. The second Barbed Wire Massacre Match occurred at TNA's Against All Odds 2008 PPV with Abyss defeating Judas Mesias.

Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match

This match is the same as a regular cage match except the top of the cage is covered in barbed wire and the cage door is locked, making escape much more difficult. The most recent one was fought between John Bradshaw Layfield and The Big Show at the 2005 WWE pay per view No Way Out. Big Show chokeslammed JBL through the mat, then tore open the door to escape that way. However, JBL had already crawled out through the bottom of the ring. Another version of this match is where the cage itself is made of barbed wire; this was used in the UWF in 1986, for a match pitting the Sheep Herders and Jack Victory vs. The Fantastics and Terry Taylor. In this case, the cage was reinforced by wood and was barred by barbwire. IWA Mid South recently did a barbwire cage match between Ian Rotten and Drake Younger where the inside of the cage was lined with barbwire. That match went to a dq when Insane Lane and Freakshow (also known as Six Feet Under in IWA Mid South) interfered.

ix Sides of Steel Barbed Wire Cage Match

The Barbed Wire Six Sides of Steel is a stipulation on the Six Sides Of Steel Cage Match in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, the top and corners of the cage being surrounded by Barbed Wire with the only way to win is the same as a standard cage match. The most recent match of this variety was Rhino vs. Christian Cage, with the latter being victorious.

Doomsday Chamber of Blood

A variation of the Six Sides of Steel Barbed Wire Cage Match is the Doomsday Chamber of Blood Match. Invented by Abyss as a means of getting even with Christian Cage, the match cannot be won by escaping the cage. The top part of the cage is lined with Barbed Wire so as to prevent escaping. Meaning instead of getting out to win, a victory can only occur by pinfall, but only when the person is bleeding and says "I quit" or is knocked out!