15 Legendary Wrestling Table Spots Fans Still Talk About

Tables are more than props in pro wrestling; they’re weapons of spectacle and catalysts for chaos, promising unforgettable moments and career-making risks. Few moments get a crowd louder than the slam of a body crashing through wood. But how did this extreme tradition begin? We’ve gathered 15 of the most important and unforgettable table spots in wrestling history, each with a surprising history and tale of splintery destruction!

What Pro Wrestling Tables Are Really Made Of

First, let’s break down how wrestling tables actually work.

Wood. That’s right, no tricks or hidden padding. For the most part, wrestling tables are real, with some variation depending on the promotion. Japanese companies often use thicker, more punishing tables, while American promotions like WWE and AEW opt for pasting or trestle tables with folding legs.

These trestle tables are usually made from lightweight compressed wood (like particle board) with aluminum tube legs. They’re sturdy enough to support weight but designed to break under heavy impact, making them ideal for dramatic crashes.

That said, don’t go planning your own PATIO-MANIA just yet. As you’ll see, table spots are still dangerous stunts that should never be attempted outside the ring.

1. The Tolos Brothers vs. Bob Nandor & Chet Wallick (1960s): The First Televised Table Spot?

At some point during the early 1960s, brothers Chris and John Tolos took on the team of Bob Nandor and Chet Wallick in a two-out-of-three falls tag match in Buffalo, New York.

Towards the end of the bout, those dastardly Tolos Brothers beat down Nandor in their corner using heel-ish tactics, leading Nandor to roll onto a folding table outside.

The brothers continued to stomp down on Nandor, resulting in him breaking through.

The table break was probably not planned, as Nandor didn’t sell the destruction and leaped straight back to his feet to continue the match in the ring. Still, it added to the chaos of the finale, with the commentator announcing, “Oh, I think they broke the table! The table is all gone! My microphone is broken!”

The Tolos Brothers would pick up the victory a few minutes later.

2. Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo vs. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (1984): Table Spot That Set a New Standard

This table spot on our list was certainly more intentional and featured another iconic pair of wrestling brothers, Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo.

In 1984, they took on The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express for Memphis Wrestling.

After a vicious brawl that ended in a DQ, the action spilled to the outside of the ring, where Randy Savage drilled Ricky Morton through the announcer’s table with a piledriver.

Pro Wrestling Stories’ very own JP Zarka reminisced with the late, great Lanny Poffo about the match on their podcast, The Genius Cast with Lanny Poffo.

“Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, two of the all-time greats; let’s say no more about that. I was proud to be in that match. I’m proud the fans remember it, I’m happy it’s on YouTube, and I’m proud that both got into the WWE Hall of Fame. They are two very important people in the wrestling business."

JP then asked Lanny how they prepared for such a spot, keeping in mind that, at this point, such a brutal stunt had rarely been pulled off.

"It’s very easy. All you do is grab the tag team rope and watch in amazement as my brother grabs Ricky Morton and puts him through a table. This is taking things to a new level. They take a chance. That’s what they do. My brother did not hurt Ricky Morton, and he did not hurt himself. Randy never hurt anybody, and Ricky Morton trusted him. They just did it, and they did it well. It was a calculated risk."

3. Harley Race & Jim Duggan’s Backstage Brawl (1987 WWF Slammys): The First WWF Table Spot?

At the 1987 WWF Slammy Awards, Hacksaw Jim Duggan was tasked with presenting the award for best dressed, no doubt for the 2×4-carrying brute’s love of fashion, as displayed by the classy tuxedo t-shirt he wore to the event.

The award went to King Harley Race for the fabulous blouses he wore during this time of his career.

Of course, Hacksaw and Harley Race were in a feud at the time. A vicious fight ensued, spilling out to the back, where it would continue for most of the show.

The reality is that as soon as the two stepped off the stage, the rest of the battle behind the scenes had been pre-recorded the day before. Many online interviews, reviews, and retrospectives chronicle the events of that night, mainly highlighting Harley beating a live chicken to death by smacking it over and over across Duggan, and Hacksaw walloping Race with a giant tuna.

What seems to go unmentioned is something that is far more historic. That’s right, even more so than poultry murder and seafood slappings.

At one point, with Jim Duggan lying across a table, Harley Race climbs up some scaffolding and belly flops down. Jim gets out of the way, and Race crashes through, giving us the WWF’s first-ever table spot.

Speaking to the experience years later, Duggan reflected on his working relationship with Race.

"I had a great relationship with Harley Race, man, and he’s another one of the old, true old school guys that really saw the progression of wrestling from high school gyms and National Guard armories to these huge events that they became. But Harley and I, we enjoyed working together. We got along real well."

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4. Harley Race vs. Hulk Hogan (SNME 3/12/1988): A Brutal Ringside Table Dive

Next, we have one of the many examples of King Harley Race being one of the toughest sons of a gun in the business.

In the main event of the March 12th, 1988 episode of Saturday Night’s Main Event, Race took on Hulk Hogan in a short but brutal match engineered to get over Hogan’s new vicious attitude.

Both sides used underhanded tactics and shenanigans in the ring and out. Toward the climax, Harley laid Hogan on the ringside table, stood on the edge, and dove.

Like with Duggan months prior, Hogan rolled out of the way, but this time, the table didn’t break so cleanly for The King.

The metal rim gave Harley a hernia, and he would require time off to heal. However, with Race being tougher than a two-dollar steak, he would continue to wrestle until the end of the month, taking part in a twenty-man battle royal at WrestleMania IV before finally taking seven months off to heal.

5. Terry Funk vs. Ric Flair (Wrestle War ’89): Funk’s Piledriver Through an Unprepared Table in the NWA’s First PPV.

Wrestle War ’89 was a co-production between the NWA and WCW, and can therefore be considered the first WCW pay-per-view.

One of the night’s big matches saw Ricky Steamboat take on Ric Flair in the final match of an epic trilogy for the NWA title.

A battle of such magnitude required special judges at ringside, including Pat O’Connor, Lou Thesz, and a tuxedo-clad Terry Funk. No novelty t-shirts for The Funkster.

Flair won the match, and afterward, Funk approached Flair, asking him in a cheerful tone for a title shot. Flair denied the request, which sent Funk into a rage.

Tossing The Nature Boy out ringside, Terry positioned the battle-weary Flair onto a table and hit a piledriver.

The fact the table didn’t break didn’t make the assault any less impressive. Table spots were still rare at this point, and as such, the tables were not gimmicked or “TV-ready,” as Conrad Thompson puts it on the To Be The Man podcast, to which Ric responded.

"This one definitely wasn’t ready for TV. Because Terry weighed at that time 250, and I was probably 240, and we didn’t break the table, but we damn near broke my neck. You know, Terry shrugs ‘Didn’t quite go the way I wanted to, Ric’’"

You can read more about Flair and Funk’s legendary feud here.

6. Sabu & The Sheik (FMW, Early ’90s): The Japanese Legend and his Nephew’s Innovative Use of Tables

The homicidal, suicidal, genocidal, death-defying maniac Sabu earned that excellent if slightly wordy nickname by being one of the pioneers of bringing modern extreme style wrestling to America.

Sabu would compete in hardcore style matches in Japan alongside his trainer and uncle, The Sheik.

Sabu would do all kinds of crazy spots during his run in Japanese promotion FMW during the early 1990s. Utilizing all types of hardcore chicanery from fire to barbed wire, tables were the least of his problems. As he revealed to The Monte And Pharoah Pro Wrestling Broadcast, they were a godsend.

“Why do you think I use a table?” he continued. “It breaks my fall. If I didn’t use a table, I’d smack on the floor and bounce off the cement. I don’t want that. I’d rather bounce on a table that breaks my fall. Everybody thinks that when you hit a table it hurts more than the floor. It doesn’t.”

“The more it gives, the easier it is,” admitted Sabu.

“In the beginning, I never gimmicked tables. But sometimes, they were gimmicked without my request, and they’d fall before I wound up using them. I like a hard table. The harder a table is, the more it breaks my fall. Now, if it doesn’t break at all, then it kicks my ***!”

7. ECW Double Tables (Feb ’95): Sabu & Tazz vs. Public Enemy in Pro Wrestling’s First-Ever Official Table Match

When Sabu returned to the United States in October 1993, he brought his chaotic, risk-heavy style to Eastern Championship Wrestling and, with it, helped ignite a hardcore revolution.

His high-impact offense, combined with a roster hungry to push boundaries, marked a turning point for the Philadelphia-based promotion.

By August 1994, ECW’s transformation accelerated when Shane Douglas threw down the NWA World Title in defiance, setting the stage for Eastern Championship Wrestling to become Extreme Championship Wrestling. That summer, Sabu teamed up with The Tazzmaniac, forming a wild and unpredictable duo that quickly set their sights on ECW’s most notorious tag team, The Public Enemy.

The feud had personal heat. The Public Enemy had already put both Sabu and ECW booker Paul Heyman through tables months before. It all came to a head at ECW Double Tables in February 1995, where Sabu and Tazz faced Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge in a brutal main event.

The match had a simple but savage rule: go through a table, and you’re eliminated. In the end, Sabu and Tazz stood tall, and the table match, as we know it, was officially born.

8. Flaming Tables on ECW Hardcore TV (Oct ’95): Public Enemy, New Jack, Raven & Richards Set the Ring Ablaze with Stacked Tables

Fire spots are extremely dangerous, and as ECW prided itself on being extremely dangerous, it wouldn’t be too long until the company saw the first burning table.

A noteworthy early example, perhaps even the first, occurred on the 131^st episode of ECW: Hardcore TV, which aired in October of 1995.

Public Enemy faced The Gangstas (New Jack and Mustafa) and Raven and Stevie Richards in a tag team three-way dance.

Johnny Grunge placed Richards on top of two stacked tables, setting the below one alight while Rocco Rock climbed the turnbuckle and performed his signature moonsault through the wood, the flames, and poor Stevie.

9. Edge vs. Mick Foley (WrestleMania 22): Edge Spears Foley Through a Live Flame-Retardant Table

Since the closure of the original ECW, the flaming table has not made many more appearances in mainstream North American wrestling for an excellent reason. It is very dangerous!

One rare occurrence, however, took place at WrestleMania 22 when Edge speared Mick Foley off the apron into a flaming table during their hardcore match.

Edge recalls the terrifying moment in an interview with Inside The Ropes.

"When I really understood the position I put myself in, I was running back at Mick and said, ‘I don’t have a shirt on. I’m diving face-first into this thing!’ He’s going through it on his back and has 18 layers of clothes on!”

Edge continued, “They put this flame retardant gel on us, which was washed off in like, two minutes, we had sweated it off. So, I dove through, and I was like, right, I’m just gonna tuck my head into Mick’s big old belly and hope for the best. But I wrapped my arms around him, so it burnt my arms. singed all the hair off my arms and my hands and singed a big chunk of hair off my head.

“I rolled off, and I just saw my body smoking. I tried to sell it as shock, but I could smell myself burning. I thought, ‘I think I’m okay because I can think that I think I’m okay.’"

10. Bret Hart vs. Diesel (Survivor Series ’95): Diesel Sends Hart Crashing Through the Announce Table

In October 1995, Diesel defended the WWF Championship against Bret Hart in a no-DQ contest at that year’s Survivor Series.

At one point during the match, with Bret standing at ringside, Diesel charged at the ropes, knocking Bret off the apron and through the announce table.

Despite the prodigious plummet, Bret would go on to win the match and the title with a sneaky roll-up after playing possum. Bret had won the title, but more importantly to this article’s context, he gave us the first WWF announce table spot.

Hart recalls pitching the idea to Vince on his Sharpshooter podcast.

"It was my finish, the table spot. I told Vince that if we went through the table and did it in a suspenseful way where no one knew I was going to go crashing through the table, pushing me backward through the table would stun everybody. It would actually mean something and people would really believe that I really was hurt.

“There was a moment of complete shock. Especially back then. Now you see people go through tables all the time. Trust me, nobody goes through tables like the one I went through. That table was solid.”

Hart elaborated, “They actually gimmicked that table. They glued it back together and reinforced it with a piece of wood underneath. That table was indestructible when I went crashing through it, it was such a stiff table."

11. Public Enemy vs. American Males (WCW Nitro ’96): Rocco Rock’s Top-Rope Dive Through Tables Introduced ECW-Style Chaos on Mainstream Television

As ECW’s underground momentum surged in the mid-90s, its gritty, violent style began to attract attention far beyond Philadelphia.

Hungry to capture some of that edgy appeal, WCW moved quickly to acquire ECW alumni, hoping to inject some hardcore energy into their own programming.

One of their first grabs was The Public Enemy. The tag team of Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge made their WCW debut on the January 15, 1996 episode of Monday Nitro, facing off against Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs, better known at the time as The American Males.

True to their ECW roots, Public Enemy won the match with some classic rule-bending, using underhanded tactics that played well with their rebellious image.

But it was what happened after the bell that made history. Known for their love of high-risk chaos, Public Enemy wasn’t content to just grab the win.

They dragged Bagwell outside the ring, laid him across two tables hastily set up at ringside, and Rocco Rock climbed to the top rope. In a moment that stunned mainstream wrestling fans, he launched himself off the top, crashing down through the wood and his opponent in a spectacular display.

With that single act, the modern wrestling table spot had officially arrived on primetime TV. What had once been a fringe stunt in bingo halls was now making waves in front of millions of viewers.

12. Tommy Dreamer vs. Brian Lee (High Incident ’96): The Scaffold Match Ending Where Lee’s Fall Through Stacked Tables Made History

Now that the competition had started utilizing hardware in their bouts and angles, it was up to ECW to up the ante to continue being America’s number-one hardcore brand.

The main event of ECW High Incident saw Tommy Dreamer face “Prime Time” Brian Lee in a scaffold match. The reason for such a stipulation came about when, during the build-up, Lee would chokeslam Tommy through various tables, from various heights, and various balconies, veritably.

So, it made sense for the culmination of their feud to be a battle that would end with one of them falling into splinter oblivion.

Multiple tables were stacked in the ring, creating an epic and legendary visual that was the very embodiment of what ECW stood for.

The match would end with Lee taking the plunge and Tommy standing triumphant. But a bad fall wasn’t the only danger the two would face during that battle, as Tommy revealed in an interview with the PW Torch.

“The Scaffold Match back in the day was pretty crazy for three reasons:

“One, Sandman made it.

“Two, I’m scared of heights.

“Three, Brian Lee choked me with the electrical power (cable) from the entire building, and after the match, the guy told us that he was not sure how we were not electrocuted to death on the top of that scaffold.”

13. Mankind vs. The Undertaker (King of the Ring ’98): Foley’s Historic Fall off Hell in a Cell onto the Spanish Announce Table

It’s wild to think that in three short years, the World Wrestling Federation went from Bret’s dive off the ring apron to Mankind against the Undertaker in a Hell In A Cell match.

For Mick Foley, taking insane bumps was nothing new.

So, how did Foley convince Taker and Vince McMahon to let him take such an epically dangerous spot?

"It was only during the day that I said, hey, how about you throw me off the top of that thing?" recalled Foley on his Foley Is Pod podcast.

“I tried to downplay it as being a big deal. Vince was like, ‘I don’t know if I like that, Mick.’ I said, ‘If I told you I was gonna drop an elbow and Taker was going to move, you’d let me do that, right?’ So I’m going with a positive. I don’t know if positive reinforcement’s the right term for it, but I’m laying it out as if it’s not a big deal when it clearly was.

“He was like, ‘I guess so.’ I said it’d be the same bump, which it absolutely was not. So, I kind of threw that into the mix. At least, this is my recollection of it on the day of.”

You can read more about wrestling’s most infamous match here.

14. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (Royal Rumble 2000): WWE’s Inaugural Tables Match with Aerial Assaults and Stacked-Table Swanton Bombs

At the critically-acclaimed Royal Rumble 2000 pay-per-view, the Hardy Boyz took on the Dudley Boyz in the company’s first-ever table match.

This Tables Match had a unique twist. To win, both members of a team had to be put through tables – not just one.

The Hardy Boyz gained early momentum with a double superplex on Bubba Ray Dudley, followed by a ladder-assisted assault. After a steel chair came into play, Matt Hardy laid Bubba Ray on a table outside the ring.

In a dramatic sequence, Matt delivered a diving leg drop while Jeff followed up with a diving splash – known as the Event Omega – sending Bubba crashing through the table.

Next, the Hardys targeted D-Von, placing him on a table at ringside. Matt attempted another diving leg drop, but D-Von narrowly escaped. Jeff followed with a suicide senton, but missed, smashing himself through the table instead.

Bubba Ray capitalized by superbombing Matt through a table, swinging the momentum in the Dudleys’ favor.

The Dudley Boyz then launched a vicious beatdown, stacking multiple tables in the aisle under a balcony in the crowd. Bubba dragged Jeff Hardy up to the balcony, but Jeff fought back with a low blow and a chair shot, sending Bubba toppling down through the tower of tables.

Seizing the moment, Matt laid D-Von on another table, and Jeff soared from the balcony with a Swanton Bomb, crashing through D-Von to seal the win.

The match was a brutal, high-flying war, cementing its place as one of the most violent and chaotic Table Matches of its era.

However, as Matt Hardy revealed on The Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy podcast, there was no time to waste surrounding the match’s final courageous dive.

"Vince McMahon was adamant that he wanted his baby face team that just secured this new big victory in Madison Square Garden, this iconic venue, and he wanted us in the ring with our hands raised.

“We’re already battling the clock to get this match in, and after Jeff goes through Devon to win the match, we’re down there, and we get a hit from someone telling us the time, ‘20 seconds, get in the ring, Vince says get in the ring!’

“Jeff is still in the mode, totally selling. I picked his *** up, I drug him over as he’s down selling, I dumped him over the barricade.”

Matt continued reminiscing, “That’s the most hilarious thing. I like to throw him over the barricade like he’s my opponent. I throw him over the barricade, I get over there, pick him, and drag him into the ring because I know his mentality is like, dude, that’s a huge bump, I’m going to sell.

“So I drag him into the ring, and we get the glory shot. We get that beautiful shot of us holding our hands up, and there’s a big pop from the crowd.

“Vince said multiple times, ‘I want my babyfaces in the ring with their hands raised.’

“Come hell or high water, I was going to make sure that happened because I was going to be following his command, especially because we were new and had just started to get over at that juncture. It was such a quick moment, dumping his carcass over like he’s a dead body."

15. Dudley Boyz Popularize Tables (Late ’90s): How Bubba Ray & D-Von Turned "D-Von, Get the Tables!" Into Legend

While Bubba Ray and D-Von may have put many an opponent through the wood during their ECW days, let’s face it, so did everyone else on the roster.

It wasn’t until their WWF run that the tag team’s association with the hardware indeed developed.

"It was happenstance that it happened with WWE. In ECW, we never were the table guys. We never did ‘D-Von get the tables.’ We were involved in the real violent matches, which tables were included in, but it was invented here (WWF) by mistake," said Bubba on the Talk Is Jericho podcast.

D-Von continued, "We started putting the girls, like Terri Runnels, through the tables; the tables and The Dudleys were becoming as one, so to speak. But then what happened was that we were doing something in the ring, I was supposed to go out and get the tables, and I legitimately forgot.

“He went, ‘D-Von, get the tables!’ I went, ‘Aw ****,’ and I went to get the tables. He said, ‘D-Von, you got to remember to get the tables,’ and I said, ’Okay, my fault.’

"So the next night, we go to do it again, and I remember. He goes, ‘D-Von, get the tables,’ and I say, ‘I know! Stop telling me! I got it!’

“Now I’m getting mad, and he did it again a couple of times, and I remember telling him, ‘Bubba, stop telling me to get the tables. I know my spot; just leave me alone, and I’ll go.

“It finally came to him; he said, ‘D-Von, I think people are catching on.’ I go, ‘What do you mean?’ He goes, ‘ You know, saying D-Von get the tables.’ I go, ‘It’ll never get over. He goes, ‘Let’s try!’ and I go,’ Yeah, I know, but it will never get over.’

“Sure enough, here we are today. I hate to say this, but a lot of what this man says, he’s actually a really smart guy."

The tables didn’t just get over with The Dudleyz, but with the industry in general, where, to this day, they remain a pro wrestling mainstay.

Modern Era Table Carnage (2000s–2020s): Tables Still Define Hard-Hitting Climaxes

Alongside and after the Dudleyz, table matches continued to evolve, adapting to new wrestling styles, audience expectations, and company storytelling.

The post-Ruthless Aggression era gave table matches a new purpose: less about shock value and more about enhancing narrative and athleticism. WWE, TNA, AEW, and independent promotions all continued using table spots and full table matches as key components of hardcore storytelling, often as climactic moments in long-running feuds.

One of the standout table matches of the modern era was Sheamus’s breakout moment at WWE TLC 2009, where he defeated John Cena in a classic singles Tables Match, winning his first WWE Championship and instantly being launched into the main event scene.

Over in TNA, stars like Bully Ray, Abyss, and Rhyno carried on the hardcore legacy, incorporating tables into some of the promotion’s wildest brawls. Matches like Team 3D vs. Beer Money Inc. and Hardcore War encounters kept the table match relevant, often mixing in other weapons and elevated platforms for extra danger.

TNA’s willingness to let matches spill outside the ring allowed for more creative uses of the table, such as balcony dives, flaming tables, and stacked spots that rivalled anything from ECW’s heyday.

With the launch of AEW in 2019, a fresh wave of table carnage arrived. Wrestlers like The Young Bucks, Darby Allin, and Sammy Guevara brought their daredevil styles to the table – literally – frequently incorporating brutal table bumps in both sanctioned matches and chaotic brawls.

By the early 2020s, women’s wrestling also embraced the table match format in a big way.

WWE’s TLC 2020 featured Asuka and Charlotte Flair facing Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler, with several hard-hitting table spots highlighting the physicality of the match.

On the independent scene, female performers like Masha Slamovich and LuFisto pushed the hardcore envelope, proving that table matches weren’t just for male main-eventers anymore. The table had truly become an equal-opportunity stage for violence and storytelling.

Pro wrestlers continue to find creative ways to use, destroy, and weaponize the humble table, making it not just a nostalgic callback but a living, splintered symbol of pro wrestling’s endless reinvention.

Why We Love Table Spots: How Tables Became a Time-Honored Staple for Unforgettable Wrestling Moments

Whether used to escalate an angle, seal a dramatic finish, or elevate a high-flying stunt, the table spot remains one of pro wrestling’s most enduring and crowd-pleasing traditions.

Its evolution from gritty ECW origins to a staple on global television shows how a simple object can take on larger-than-life meaning in the ring.

As long as wrestling continues to push the boundaries of spectacle and storytelling, tables will be right there – tucked under the ring, waiting to be smashed. With every splintered crash, they deliver a visceral thrill, a jolt of nostalgia, and the kind of unforgettable moment that keeps fans chanting, "We want tables!"

These stories may also interest you:

• Permanent Scars: Tales of Life-Altering Wrestling Matches
• Wrestling Match Types Used Once in WWE But Never Again
• 10 Pro Wrestling Matches That Turned Into Real Fights!

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