Foreign Object Friday: Johnny V's cigar

Johnny V and his cigar

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

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I'm starting a new weekly feature here to talk more about foreign objects. Probably better known as international objects in this day and age. We, of course, all remember Jim Cornette's tennis racket, Jimmy Hart's megaphone and Mr. Fuji's cane. For this series, I am going to look at some lesser known objects used throughout the course of wrestling.

In 1985 one of my favorite tag teams was Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo. The U.S. Express had won the WWF tag team titles for a second time that summer and was defending them against Brutus Beefcake and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. The Dream Team was a new duo at the time and still under the direction of both Jimmy Hart and "Lucious" Johnny V. Turns out the stogie-smoking Valiant would be a game changer in this contest.

The Dream Team
Courtesy: WWE

Toward the end of the match, Beefcake was handed Johnny's lit cigar. The future barber proceeded to use the cigar as a weapon and rubbed it in the face of Windham. The action was impactful enough to render Windham unable to continue fighting and he was pinned to the mat and new champs were crowned.

I don't know that any other title ever changed hands due to a lit cigar. Nor do I recall Valiant ever using any other sort of weapon during his time as a manager. But there are plenty of other unique objects that have been used to gain the upper hand in wrestling. What is your favorite? Stay tuned each Friday.