The History Of The Fireball In Wrestling, Explained
Ethan Hayes
Published Mar 28, 2026
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Professional wrestling used to be all about two high-level athletes putting on an athletic show. Early on, in the formative years of this sport, it was purely about wrestling and not much else. The sport then evolved and other aspects such as characters, gimmick matches, and brutality were incorporated to widen the audience base and give the fans more than one reason to tune in. Somewhere during this phase of evolution, fire, literal fire became a part of the show.
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In the pseudo-sport that is all about making everything as authentic as humanely possible, fire has been a part of the show for quite some time. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat used to breathe out flames as a part of his entrance and we all know about Kane.
Lawler And Sheik Often Used Fire As A Weapon
According to early WWE lore, Kane was pretty much the personification of fire itself. Flames have been a part of the Kane character ever since his debut but they served as more of a prop to hype his entrance. As the company moved into the Attitude Era, wrestlers began to call upon the flames in an attempt to burn their foes. ECW was doing it so why not?
Outside of WWE, wrestlers have been putting each other through flaming tables for quite some time but in the empire of Vince McMahon, wrestlers employ flash paper to ignite a fireball. Flash paper contains Nitrocellulose, a highly flammable polymer that burns extremely fast but not hot enough to severely burn the person.
The Iron Sheik and Jerry Lawler have been using magician paper to hurl fireballs at their opponents well before this became a concrete concept in the WWE, but the first user of the fireball was Paul Bearer, the father of destruction.
During a feud with the Undertaker, Mankind and his companion, Paul Bearer exchanged fireballs to the face with the Deadman. Bearer and Mankind struck first but Undertaker retaliated when he burned Bearer at House 14: Revenge of the Taker. That was a cool spot at that time, but fans barely remember the segment as it was soon overshadowed.
The wrestler to really popularize the fireball was the half-brother of Undertaker, Kane and for obvious reasons as Kane was all about fire and brimstone. In the fall of 1998, Kane interfered during a match between his half-brother, Undertaker, and X-Pac and despite targeting the Undertaker, Kane ended up hitting X-Pac as he was in the way. The ringside announcers went crazy about what the heck had happened and while X-Pac withered in pain, Undertaker and Kane simply walked off. A normal day in the Undertaker family.
A few months later, Kane was at it again with his horrible aim. In 1999, during an in-ring segment with Chyna and Triple H, Kane once again employed the use of a flash paper to shoot a fireball. This was intended for Triple H but the Game ducked out of the way and Chyna took the fireball to the face. This segment is more memorable as this was the first time Kane displayed emotion.
Years later, in January 2021, during the Thunderdome Era, Randy Orton was the latest victim. Towards the end of the show, Randy Orton was brawling it out with Triple H. Eventually, the King of Kings got his hands on a sledgehammer but just before he could bash Orton’s brains in, his signature weapon caught flames and the lights went out. The power came back on and Triple H had disappeared, and Orton was left alone in the ring.
RELATED: AEW Shares Photos Of Cody Rhodes' Back After Flaming Table SpotThe recently demonized Alexa Bliss appeared on the side of the ring and after glaring at Orton for a moment, Bliss hurled a fireball in his face and Orton collapsed to the mat, yelling in pain as the shadow faded to black.
Hogan Botched The Flashpaper Spot
WCW tried harnessing the power of the flash paper as well. During the awful match between Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc 1998, a spot near the end of the match was to result in the finish. Hogan was set to throw a fireball in the face of his arch-nemesis. Unfortunately, Hogan had trouble igniting the flash paper and Warrior stood there, literally waiting for him to ignite the paper.
Hogan finally lit the flash paper, but it blew up in his face, burning off his facial hair, and with that, the finish of the match blew up as well. Horace Hogan was brought out after this failed spot and a new finish was improvised.
In the indie circuit, especially the death-match promotions, fire is common, and almost uncomfortably so. WWE very rarely incorporates fireballs but if the situation calls for it, McMahon is more than willing to do so, even in the PG era.
