A surgical fastener applying apparatus comprising a cartridge body (100) including a plurality of fastener retention slots (128a,128b,128c) arranged in a plurality of rows including at least an inner row (128a) and an outer row (128c), a plurality of surgical fasteners (130a,130c) disposed in inner and outer rows and configured such that a plurality of fasteners (130a) disposed in the inner row (128a) have a backspan that has a greater height than a backspan of a plurality of surgical fasteners (130c) disposed in the outer row (128c), and an anvil having an inner row and an outer row of depressions for forming the fasteners (130a,130c). A plurality of pushers are operably associated with the plurality of surgical fasteners (130a,130c) and configured to eject the surgical fasteners toward a respective depression in an anvil for formation thereof such that upon formation, the plurality of surgical fasteners (130a) ejected from the inner row (128a) provide a greater compressive force to tissue than the plurality of surgical fasteners (130c) ejected from the outer row (128c).
