Piledriver
A move that was a match ending mainstay in the 1980′s, nowadays only the Undertaker and Kane are permitted to administer these during a match and even then, it tends to be the safer Tombstone variant pictured above.
A move that was a match ending mainstay in the 1980′s, nowadays only the Undertaker and Kane are permitted to administer these during a match and even then, it tends to be the safer Tombstone variant pictured above.
The reason it’s so dangerous is that the opponent’s head needs to be firmly tucked between the attacker’s legs or you risk severe damage to the opponent’s neck and spine. Just ask Stone Cold Austin.
It was Summerslam 1997 and Stone Cold was to go one on one with the late great Owen hart. During the match, Hart delivered the piledriver to Austin and did not sufficiently tuck Austin’s head in.
The impact as Austin’s head was spiked into the mat broke his neck and temporarily paralysed him, it was a miracle that he managed to roll Owen up and pin him to finish the match.
The incident significantly shortened Austin’s career and from that point onwards, the WWE banned almost everybody from performing it.
The Canadian Destroyer
The calling card of Canadian wrestler Petey Williams, the move itself has many of the same danger issues as the aforementioned pile driver. Oh yeah, plus the fact that you’re taking the move, you’re also doing a backflip.
As the gif above shows, the Canadian Destroyer takes all the dangerous fun of the original piledriver and inserts the added hazard of the attacker having to front flip whilst the victim simultaneously backflips in order to land in a perfect piledriver position.
Williams himself invented the move, debuting it on the independent circuit and riding it to a fairly successful run in TNA.
It takes serious balls to agree to having this performed on you and although its spectacular nature makes it one of the coolest finishes in pro wrestling, it’s no surprise that we’ve never see it performed in the safer confines of the WWE.
Avalanche Bloody Sunday
The simple DDT, made famous by Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts, looks devastating but is actually relatively safe as both wrestlers are in a stable position during the set up and they have plenty of time to safely cradle the head before execution.
Take away the stability and you have a high speed drop onto what could be somebody’s skull if either performer moves an inch out of position.
That is what you’re looking at when you witness prominent independent wrestler Prince Devitt his signature flying top rope DDT on his opponent. The danger here is giving the victim a serious concussion as he freefalls on to his face.
The risk is somewhat alleviated by Devitt’s incredible prowess and capability on the top rope, but the appropriate care must still must be taken to avoid any serious head injuries.
Word has the WWE are incredibly interested in Devitt and we could be seeing him make his NXT debut fairly soon. If that does happen, we doubt Devitt will be bringing this incredibly risky finishing move with him.
Victory Star Drop
Women’s wrestling in Japan is not the quite the same as women’s wrestling you’d see anywhere else. Often incredibly brutal, the lady grapplers from the Far East are every bit as crazy as their male counterparts and none more so than the legendary Manami Toyota.
A fierce female from the Japanese wrestling circuit since the late 1980′s, Toyota invented the Victory Star Drop, which to use the technical name is a top rope bodyscissors backflip innto a back-to-back kneeling piledriver.
It’s as over the top ridiculous and dangerous as it sounds, so dangerous in fact that many of Toyota’s opponents refused to allow her to perform it.
As you could of guessed with a move that has the word ‘piledriver’ in its description, the danger here comes from the person taking the move landing on their head but in this case, that person also has no real method of controlling how they land.
It’s simply flip over and hope you land square on the top of your shoulders (where all wrestlers are trained to land 99% of the time) or else land on your head and take it like a champ.
Tiger Driver 91
The match ending move of the late Mitsuharu Misawa, this move continues the running theme of this list in people being dropped at high velocity on their heads. The tiger driver is basically a double underhook power bomb but without bothering to rotate your opponent all the way over.
The result is the receiver having to tuck his neck as much as possible to avoid being driven down head first and compacting the top of his spine.
This ranks a little higher of the list than some of the other moves that endanger the spine and neck because the victim isn’t just falling on to his neck and head, he’s being driven with considerable force.
Top 5 Finishing Moves That Ban By WWE
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