Banned Wrestling Holds - 26 Wrestling Moves Banned by WWE (2024)

The Piledriver is perhaps one of the most dangerous moves in professional wrestling. It’s not due to the fact that the move is difficult to execute (which it is); it’s because of how common it was in the past. Many wrestlers regularly used the move in their matches. Nowadays, the traditional form of the Piledriver is banned, and almost impossible to see in the Independent Scene. The reason it was banned is, many wrestlers were injured seriously with broken necks due to the move. This infamously includes Stone Cold Steve Austin.

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. It was a standout surprise then, during a particularly incredible match between CM Punk & John Cena on Raw when Punk busted it out, shocking even the announce team. Punk’s expression after the move says it all: everything but the kitchen sink.

One of the less dangerous moves on this list, the move was banned for a completely different reason. The Hangman’s Chokehold is where the wrestler lifts their opponent up into the air by holding them around the neck. While it may appear to be otherwise, the wrestler is fine as the hold on the hand of the person lifting them and remain safe. A similar move was done by Trish Stratus in the corner as well. The move was banned by WWE following the murder/suicide of Chris Benoit, to stop reminding the fans about the death. Benoit had hanged himself following the murders, and as a result, any choking moves are banned for being in poor taste.

While this move wasn’t dangerous, it was banned from WWE along with the rest of the chokeholds because of Chris Benoit’s family tragedy. It shone a bad light upon the WWE and to pay their respects to Benoit’s family, they banned the move.

Randy Orton’s villainous avatar in the late 2000s was a very dangerous character. He was unstable and prone to attack anyonea

Randy Orton’s villainous avatar in the late 2000s was a very dangerous character. He was unstable and prone to attack anyone, including his bosses. Also, he had in his move-set the dangerous Punt Kick. The kick is basically where you run up to your fallen opponent and kick them in the side of the head. The move was one which Orton used a lot, but he ended up hurting people with it, including Vince McMahon. Also, the move was considered to be too easy for the kids to imitate and possibly hurt themselves. In storyline, obviously, because the “Punt”, as it was called, usually looked pretty weak. Clearly, they weren’t going to have Orton actually kick someone in the head full force, but it did tend to seem more like he was grazing them with his shin.

At any rate, it used to be his most deadly move, even more dangerous than the RKO, and using it was a guaranteed match finisher. But then WWE decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to promote one of their top stars deliberately giving other wrestlers head injuries in this age of increased awareness of the dangers of concussions, and frankly, that’s probably a smart plan. These days, Orton may occasionally set up as if he’s about to punt his opponent into next week, usually in a long, brutal match on Pay Per View where he’s already tried every other method of victory, but you can almost certainly take it to the bank that he’ll be prevented from hitting the move successfully every single time. resulting in WWE banning it., including his bosses. Also, he had in his move-set the dangerous Punt Kick. The kick is basically where you run up to your fallen opponent and kick them in the side of the head. The move was one which Orton used a lot, but he ended up hurting people with it, including Vince McMahon. Also, the move was considered to be too easy for the kids to imitate and possibly hurt themselves. In storyline, obviously, because the “punt”, as it was called, usually looked pretty weak. Clearly, they weren’t going to have Orton actually kick someone in the head full force, but it did tend to seem more like he was grazing them with his shin.

At any rate, it used to be his most deadly move, even more dangerous than the RKO, and using it was a guaranteed match finisher. But then WWE decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to promote one of their top stars deliberately giving other wrestlers head injuries in this age of increased awareness of the dangers of concussions, and frankly, that’s probably a smart plan. These days, Orton may occasionally set up as if he’s about to punt his opponent into next week, usually in a long, brutal match on Pay Per View where he’s already tried every other method of victory, but you can almost certainly take it to the bank that he’ll be prevented from hitting the move successfully every single time. resulting in WWE banning it.

The move by its definition is an extremely unsafe one. The WWE wrestler lifts their opponent into a backdrop before hitting them with a reverse piledriver. The move was invented by Gregory ‘Hurricane’ Helms. He never injured anyone with the move, but other wrestlers outside the promotion did.

Hurricane Helms, who made an appearance this year at Comic-Con, used to perform the Vertebreaker during his initial run with WWE. It was a modified Piledriver, in which Helms dropped the opponent on his back.

The Hurricane made the Vertebreaker move famous. He would get behind the opponent, bend forward, wrap his opponent arms around their back, lift them up and drop them on their shoulders. After Hurricane retired, the move was used by Seth Rollins and then never seen in WWE.

Helms never ever looked in control of this move, which was eventually banned by WWE.

This move is so dangerous that it has only been performed a handful of times professionally, all by the same wrestler, and never in WWE. In concept, the move is similar to John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment, a fireman’s carry slam. The difference is that the wrestler taking the move starts by laying on his back across his opponent’s shoulders, rather than on his front, and instead of flipping over to land in a typical back bump, is dropped straight down to the side, usually landing on the shoulders, head, and neck. The move was pioneered by Kenta Kobashi, considered one of the Greatest Japanese Wrestlers in history (and the mentor of Kenta Kobayashi, who now wrestles in WWE as Hideo Itami), and even he recognized how dangerous the move was, only using it seven times in his entire career. Former WWE Superstar Tyler Reks briefly used a heavily modified and much safer version which was also called a Burning Hammer, but it was not the same move used by Kobashi.

With this list being dominated by Japanese wrestling, it’s no wonder that our number one is a move so dangerous, its creator Kenta Kobashi only ever performed it seven times, on four very specific wrestlers that he trusted to the greatest extent to take the move perfectly and without serious injury. To give the move its technical name, the inverted Death Valley Driver takes an already incredibly risky move and removes any form of safety it offers the person it is performed on. In a similar manner to the Poisoned Frankensteiner, the danger comes from the ready position: instead of being able to roll forward and counter act the force of being driven into the mat, you are now rather prone and helpless as you are thrown backwards head and/or neck first. In Japan, Kobashi is a bone fide legend in wrestling and this move, like a few of the others near the top of this list, has now entered wrestling legend as a sort of Black Swan: its rare as all hell and only performed on the greatest of occasions. With a risk factor like that, we’ll never see it at Wrestlemania, but that’s fine. We can leave it to the Japanese to make us wince time and time again.

The Burning Hammer may be one of the most dangerous moves ever introduced to professional wrestling. The originator of the move, Kenta Kobashi, only used it seven times in his career. It is a Reverse Death Valley Driver, where the opponent is face up in the position of a Death Valley Driver, and driven face and shoulder first into the mat. While the move was dangerous by itself, it was banned for a separate reason in WWE, as it was too close to John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment.

This is the reverse Death Valley Driver, tweaked to be more effective. Kenta Kobashi created it and used it in only a few occasions, as it was very dangerous, even for wrestlers with a lot of experience. A lot of wrestlers avoided it, except for Bianca Beliar & Moustache Mountain who have recently used it. It was also a bit similar to Cena’s AA move.

This may come as a surprise to some that a Moonsault was on the list because so many guys can do them, but I will tell you that I have seen some very botched Moonsaults that have almost ended careers.

The idea of doing a backflip off the ropes was considered stupid by many wrestlers for a very long time, but nowadays people want more excitement than they needed back in the earlier days of pro wrestling. A Moonsault may not be as hard as other moves, but it is just as potentially dangerous.

The 450 & Shooting Star Press are even more dangerous. Plenty of people have been injured as a result of a bad shooting star press in the WWE in the past decade. Chavo is the first that comes to mind, he was knocked out when a superstar landed with his knee in Chavos face.

After Brock Lesnar nearly sent himself to the hospital attempting a Shooting Star Press at WrestleMania XIX (arguably, Brock had performed the move repeatedly in developmental, but never before in WWE), the move landed itself on the banned list. The move is already a high-risk endeavor due to being of the top rope variety, but the fact that it’s very easy to either over or under-rotate, combined with an inability to see where you’re landing until just before impact, meant that it had a significantly higher potential for causing injury.

Indeed, other wrestlers known for attempting the SSP, notably WCW & WWE Superstar Billy Kidman, often received criticism for being “sloppy” when performing it (Kidman had it turned into a story line where he was afraid to perform the move after legitimately injuring Chavo Guerrero during a match when he drove his knees into Chavo’s neck). Exceptions have been made to this ban over the years, when dedicated performers have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can hit it safely and consistently, including Evan Bourne and, most recently, Neville, whose Red Arrow is an even more complicated twisting version of the move. Additionally, Superstars such as John Morrison have performed a standing version of the SSP, which is significantly safer due to being performed from a grounded position.

The Powerbomb was a move that has actually been banned in the past due to so many people screwing it up. The idea of someone being dropped from six feet or more straight onto their back does not seem like fun.

This move is widely used by big men like Nash, Batista & Sid, but some guys like Shelton & AJ Styles will use one occasionally. This move is dangerous because it is hard to brace ones own body when being dropped six feet straight to the ground.

Other variations like Splash Mountain create the issue of landing on ones neck instead of back. This is why the move was used to kayfabe retire Jamie Noble.

I know this is not considered a legal move, but due to the amount of injuries caused by Chair Shots it made sense to put it on the list.

Chair shots to the head have been controversial for a long time. Jim Ross even called for an end to head shots with chairs in a recent blog entry. Guys like Edge are known for using chairs, and some guys can do it right, but once in a while you get a rookie who swings too hard and causes a concussion.

The WWE has asked for concussion testing, but it does not change the fact that not every head shot is blocked by a superstar’s hands at the last second. Foley took hundreds if not thousands of hard Chair Shots in his career, and he was notorious for not trying to block them, so it looked as real as possible.

Admittedly, this isn’t actually a wrestling move, but the rise of hardcore wrestling that came along with the Attitude Era saw a drastic increase in the number of Chair Shots. What was once an extremely rare event becoming a nightly occurrence, and as the frequency of Chair Shots increased, so did the number it could take to end a single match. Everyone remembers the infamous “I Quit” match at the 1999 Royal Rumble, where Mankind took a ridiculous number of completely unprotected shots to the head as a part of the finish to the match, and the terrifying footage from the Beyond The Mat Documentary which showed the effect it had on Mick Foley (and his family).

When concussion research came to the forefront following the Chris Benoit incident, Chair Shots to the head were (quite rightly) singled out as a major contributor to health problems in professional wrestlers. Even “Protected” head shots, where a wrestler attempts to block the chair with their forearms, is fairly dangerous due to problems with correctly timing the shot, which could lead to a wrestler still taking some (or even all) of the blow to their head and neck. Over the years, WWE has both reduced the overall use of Chair Shots in matches, and banned head shots, which is why every chair shot you will see these days is delivered to the flat of a wrestler’s back.

Seth Rollins’ former finisher, and the most recently banned move, one which almost seems inexplicable. Certainly, the name is distasteful, but WWE has re-branded controversial moves in the past without batting an eye (hey kids, ask an older fan what John Cena’s finishers used to be called). Arguably, it’s even a ridiculously easy move to take safely, as it allows the opponent to cushion their fall with their arms, and even turn their head to lessen the impact. However, WWE’s official policy is that it’s a move which targets the head, and with increased attention being paid to concussions, they chose to remove that move from common use. In the end, it’s hard to complain about them protecting their workers, no matter what the reason.

Seth Rollins created the Curb Stomp, as we previously mentioned. WWE took it out because it was easy to copy by other wrestler, but most of them were injured in the process. After several concussion lawsuits WWE already had, this move that again brought even more injuries to the head had to be phased out.

This move has only ever truly been performed on the big stage by one man, Petey Williams, formerly of TNA. The move is a difficult one to perform and actually requires a significant amount of athleticism on the part of both wrestlers involved, which would already be a strike against it being performed regularly on WWE programming. If you can’t hit it on some of the super heavyweights that roam WWE’s rings, it’s not the most effective finisher. At any rate, the Destroyer is a Piledriver that is performed by setting an opponent up as if you’re going to deliver a Powerbomb, then diving over their back, forcing them to flip backwards with your legs, into a Piledriver finish. You can probably guess the main reason why this move was banned before ever being seen in WWE, since we used the word “Piledriver” twice while describing it. Arguably, it’s not the most dangerous Piledriver variant, since the flipping involved removes most of the downward impact of the move, but the added complexity also makes it easier to screw up.

The calling card of Canadian Wrestler Petey Williams, the move itself has many of the same danger issues as the aforementioned Piledriver. Oh yeah, plus the fact that you’re taking the move, you’re also doing a backflip. 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.

Samoa Joe’s finisher in NXT, the devastating Muscle Buster, was banned from WWE programming ever since the tragic accident involving Tyson Kidd. The move in which Joe takes the superstar from the top rope on to his shoulders and slams them onto the mat.

Tyson Kidd suffered a life-threatening injury after Joe delivered a Muscle Buster, following which WWE removed that move from Joe’s arsenal. Joe has stuck to the Coquina Clutch since then

Dick Murdoch is credited with innovating the Brainbuster and bringing it into popular use, and it saw an increase in popularity in the modern era as a more brutal version of a Suplex. After lifting your opponent up as if for a standard vertical Suplex, you instead drop straight down, forcing them to land mainly on their shoulders and neck. A modified and reasonably safer version of a Brainbuster can be seen in the Jackhammer, a trademark move of Goldberg, where instead of dropping straight down, the opponent is visibly pulled over, allowing them to land flat on their back. The move is banned in WWE due to the combination of the lack of control involved in a move where everyone is falling, in addition to the obvious problems with dropping someone on their neck from a significant height. In an interesting bit of trivia, in Japan (where ridiculously dangerous moves are rarely banned), the standard vertical Suplex is actually referred to as a Brainbuster, while the head-and-neck version is called a “Vertical Drop Brainbuster”.

Even though there is little love for CM Punk as a person, he certainly was one of the most talented people on the roster and the Pepsi Plunge was one of my favorite finishers in the independent wrestling circuit. The move is basically a Pedigree but executed from the top rope.

It is claimed that the Pepsi Plunge was banned because of Triple H’s finisher, the Pedigree, which is executed in the middle of the ring. While these are just rumors, many believe that the Pepsi Plunge was banned for that reason.

One of the most discussed finishers is undoubtedly the Styles Clash. The Styles Clash was banned for a certain period, mainly due to the fact that the move requires the opponent not to do anything. How is that a problem you might ask? Well, because wrestlers are trained to tuck their chin for almost every move out there!

The move has also left some injuries, more specifically Yosh*tatsu & Lionheart who broke their neck from the move. James Ellsworth almost got injured too, but Styles adjusted the move in the nick of time to avoid injury.

Fortunately, the move did not stay banned from WWE television forever, because Chris Jericho managed to get the Styles Clash reinstated. Jericho also said that helping to get the Styles Clash unbanned was a proud moment for him. All I have to say is thank you, Jericho!

One of the most dangerous moves in WWE today is the Styles Clash. It has injured many wrestlers so far. It was banned for a while before AJ joined WWE but might soon be phased out. Most AJ Styles fans will hate WWE for banning the move, but there are enough reasons why it should be taken out.

The original Frankensteiner was invented by Scott Steiner as a variation of the top rope Hurracanrana, in which the victim lands on his head briefly before safely rolling onto his shoulders. Leave it to the Japanese then, to take a move and make it ten times more spectacular, but also ten times more dangerous. Only ever performed once during a match between independent wrestlers Koji Kanemoto & El Samurai in the finals of the prestigious Super Jr’s. Tournament, this version of the Frankensteiner eliminates the recipient’s ability to tuck and mitigate the impact by rolling on to his shoulders. That means that once you come off the top, it’s a good ten to twelve feet straight down to the mat directly on your head. Fun. It’s no wonder it’s never been attempted again since, but as one of the more recent moves in the list, we wouldn’t be too surprised to see it busted out again in an extreme situation. Those Japanese guys are just insane like that.

While we’ve seen the Frankensteiner often in WWE, the twisted version is called Poisoned Frankensteiner, where the opponent lands on their head. Plus, doing it backward off the top rope can be very dangerous. For instance, when it was used at the NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, Sasha Banks was injured on the landing. This move is now off-limits.

One of the most popular wrestling moves in WWE is the one created by Triple H, who has altered it many times. The original move was very dangerous, as Triple H would yank his opponent so high that when they landed, they’d fall awkwardly on their heads.

There was no way of protection, so the move had to be altered or else it would have been completely banned.

Some may not know what a Stun Gun is because we can’t even find a single image anywhere, so we’ll try and explain it the best we can. When an opponent is running towards you, you grab them in a position not that different to a Spinebuster setup, but instead of dropping them on their back, you fall back draping them neck first over the ropes.

I actually saw a guy do this at a live event to Funaki years ago and he had to be carried out because he was hurt so badly. Maybe he didn’t brace himself properly, but in wrestling these things happen.

More injuries have resulted from bad Piledrivers than any other move on this list and that is why few guys are willing to try it anymore.