10 Wrestling Finishers That Could Legit Kill You

'Things to try and things to watch' isn't just a catchy disclaimer. The risks are all too real.

Pedigree to D-Bry
WWE.com

Remember kids, don't try this at home. Or at school. What is that spiel these days? Things you should try and things you should watch. Either way, the premise remains the same; these men and women are trained professionals but the risks they take are very real. Do this at home and you are doing so at your own peril.

Pro wrestling is performance art, a show built around the idea of combat. A violent soap opera, if you will. One of the aims of it all is to make what you're doing seem very real, while not endangering yourself or your opponent, hence the 'trained professionals' thing. These moves might look dangerous but their execution ensures they aren't.

Eurgh, execution isn't the right word to use there, is it? This all might be a show but the moves themselves exist for a reason. If performed outside of the controlled environment of professional wrestling, they have the potential to do serious damage to hearts, minds, body and soul. Some can even kill.

People aren't meant to be dropped on their heads, stomped in the guts or choked out. Seriously, don't try this at home.

10. Vertebreaker

Pedigree to D-Bry
WWE

Where better to start than a move that takes its name from breaking vertebrae? WWE fans don't get to see this move very often, what with it being banned and all, but it remains a worryingly popular move outside of the neurotic gaze of Vince McMahon. This is a wrestling move with very little room for error. Get it right and it is a spectacular spot guaranteed to pop any audience. Get it wrong, and the opponent isn't getting up. Ever.

The move is closely associated with both Gregory Helms and Homicide in the US, but it was actually invented in the hyper-creative environment that was the late-'80s and early to mid-'90s Japanese women's wrestling. It was Megumi Kudo who conceived the move, essentially a back-to-back double underhook piledriver. That sounds complicated and it looks just as complex.

That margin for error mentioned up top is distressingly tiny. The wrestler taking the move is helpless, and his survival depends on his own strength and conditioning. No arms to soften the blow, no way of spreading the impact. If you did this to the untrained, you'd have a serious problem on your hands.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.