10 Wrestling Moves WWE Banned

By Alexander Podgorski /

7. The Backdrop Driver

The Back Suplex appears to be a very basic move: you tuck your head under your opponent€™s armpit, grab their legs, lift them up, and fall backwards. Simple, right? Of course, leave it to the Japanese puroresu stars to take such a simple technique and make it insane. The Backdrop Driver is basically a High-Angle Belly-to-Back Suplex, in where the recipient of the move lands on the upper shoulders, neck, or head. It was a popular maneuver in Japan throughout the 1990s, and was most commonly associated with €œDr. Death€ Steve Williams. This move can be extremely dangerous because it can cause serious damage to the recipient€™s spine. If they land incorrectly, it can cause a broken neck, or at the very least compression of the vertebrae. In fact, it is this particular move that caused the death of Japanese wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa.We see WWE Superstars perform Back Suplexes all the time; they€™re one of the most basic moves in a wrestler€™s repertoire. But in those variations, the victims land on their shoulders or back, in the safer position. So it makes sense for the Backdrop Driver to stay banned; the WWE doesn€™t want one of their best stars to suffer a fate similar fate to that of Mitsuharu Misawa.