5 Wrestlers Who Regretted Inventing Wrestling Moves
In a different universe, Hulk Hogan uses a 'Sleeper of Doom'.
It's not easy coming up with a brilliant new finishing move. Not only does the innovated manoeuvre have to fulfill a set of complex criteria - it needs to be versatile, visually arresting, and safe enough to repeat every match - but crucially, it also has to not already exist.
Which is why so many big fellas simply settle for a bog-standard powerbomb and append their own name to it. It might be boring, but it ain't broken.
As you can imagine, those who do happen across the hard-hitting Holy Grail - say, a silly elbow drop preceded by an elaborate, theatrical set-up - are not only proud of their creation, but protect it like a lost lamb.
So it might come as a surprise to learn that there's a very select clutch of superstars who have hit veritable gold with their invented moves, only to later resent ever picking up the pickaxe. It's partly telling of just how successful these men were that they could afford to denounce their signature specials - but likewise speaks volumes of the collateral damage they caused.
5. Mick Foley - Falling Off The Cell
In the years since, Mick Foley has spoken candidly about how he seriously regretted innovating his infamous Hell in a Cell fall, having taken the tumble twice during his epic encounter with The Undertaker at King of the Ring '98, first careening wildly into the announce table and latterly, accidentally, through the roof of the structure.
It makes perfect sense. Not only did he suffer a series of injury that reads like Gray's Anatomy, including a dislocated jaw, puncture wounds and internal bleeding, but he encouraged a subsequent generation of superstars to repeat and ultimately top his top-of-the-cage topple. Few have incurred physical trauma on the same scale of the original, but the returns have diminished to the point that any potential damage is no longer worth it.
Yet this isn't why Foley regrets his double-header against gravity. The Hall of Famer latterly admitted that he resented the stunt defining him as a glorified tumbler for the rest of his career - even if it was one of the most memorable moments in the history of the industry.