6 Wrestling Moves That Need To Make A Comeback

Suplex, suplex, what ya gonna do? What ya gonna do when they come for you?

By Mik Furie /

Like everything else in life, professional wrestling goes through seasons.

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As the seasons pass, different styles of wrestling grow and bloom while others shrink and fade away, at least for the time being. The moves that are fashionable today, even those that we complain are used in every other match (looking at you Tope Suicida, Canadian Destroyers, and finisher kickouts) may well be novelties that are barely seen next season, having fallen out of fashion with the wrestlers who grew up watching them.

But if wrestling is performance art, then every move not being performed on the canvas is part of a story not being told. Sometimes the heel needs to show off how villainous they truly are. Other times, the stronger man will need to show off his dominance, or the more agile show off how easily he can escape what is thrown at him, and on occasion, a move just looks so believable that it helps suspend disbelief and immerse a viewer into the battle before them.

These are the out of fashion wrestling moves that need to be picked up by today's stars and returned to the spotlight...

6. Pendulum Backbreaker

When researching images for this article it very quickly became clear why Bret 'The Hitman' Hart is still known as 'The Excellence Of Execution.' Despite a legacy of not leaving any of his opponents seriously injured, every move he performed looked legitimate.

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One of those moves was the pendulum backbreaker, which was often performed to soften his opponent's back up for the Sharpshooter. Many others have used it throughout their careers, though few were as precise as Bret. Those who graduated from the Hart Dungeon often had the same style, and there are some standouts like Roderick Strong (a man known as the Messiah Of The Backbreaker), Val Venis, and for some reason Alicia Fox (whose backbreaker looks a lot more devastating than Triple H's).

When performed well, any backbreaker looks painful enough to immerse you in the battle before you, helping you to suspend disbelief. The pendulum was one of the best at that as it naturally looked like the use of leverage rather than brute strength, turning the gravitational reaction to the scoop into a spine-shattering attack.

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