The suicide dive used to be a rarity in professional wrestling circles but, like the German suplex and the superplex before it, WWE has taken to overbooking the move in the last year or so. No longer the province of the high-flyer: now anyone on the card is allowed to fling themselves over or through the ropes to the outside. CM Punk had his own endearingly clumsy variation, which Daniel Bryan regularly bettered. The Usos deliver handsfree over-the-top elegance which we cant help but smile to see. Now, Luke Harper crashes through the ropes like a man half his size, making us hope that hes got a career ahead of him in WWE aside from acting as Bray Wyatts henchman. But its the WWEs most legendary big man that we want to celebrate with this entry. The Undertaker is a legit six foot ten and, even trim, weighs just under 300 pounds. He shouldnt even be able to perform a handsfree over-the-top suicide dive, never mind having kept it in his moveset until the last couple of years of his career. Its not always been the most elegantly performed of moves (the cameraman and his botched catch from Wrestlemania XXV notwithstanding), but thats the point: hes not Ricochet, or Jack Evans. Always the smartest of veterans, Mark Calaway held the suicide dive in reserve for the most important matches, knowing the value of a jaw-dropping high spot even in a dramatic traditional professional wrestling match.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
