10 Most Awesome Wrestling Submissions (And Who Did Them Best)
9. Hell's Gate (The Undertaker)
MMA Undertaker was a curious development for the ever-evolving Mark Calaway. Starting with his transition into the 'American Bad-Ass' and 'Big Evil' personas in the early noughties, 'The Deadman' sported fighter gloves and and began adding a selection of submission holds and more technical wrestling to his arsenal.
For the longest time, Mean Mark worked a triangle choke as his hold of choice. Come early 2008, the triangle choke just wasn't cutting it against wide load wrestlers like Big Daddy V. Unable to wrap his legs around the gargantuan former King of the Ring's upper body, 'Taker transitioned into a gogoplata.
The shin-assisted chokehold seemingly crushed Big Daddy V's trachea, prompting the now bloodied behemoth to submit. The hold, fittingly renamed Hell's Gate for the spooky brawler now employing it, has been presented as a killer ever since. It was a key part of The Undertaker's high-profile, late-noughties feuds with Edge and CM Punk.
Presented as being lethal enough to warrant a ban for the sake of his opponents, the ever-intimidating mortician's submission artistry was a welcome development. While WWE's switch to PG in the summer of 2008 put the kibosh on wrestlers using blood capsules to sell the hold's effects, it remained a suspenseful and believable match-ender throughout The Undertaker's later years.
Look no further than his superlative submission win over Triple H at WrestleMania XXVII for a key example of this hold's dramatic power.