3. Samoa Joe Broke A Man's Neck With His Finishing Move...
In 1976, Stan Hansen botched a bodyslam and broke Bruno Sammartino's neck. In the same match, Hansen hit Sammartino with his lariat finisher, WWF announcers sold it as Hansen had broken Sammartino's neck with the lariat, and Hansen had a gimmick for life. In 2015, Samoa Joe accidentally broke Tyson Kidd's neck with the Muscle Buster. Tyson Kidd may actually never wrestle again. Thus, how Samoa Joe doesn't now have the most lethal finishing maneuver in WWE is far beyond my comprehension. You want heat? Here's heat. First, mention that Samoa Joe is "annoyed" and "reckless" in NXT, so much so that he broke Tyson Kidd's neck with the Muscle Buster. After this is announced in a segment with Commissioner Regal, put Joe into the ring after the announcement against NXT jobber Jesse Sorensen, who, announcers can mention, had his wrestling career cut short due to a neck injury "in another promotion" (which as a shoot happened in TNA). Joe hits Sorensen with the now lethal move to win the match. Sorensen sells it big, he's stretchered out, and Joe has more heat. Next, Daniel Bryan comes down to NXT to introduce the winner of Tough Enough as the newest member of the WWE roster. Joe's annoyance with NXT has now been played up on commentary and he's hurt two people, so when hits the ring and wipes out the new guy, it makes sense. Thus, when Daniel Bryan goes to pull Joe off of the rookie, and Joe attacks Bryan and hits him with the Muscle Buster -- which given Bryan's neck issues, definitely puts him over the top.
Marcus K. Dowling
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Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
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