10 Wrestling Moves That Have Been Completely Ruined
1. Canadian Destroyer
Poor Petey Williams.
The Canadian was a thing of beauty when Petey Williams hit it for the first time on Matt Sydal in 2003 and the crowd didn't know what to make of it. It was essentially a variation of the piledriver, and because it's been banned for some time in WWE due to being considered too dangerous, it was mainly kept exclusive to Williams.
To IMPACT's credit, they protected the move at all costs and had no one kick out of it until Eli Drake in late 2017. It was treated like a major deal when it finally happened and Drake was a made-man at that point.
Interestingly enough, it was a little over a year later that Rey Mysterio randomly busted out the move against Andrade on an episode of SmackDown in January 2019. When it didn't win him the match, it became clear that it wouldn't be utilized the way it should be (as a finisher) in WWE.
That started a trend of wrestlers from various promotions including Pentagon Jr., Dustin Rhodes, Dominik Dijakovic, Adam Cole (who, in his defense, had already used it in Ring of Honor), The North, Piper Niven, The Usos, Ricky Morton and more breaking out the Canadian Destroyer ad naseaum to no avail.
If there's any one move in wrestling that should be left alone and used only when absolutely necessary, it's the Canadian Destoryer.