5 World-Famous Wrestling Moves Created Entirely By Accident

The most common story behind this move goes as such: Jake Roberts had a wrestler known as ‘the Grappler’ in a front headlock. As he was preparing to transition into another move, he tripped accidentally, and drove the Grappler’s head into the ground. 

In doing so, Roberts created one of the most well-known and widely-used maneuvers in professional wrestling, the DDT.

After the maneuver’s initial creation, it was presented as a truly deadly finisher, especially since Roberts added a ‘snap’ effect to it that created the impression that he was really driving his opponent’s head into the mat with full force. However, as the years went by, a myriad of newer versions of the DDT started appearing. 

These include: the Brainbuster, the Inverted version (Scorpion Death Drop), Fisherman DDT, Tornado DDT, and basically any situation whereby Wrestler A hooks their arm around Wrestler B’s head and falls backwards.

This is one of those rare occasions where a mistake in the ring actually yields something positive. These days, the DDT is considered to be a ‘basic’ maneuver that everyone should know how to execute in order to be perceived as a believable wrestler. 

There’s something about the move’s simplicity that really shines through even to this day. After all, one of the easiest ways to show brutality is to grab your opponent’s head and drive it into the canvas.