10 Best Wrestling Suplex Variations

When Brock Lesnar uttered the immortal words ‘suplex city, b*tch” in the direction of Roman Reigns at WrestleMania XXXI, I’m sure he didn’t think of dollar signs, t-shirts and the renaming of all suplexes by the WWE commentary team. Or maybe he did, I’m not going to tell The Beast Incarnate what to think, but it screamed of an off the cuff remark made by a wrecking ball masquerading as a man.

But what is the suplex? Well, Wikipedia describes it as ‘a throw that involves lifting the opponent and bridging or rolling to slam the opponent on their back’. There are infinite variations of the move, ranging from the simple to the convoluted to the insane (as with most things in wrestling). The name comes from the Greco-roman move the ‘suplay’, and the Latin etymology is sub (under) and plexus (an intricate network). That last one doesn’t make much sense.

So what are the best forms of the suplex? That is a subjective question demanding a subjective answer of course, but many will be in agreement to their favourites. Either way, here’s my 10 favourite variations of the move that gave Brock Lesnar’s favourite destination a name. Ladies and gentlemen, the suplex.

Ah, the old belly-to-belly. First of all, the word ‘belly’ is inherently funny, making this an objectively funny name for a wrestling move. Secondly, when utilised in the release/throw form, it is as visually impressive as any suplex on this list.

The move works exactly as one would expect from the name. One man stands belly to belly with another man, wraps his loving arms around him and proceeds to chuck him over his head. When described as so, it almost sounds sexual really. 

Anyway, the move is mostly used by stocky big guys like Rusev or Big E Langston, but has also been used by smaller guys like Kurt Angle and MVP. MVP in particular used it in a creative fashion, often performing the move close to the turnbuckle causing the poor fool taking the move to pole-axe themselves in the corner. Vicious.