Entertainment
WWE legend Mick Foley wants ‘German Suplex’ move banned to protect wrestlers’ quality of life-Alistair McGeorge-Entertainment – Metro
The Hardcore Legend has a point…
Mick Foley doesn’t think the risk is worth the reward (Picture: WWE)
Mick Foley took some major risks during his WWE career but now he’s suggested it might be time to retire one of wrestling’s most common moves.
The Hardcore Legend – who suffered countless injuries throughout his time in the business – has pointed to potential dangers with the German Suplex, which sees a wrestler grab their opponent round the waist from behind, before throwing them backwards over their head.
Given the nature of pro wrestling as entertainment, the idea is for the person taking the move to land on their shoulders rather than impacting their neck, but Foley doesn’t see the need to do the move at all.
He said: ‘I did not let people throw me backwards very often. There would be times a guy like Rick Steiner would throw me whether or not I wanted to go, but I generally had a plan B.
‘I just don’t like German Suplexes. I think that over time they shorten careers, and they destroy the quality of life.’
The former world champion pointed to a recent AEW Dynamite match between Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta for the ROH Pure Championship as an example of his concerns.
Brock Lesnar hits a German Suplex on John Cena at SummerSlam 2014 (Picture: WWE)
“It’s just [that] over time it’s going to wear you out. You couldn’t show the match that Garcia had with Yuta to any reasonable orthopedic guy who would say that what those guys were doing was not going to lend itself to a poor quality of life,’ he said on his own Foley Is Pod podcast.
‘These guys are great workers. I just think they could do without that move… I don’t want to see any of us in wheelchairs. I don’t want to see any of us needing long-term care…
‘There [are] just other ways around it. I just wonder what it’s going to take for people to say, “Let’s take the German [Suplex] off the menu.” ‘
Mick Foley has been in his fair share of battles (Picture: WWE)
Previously, Foley has opened up about the financial and physical impact of his iconic Hell In A Cell match against The Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998, when – performing as Mankind – he got thrown off the structure through a table, and then through the roof of the cell itself.
Speaking in 2020, he exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘Oh wow. Yeah, I would say Hell In A Cell – I think it may have shortened my career. It was definitely the point from which I believed in my own mortality, so everything was different following that cell match.
‘I don’t have any regrets – I have some small regrets about things I did later in my career. But no, I don’t regret starting that match on top of the cell.’
However, he’s still paying the price for that decision.
‘Things did not work out like I’d have hoped,’ he admitted. ‘The cell collapsing when I was chokeslammed still has fallout for me! I just paid $425 to remove my bottom flipper – which are false teeth which were knocked out in that cell – and I’ll have to pay $15,000 or so to get those teeth fixed.’
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