5 basic wrestling moves that ended WWE careers  

Injuries are a part and parcel of a WWE Superstar's life, with a number of them currently on the sidelines due to injury, including the likes of Lars Sullivan and Nia Jax. Wrestlers know what they are signing up for whenever they step into the ring and sometimes injuries occur.

More often than not, these injuries are from high octane moves and force a star to be sidelined for a number of months before they are later able to return. Seth Rollins suffered a shocking knee injury performing a Sunset Flip back in 2015, whilst Finn Balor suffered a shoulder injury following a barricade powerbomb at SummerSlam in 2016.

There are many stars who have been able to come back from what they believed were career-threatening injuries, but there are others who have been forced to retire from the most simple of moves.

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#5. The Musclebuster - Tyson Kidd

Samoa Joe has been delivering the Musclebuster to his opponents for years. It's a move that was once considered to be safe, until 2015 when he delivered the move to Tyson Kidd as part of a dark match ahead of Monday Night RAW.

Joe didn't do anything different with the move, but the way Kidd landed made it clear that he was hurt. The former Tag Team Champion was forced to undergo neck surgery and even though he has tried to rehab enough to return to the ring, he was forced to retire and is now working as a backstage producer in WWE.

There is are no hard feelings between the two men, it appears as it was a mere accident and one that many wrestlers warn about. It's one of the main reasons why it's stated that fans shouldn't try this at home.

#4. Side Kick - Bret Hart

When Bret Hart took on Goldberg back at Starrcade in 1999, The Hitman had no idea that this would be the match that would signal the end of his career. Hart noted as part of his recent appearance on Stone Cold's Broken Skull Sessions that he told Goldberg that he could do anything to him in the match as long as he didn't injure him, since he was aware that Goldberg had a reputation at that point in his career.

Obviously, fans who saw the match and the basic sidekick from Goldberg will know that the former WCW star wasn't able to manage this. Hart took the kick, a move that gave him a concussion and signaled the end of his illustrious career.

Unlike many other stars on this list, Hart and Goldberg haven't been able to find neutral ground since the incident but both Hart and the current Universal Champion have been able to wrestle a few times since then, even though they are still yet to cross paths.

#3. Back Kick - Paige

Paige was the first-ever NXT Women's Champion back in 2014 and was considered to be the future of the WWE Women's Division. She later became the youngest ever Divas Champion and went on to have a great feud with AJ Lee.

Paige's career started to go downhill back in 2016 when the star suffered a neck injury and was forced to undergo surgery that kept her sidelined for more than a year. Paige did make her return to WWE TV alongside Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville at the end of 2017 to form the Absolution, but sadly this was short-lived.

A few months later, Paige took a kick to the back in a match with Sasha Banks (the match also included Mickie James, Bayley, Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose) at a WWE house show that forced the Anti-Diva to retire from in-ring competition. However, it has been reported that Paige doesn't blame Banks for ending her in-ring career.

Paige has since gone on to become SmackDown General Manager and work as a manager for the Kabuki Warriors.

#2. Turnbuckle Powerbomb - Sting

Sting had already achieved legendary status before he made his debut for WWE back in 2014, but it was his move to WWE that many wrestling fans were waiting for. It was hoped that finally, Sting vs The Undertaker would become a reality, but this wasn't the case.

After losing his debut match to Triple H, Sting moved on to a feud with Seth Rollins, a feud that would be his last in WWE. Sting and Rollins collided at Night of Champions in 2015, in what was the latter's second match of the night. The Architect put his United States Championship on the line against John Cena but failed to successfully defend it.

Both Sting and Seth Rollins put on a fantastic match, but it started to fall apart when Rollins hit Sting with his Turnbuckle Powerbomb, a move that Rollins that has been a part of Rollins' arsenal for a long time. This signaled the end of Sting's in-ring career. It was later noted that Rollins went to find The Icon after the match and apologized, even though the WWE Hall of Famer stated that he never blamed Rollins for what happened.

#1. Running Powerbomb - Droz

Many current WWE stars have a running powerbomb in their move-set, but back in October 1999, Droz's career and his life changed dramatically following a match against D'Lo Brown.

In an interview following the match, Droz revealed that the loose-fitting shirt that he was wearing didn't allow D'Lo to grip him properly in order to execute the move. As a result, he wasn't able to jump and give enough momentum to his opponent.

This meant that when Droz was powerbombed, he was dropped on his neck, breaking two vertebrae. He was immediately rushed to hospital where doctors worked for hours to try to reduce and stabilize the pressure on his injured neck. The match was part of a pre-taped episode of SmackDown which means it was never aired to the public, even though Droz being stretched out of the arena was used in the public service announcement to warn fans "don't try this at home."

Despite extensive medical care, Droz is now a quadriplegic, but recent reports suggest that he has gained some mobility in his upper body.