5 of the most painful looking submission holds in WWE history

#2 Crippler Crossface:

Rabid aggression

WrestleMania XX had a historic finish when Triple H submitted to the Crippler Crossface, awarding Chris Benoit the World Heavyweight Championship. It was the first time that a submission hold had ended a WrestleMania main event, elevating Benoit’s finisher to its rightful place as one of the most robust and popular moves in the company.

Benoit had been packaged as an unpredictable, small-boned man throbbing with bursts of brilliance and rage, like a powder keg inside a matchbox, who knew the ring better than most and was a peril to be inside with.

Technical soundness of this stature meant a finisher which could be whipped out in seconds, and done away with in one taut moment, just like the modified neck crack Benoit wielded.

“I’ve never, ever had a man who’s stepped into that ring and has not tapped, who’s been put into the Crossface”, explained Benoit in an interview. The lethality of the move is not only because of the painful impact and thrust which it has on a prone opponent’s neck, back, and spine but also for the space for a sudden attack which it affords.

Since the arm trap technique was characteristic of Benoit, he could grab an extended arm and overturn almost any offence, on the ground or in flight, into a Crippler Crossface.