5 pro-wrestling moves that were created by accident

Being a pro wrestler requires a lot of sacrifices and a considerable amount of training. It’s a strange hybrid of live action performance art with carefully-timed cooperative motion sequences that sometimes incorporates legit martial arts moves. To be a pro wrestler, not only do you have to be extremely tough, but you must also possess perfect timing and you must be willing to defy natural instincts for wrestling moves to be done properly.

Remember that time A.J. Styles was about to hit his Styles Clash on James Ellsworth and Ellsworth tucked his chin in (which is a natural reaction when the body anticipates pain; it wants to protect the head and neck) and risked breaking his neck? Thankfully, he pushed his head upward at the last possible second and Styles landed more on his knees, thus saving Ellsworth from injury.

In this instance, Ellsworth and Styles were fortunate that neither of them made too great a mistake, otherwise the consequences could’ve been dire. But there have been some occasions on which this attempt at cooperation backfired for one reason or another, which led to a wrestling move that was completely different from the one intended.

Below we look at five pro-wrestling moves that were created by accident.

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#5 The DDT

John Cena: hey look, there's a penny over the--why is the ring canvas getting closer?

If WWE’s narrative is to be believed, then the standard DDT was invented entirely by accident. The story goes that Jake "the Snake" Roberts was wrestling a wrestler called "The Grappler" (because wrestlers were really inventive back then), and Roberts had his opponent in a front face lock.

Allegedly, Roberts tripped and fell backwards while still holding the Grappler in the same face lock. In doing so, Roberts landed on his back and the Grappler landed on his head, or at least, that’s what it looked like from the fans’ perspective.

The audience was said to have gone nuts over this move, and thus the DDT was created.

That move has since become arguably the go-to move for basically everyone and is now considered one of the simplest moves that any and every wrestler should be capable of executing.

#4 The Powerbomb

Single, double, triple, pop-up, elevated, sitout; doesn't matter. The Powerbomb is awesome.

Once upon a time, likely before televisions had colour, there were two legendary wrestlers: Antonino Rocca and Lou Thesz. Both of them were outstanding grapplers for their time, and both were natural athletes. Though both of them became famous for different things, they share a common element: together, they created the Powerbomb, albeit by accident.

The story goes that Thesz tried to lift Rocca up by the waist to give him a Piledriver, a move that, while exceedingly dangerous, was used far more frequently back then than it is today. But something went wrong between the two of them, and Thesz dropped Rocca down on the mat. But Rocca didn’t get spiked on his head; rather, he landed on his back with his legs still pointed upwards. Thus was born the Powerbomb.

That move has changed somewhat over the decades, with there being more obvious cooperation between the wrestlers involved in the move. Yet even though it was originally an accidental move, it has become one of the most impressive-looking manoeuvres in wrestling today.

#3 The Diamondhead

It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if you have never heard of this wrestling move. After all, it was only ever used once, and was retired after that.

Here’s what happened: Japanese pro wrestling legend Kenta Kobashi announced in the lead-up to this match that he was going to debut a new finisher. He was going to use it for the first time in a match against Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and this would become his new super-finisher. The move was supposed to be some kind of Powerbomb lift dropped into a DDT (which we can only imagine would be downright terrifying, even if it was done correctly.)

When the time came to actually execute the move, something went wrong between Kobashi and Kanemaru, which resulted in Kanemaru being spiked onto the mat with unrelenting force.

The Diamondhead, which was the name of this new super-finisher, has not been used since.

#2 The Diving Head-butt

This is one occasion in which 'going head-to-head' is absolutely not a good idea.

Pro wrestling is the only sport/live-action TV drama in which head-butts are still considered legal. Every other sport has outlawed them for very good reason: they can cause considerable and possibly life-altering damage to both the person receiving the attack and the one giving it (just ask Katsuyori Shibata). Naturally, an even more dangerous take on the classic head-butt exists in pro wrestling: the diving head-butt did off the top rope.

This move was created when U.S. wrestling legend Harley Race botched a diving splash and hit his opponent’s head with his own instead. The move was considered high-risk ever since and has developed an infamous reputation for causing severe long-term damage to any wrestler that dared use it on a regular basis.

Harley Race suffered extensive damage to his body over the decades, owing partly to his use of the Diving Head-butt. The Dynamite Kid’s back and spine deteriorated at a much faster rate than normal because he used a swan-dive diving head-butt as a regular move for many years.

The damage caused by landing the way he did jar his spine so many times that he is now confined to a wheelchair. Chris Benoit, whose final moments on earth have caused considerable damage to both his legacy and pro wrestling in general, is believed to have suffered extensive brain damage.

This damage was said to have multiple sources, but one of them was his own Diving Head-butt, which he used very often throughout his WWE career. Finally, there’s Daniel Bryan, who used his own version of that same move during his main event push. But just like those wrestlers that preceded him, Bryan suffered neck damage and concussions from doing the diving head-butt on a frequent basis.

Clearly, these wrestlers should’ve learned a lesson from the Diamondhead: just because you create a move that looks cool and gets a huge reaction, doesn’t mean you should use it more than once.

#1 The Ganso Bomb

The Ganso Bomb is one of the deadliest wrestling moves to

The story behind the Ganso Bomb, also known as the Kawada Driver, is steeped in the complex and immersive psychology of AJPW’s King’s Road wrestling style. On January 22nd, 1999, then-Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Toshiaki Kawada defended that title against his arch-rival, Mitsuharu Misawa.

Throughout the match, both men kept reversing their way out of each other’s signature and finishing manoeuvres, with Misawa using a Frankensteiner to roll his way out of Kawada’s Folding Powerbomb.

Early in the match, however, Kawada broke his arm and was thus incapable of using his full strength when executing power moves. So when Misawa went for another Frankensteiner to avoid Kawada’s Folding Powerbomb, Kawada tried to hold Misawa up instead. But Kawada’s strength appeared to run out, and so he kneeled forward while still holding Misawa up by the legs.

In doing so, Kawada drove Misawa down to the ring head-first in freefall, without any means of rolling or absorbing the damage. Thus the Ganso Bomb was born.

At least with the other moves on this list, there is some way for the wrestler taking the move to protect their bodies. With the Ganso Bomb, no such luxury exists, leaving the victim with no other option but to suck it up and take the spine-jarring impact like a champ.

And people wonder why Japanese wrestling is treated with so much more respect than its American counterpart.