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Piledriver (professional wrestling)
A piledriver is a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat. The technique is said to have been innovated by Wild Bill Longson.
The name is taken from a piece of construction equipment, also called a pile driver, that drives countless massive impacts on the top of a large major foundation support, burying it in the ground slowly with each impact. The act of performing a piledriver is called "piledriving". Someone who has recently been the victim of a piledriver is said to have been "piledriven" (e.g. "The wrestler was piledriven into the canvas").
Notable wrestlers who have regularly used a piledriver during their career include Jerry Lawler, Bret Hart, Ray Stevens, Harley Race, Paul Orndorff, Abismo Negro, The Undertaker, Kane, The Brain Busters, Buddy Rogers, Minoru Suzuki, Karl Gotch, Danny Davis, and Kazuchika Okada.
The piledriver is often seen as one of the most dangerous moves in wrestling. The reverse piledriver is directly responsible for shortening the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin when his opponent, Owen Hart, inadvertently botched the move, legitimately injuring Austin's neck at the SummerSlam 1997. Due to this, the move is banned in the WWE with the exceptions of Kane and The Undertaker due to their experience and having already established the Tombstone (kneeling belly-to-belly variant) as a finisher. However, in recent years, certain variations of the piledriver have been allowed to be performed by experienced wrestlers and it is not banned in some other wrestling promotions such as All Elite Wrestling.
The piledriver is generally considered a dangerous maneuver in wrestling because of the potential impact on the head and compression of the neck. The proper way to execute the move, in most cases, is for the wrestler performing the move to tuck the opponent's head between their legs before falling to the mat (there are variations that are performed differently, as the list below indicates). If done in this manner, the wrestler receiving the move will land with little or no contact made with the mat, and thus not run the risk of injury. If the head is not secured and is protruding from between the wrestler's legs, the wrestler receiving the move risks serious injury and potential paralysis, as they will likely land with the entire weight of their body on the top of their head. Perhaps the most famous example of an injury from an improperly performed piledriver came at the 1997 WWF SummerSlam event. In a match between Owen Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hart was to perform a reverse piledriver on Austin, who later said that he was not sure if the move was a good idea to perform, as he was unsure if his head could properly be protected. As Austin had feared, Hart botched the move and dropped Austin on top of his head. The impact jammed Austin's neck and left him temporarily paralyzed. He continued and finished the match, but stayed away from the ring for two months to recover from the injury. The physical demands of Austin's standing as one of the top stars in the WWF did not allow much downtime for him to rest and take care of the injury, and as his career progressed, the damage got worse. Austin underwent fusion surgery on his neck in 1999, but it never fully healed. By 2002, Austin's doctors told him that he risked permanent disability if he did not retire, and he finally did so in April 2003.
The piledriver was officially banned in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) in 2000, unless the wrestler has special permission to use the move. In a discussion in 2007, Stephanie McMahon said that only two wrestlers were allowed to use the move, "two of the stronger guys", Undertaker and Kane. In fact, The Undertaker's tombstone piledriver continued to be his finishing move until his retirement in 2020. The piledriver is also banned in many other promotions and certain cities. It is also considered an automatic disqualification in professional wrestling matches held in Tennessee, as the move is banned in that state.[unreliable source?] In some promotions in the United Kingdom, the move can result in not only a disqualification, but also a fine. In Mexico, the piledriver (called a martinete) is an automatic disqualification.
Because of the dangers of the piledriver, it is classed as a foul and is illegal in mixed martial arts under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.
Any double-team move in which one wrestler helps another to perform a piledriver on an opponent by pushing down on the opponent's legs for more impact. In a variation of the move, the second wrestler jumps off the turnbuckle while pushing the opponent's feet downward for even more damage; this is well known as a spike piledriver (not to be confused with a one-man spike piledriver).
Piledriver (professional wrestling)
A piledriver is a professional wrestling driver move in which the wrestler grabs their opponent, turns them upside-down, and drops into a sitting or kneeling position, driving the opponent head-first into the mat. The technique is said to have been innovated by Wild Bill Longson.
The name is taken from a piece of construction equipment, also called a pile driver, that drives countless massive impacts on the top of a large major foundation support, burying it in the ground slowly with each impact. The act of performing a piledriver is called "piledriving". Someone who has recently been the victim of a piledriver is said to have been "piledriven" (e.g. "The wrestler was piledriven into the canvas").
Notable wrestlers who have regularly used a piledriver during their career include Jerry Lawler, Bret Hart, Ray Stevens, Harley Race, Paul Orndorff, Abismo Negro, The Undertaker, Kane, The Brain Busters, Buddy Rogers, Minoru Suzuki, Karl Gotch, Danny Davis, and Kazuchika Okada.
The piledriver is often seen as one of the most dangerous moves in wrestling. The reverse piledriver is directly responsible for shortening the career of Stone Cold Steve Austin when his opponent, Owen Hart, inadvertently botched the move, legitimately injuring Austin's neck at the SummerSlam 1997. Due to this, the move is banned in the WWE with the exceptions of Kane and The Undertaker due to their experience and having already established the Tombstone (kneeling belly-to-belly variant) as a finisher. However, in recent years, certain variations of the piledriver have been allowed to be performed by experienced wrestlers and it is not banned in some other wrestling promotions such as All Elite Wrestling.
The piledriver is generally considered a dangerous maneuver in wrestling because of the potential impact on the head and compression of the neck. The proper way to execute the move, in most cases, is for the wrestler performing the move to tuck the opponent's head between their legs before falling to the mat (there are variations that are performed differently, as the list below indicates). If done in this manner, the wrestler receiving the move will land with little or no contact made with the mat, and thus not run the risk of injury. If the head is not secured and is protruding from between the wrestler's legs, the wrestler receiving the move risks serious injury and potential paralysis, as they will likely land with the entire weight of their body on the top of their head. Perhaps the most famous example of an injury from an improperly performed piledriver came at the 1997 WWF SummerSlam event. In a match between Owen Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hart was to perform a reverse piledriver on Austin, who later said that he was not sure if the move was a good idea to perform, as he was unsure if his head could properly be protected. As Austin had feared, Hart botched the move and dropped Austin on top of his head. The impact jammed Austin's neck and left him temporarily paralyzed. He continued and finished the match, but stayed away from the ring for two months to recover from the injury. The physical demands of Austin's standing as one of the top stars in the WWF did not allow much downtime for him to rest and take care of the injury, and as his career progressed, the damage got worse. Austin underwent fusion surgery on his neck in 1999, but it never fully healed. By 2002, Austin's doctors told him that he risked permanent disability if he did not retire, and he finally did so in April 2003.
The piledriver was officially banned in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as the WWE) in 2000, unless the wrestler has special permission to use the move. In a discussion in 2007, Stephanie McMahon said that only two wrestlers were allowed to use the move, "two of the stronger guys", Undertaker and Kane. In fact, The Undertaker's tombstone piledriver continued to be his finishing move until his retirement in 2020. The piledriver is also banned in many other promotions and certain cities. It is also considered an automatic disqualification in professional wrestling matches held in Tennessee, as the move is banned in that state.[unreliable source?] In some promotions in the United Kingdom, the move can result in not only a disqualification, but also a fine. In Mexico, the piledriver (called a martinete) is an automatic disqualification.
Because of the dangers of the piledriver, it is classed as a foul and is illegal in mixed martial arts under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.
Any double-team move in which one wrestler helps another to perform a piledriver on an opponent by pushing down on the opponent's legs for more impact. In a variation of the move, the second wrestler jumps off the turnbuckle while pushing the opponent's feet downward for even more damage; this is well known as a spike piledriver (not to be confused with a one-man spike piledriver).
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