Pro wrestling is dangerous.No matter what your take is - sports or sports entertainment - there is an inherent danger and performers put their body on the line every time they step foot in a ring. When something goes badly wrong, it's important for changes to be made and that's why over the years, WWE has banned certain moves. This weekend, the company shelved the 'Buckle Bomb' following an incident involving Nia Jax and Kairi Sane. Previously, Finn Balor and Sting have been injured taking the move from Seth Rollins, so it's been a long time coming. But what other wrestling moves have been banned by WWE? Check out some of the most famous below.
The Punt
Once a brutal statement of Randy Orton's offence, The Punt was banned in 2012 due to concussion awareness.
The Viper was never actually booting his opponents in the face at full force, obviously. But it's probably the correct decision by WWE to ban a move that promotes anything of the sort.
The Pedigree
Now, this is one that's evolved over the years. The Pedigree is still Triple H's finisher and has even been used by Seth Rollins - but it's not the same move as it once was.
The original version of HHH's Pedigree was banned after a few isolated incidents and the wrestler delivering the move now releases their opponent’s arms well before impact.
That allows their arms to hit the mat first, preventing the possibility of the neck and head slamming into the floor at a high speed.
The Vertebreaker
Shane Helms is the man credited with popularising The Vertebreaker in WWE and WCW and it's one of the most dangerous-looking moves in pro wrestling.
Goliath.com writes that 'perfect timing is required to prevent injury, and the margin for error is incredibly thin since you can’t directly see the wrestler you’re performing the move on.'
It's no surprise WWE banned the move almost instantly and let's be honest, it's not one that fans are begging to bring back.
The Burning Hammer
This is a move invented in Japan, but it was brought over to WWE by Tyler Reks.
Considering it's renowned as one of the most dangerous ever, the company made him use a watered-down version from day one - as some other Superstars have been allowed to do.
Reks' Burning Hammer was more of an inverted Attitude Adjustment and even that was scrapped after a backstage altercation with John Cena forced him to change his finisher.
Piledriver variations
There was a time when WWE had banned pretty much all variations of the piledriver, allowing only The Undertaker's Tombstone to be used.
In recent years, that rule has been relaxed slightly but moves like The Canadian Destroyer are still rarely seen.
The Brainbuster
This one just sounds awful anyway. In simple terms, it's a more brutal version of the suplex.
A wrestler would lift their opponent up (similar to a standard vertical suplex) but then drop straight down, forcing their victim to land mainly on their shoulders and neck.
Per Goliath, the move is banned due to the combination of the lack of control involved when everyone is falling, in addition to the problems with dropping someone on their neck from high.
Chair shots to the head
Arguably it's not a wrestling move, but chair shots to the head still have a place on this list - and rightly so.
They were a regular occurrence in hardcore matches in days gone by, but have no place in modern WWE.
Body shots are, of course, still allowed. But headshots are a thing of the past. The reason for banning them is obvious - concussions.
So, the Buckle Bomb has joined a number of other dangerous moves that WWE has banned in years gone by.
The safety of performers is imperative, so we hope to never see any of those listed above ever again!