Despite taking a number of nasty bumps throughout his legendary career, Mick Foley has clamoured for German suplexes to either be toned down or outright banned for their danger.
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley was no stranger to taking the odd risky bump or ten during his esteemed career, from being tossed off Hell in a Cell or being sent down a flight of stairs. One rare spot for ‘The Hardcore Legend’ to receive, though, was any move that involved him being tossed backwards – specifically, German suplexes.
Discussing the move on his Foley Is Pod podcast, Mick Foley revealed how much he hates the move, noting that he always had a plan if he had to take one:
“I’m gonna say, I’ll probably take some criticism for this being the guy who did a lot of risky stuff, but you noticed there’s no scar on my neck. You would think I would have been one of the first guys that had surgery. I did not let people throw me backwards, very often. There would be a time where Rick Steiner would throw me whether or not I wanted to go, but I generally had a plan B. I just don’t like German suplexes.
I think that over time they shortened careers and they destroy the quality of life, so people can attack me for that. One, you know there’s little margin for error. It is more margin for [error] on the German suplex but that it’s just over time it’s gonna wear you out. You couldn’t show the match that [Daniel] Garcia had with [Wheeler] YUTA to any reasonable orthopaedic guy who would say that what those guys were doing was not going to lend itself to a poor quality of life.
But I just think there’s things we can create with illusions that [a] back suplex, used to be a back suplex, now it’s a German suplex. I would jump up out of my easy chair when I was watching All Japan [Pro] Wrestling when I would see ‘Dr Death’ [drop people on their head] and I asked Doc, he said, ‘Brother, they’re lining up to take it in Japan’.”
Mick Foley continued, explaining how the German suplex should be a banned move or, at the very least, have the person receiving the move land flat on their back, rather than their neck:
“But we know better and I just wonder what it’s going to take for people to say, ‘Let’s take the German, let’s take that off the menu. You see when Brock [Lesnar], when Brock’s with [Under]Taker it’s a much different German than the one that some of the other guys will take. So I think you got to treat everybody like their ‘Taker, if you’re doing a German suplex, you gotta put that guy flat.
I don’t care if the pop is not as big. Those people will find something else to pop about. You’ve only got that one life. Be really careful with it, one bump card as they say.”
The German suplex is now one of the most common moves in professional wrestling, with usual executors including Brock Lesnar, Chad Gable, and Natalya. All three have had instances where an opponent has landed on their neck but thankfully, this hasn’t resulted in a career-ending injury.
Mick Foley also discussed how suicide dives and stiff forearms should be banned, just as steel chair shots directly to the head were.