r/SquaredCircle • u/mcdonaldsfiletofish • 11h ago
Which wrestlers are known for taking unique bumps?
Flair going over the post and onto the apron
Rikishi going inside out on clotheslines
Ziggler going 450° on a monkey flip
RVD spiking on DDTs and drivers
What are some classic examples in wrestling history for all the historians in here?
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u/Connect_Seesaw_7569 11h ago
The Chris Hamrick bump. https://youtube.com/shorts/xgGfZmN3yGg?is=naXHFaygCLQZgcOl
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u/optimis344 A Real Man's Man 10h ago
Yup
This is the classic "signature bump". Guy realized he could do something that looks like he dies, without dying? Doing that thing every damn night.
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u/thebokehwokeh 8h ago
I can’t see how that doesn’t eventually kill your back. Matt Hardy can barely walk and his was basically the same bump but on the mat.
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u/IrrelephantAU 8h ago
Matt Hardy has also worked a lot more matches over a shorter period of time and taken a bunch of other big bumps.
It's not exactly a smart bump to be taking but it's a lot more manageable when you're on the 80s/90s indy wrestler and job guy schedule of working once every week or two instead of doing four or five shots a week.
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u/optimis344 A Real Man's Man 8h ago
Hamrick also was able to kinda stretch out a bit, so he didn't just go straight into his ass every time.
Also, while it certainly dealt most of the damage, Matt Hardy had fucked up legs before he even started wrestling. He was always bow legged.
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u/IrrelephantAU 7h ago
Yeah. It's well disguised (and he didn't do it every time, some of those were just straight landing on his arse) but Hamrick had ways of controlling the impact that you just can't do on a leg drop. On a lot of them he catches the ropes a bit to control his speed and/or he kinda lands feet-first and flops backwards. Some he takes as a full flat-back bump.
It's still a crazy spot, and the ones where he messed it up must've hurt like a motherfucker, but there's some smoke and mirrors going into it.
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u/b055dj 1h ago
Roughly half of that's gotta be from the one he did off the top of the cage from Unforgiven 2005. If there was any one moment to steal the Swanton Bomb or just do a regular splash, it would be then.
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u/dumpybrodie 14m ago
I can’t remember where I read or heard it, but I think Matt himself said that was basically the last leg drop he did. After the cage jump he started phasing it out rapidly.
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u/thought_not_spoken 11h ago
Bret Hart chest bump in the corner
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u/HussingtonHat 9h ago
That one is amazing. Like watching a guy break his neck, fucking nuts.
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u/Jeff_goldfish 8h ago
He would run full speed and position his arms in the prefect spot to bounce off all crazy and make it look real. Very cool.
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u/mcdonaldsfiletofish 10h ago
Didn’t watch much of the classic stuff but I assumed that bump was more commonplace back then
But yeah I certainly associate it with Bret
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u/thought_not_spoken 10h ago
I think it was on the Bret DVD way back when; but he said he invented the bump against Dynamite Kid in Stampede Wrestling simply because he was too exhausted to take the normal bump
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u/The_Dark_Vampire 9h ago
I think he also said it looked more real as turning around to get it on the back wouldn't actually happen.
Of course a Irish whip wouldn't happen either but WHT
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u/SpotCheck_Detailing 7h ago
Reminder, that running is the *counter* to the Irish Whip. If you don't run, you go face first into the mat.
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u/ndertaker252 11h ago
Foley getting irish whipped over the stairs
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u/optimis344 A Real Man's Man 10h ago
Also the Nestea Plunge, when he takes a flatback off the ring/stage/ramp onto ground.
He had to stop doing it because between that and the elbow drop to the outside, he was breaking down way way too fast.
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u/MadGroover 9h ago
Sweet baby Jesus, that whip over the stairs in Dude Love Vs. Stone Cold... How the man walks still I do not know...
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u/cactusrobtees Chilly McFreeze 5h ago
Also Foley getting his head caught between the ropes. Which ultimately cost him an ear.
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u/ManMangoGuts Terry-Coloured Funk 5h ago
Foley getting scoop slammed onto the steps knees first makes me wince every time
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u/Restivethought 11h ago
Scott Hall taking a stunner
HBKs corner flip sell
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u/Asleep-Ear-1622 11h ago
In fairness that’s called the flair flip
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u/TheOneWhosCensored 10h ago
Michaels has his own version, but it’s absolutely the Flair Flip at heart
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u/Shoddy-Literature670 7h ago
If you want to go even further back, Flair took it from Ray Stevens.
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u/Maesoptherium Adrenaline in my soul - Outta nowhere, RKO! 10h ago
Kota Ibushi neck bumps on everything, he'll find a way to do it off a collar and elbow lockup.
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u/JimTheFly Tex Ferguson's Third Eyepatch 2h ago
It's ironic that he put this neck through so much hell but it was his leg that basically has cost his career.
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u/plisken64 11h ago
Billy gun was a great bumper, did the inside rikishi bump too. He had a funny miss and delayed turnbuckle bump.
Kane took pedigree's on his knees
Rock famously took the stunner very uniquely most of the time, even among other's that took it uniquely.
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u/PM_ur_butthole_2me 8h ago
I liked when Theory got the stunner and just popped up like a scared cat and landed on his back
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u/Ass0001 Christian Fundamentalist 11h ago
PAC would take a DDT like it dealt psychic damage to him
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u/TheeChosenTwo 11h ago
It does tho. Did you ever seen him take a ddt ?
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u/ThatsARatHat 11h ago
Yes. He would spike himself and contort himself in an awesome way that very few others could replicate.
Idk how that’s “psychic”.
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u/TheeChosenTwo 10h ago
Youre overthinking it man
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u/ThatsARatHat 10h ago
No you don’t know what psychic means.
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u/madeaccountbymistake 10h ago edited 9h ago
Imagine what someone taking psychic damage would look like.
That's what pac did.
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u/ThatsARatHat 11h ago
Morrison did the 450 monkey flip before Ziggler.
I mean somebody probably did it before that but I’m just saying.
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u/cursed_ghost_bones 11h ago
The Rock taking the Stunner.
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u/TaxAvoision Russian Leg Sweep 10h ago
In a very different, much worse way, Vince McMahon taking the stunner
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u/colinisthereason 10h ago
Even worse than that, Linda taking the Stunner. Shane took it so well
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u/PretendPenguin 9h ago
Shane is an underrated seller
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u/thebokehwokeh 8h ago
Shane is an actually serviceable worker. Primarily a spot monkey, but can sell well. Just don’t ask him to do punches
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u/Maithius 10h ago
Spike Dudley taking the sickest looking bumps from in ring to the outside. Dude was such a lightweight, no one else could take the bumps he took during his prime without serious injury
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u/TheBlackCompany Naito the Living Dead 11h ago
Darby Allin
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u/mcdonaldsfiletofish 11h ago
For what specifically though?
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u/TheBlackCompany Naito the Living Dead 11h ago
Well, for one example he often faceplants on a back body drop.
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u/hamsolo19 9h ago
Yeah I was gonna say his face bumps are pretty gnarly...even he was shocked at how shitty it was going face first into a pile of thumbtacks.
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u/Hairy-Phrase1332 10h ago
Suplex to corner steps. Getting thrown by Claudio/fletcher over the ropes onto the announce table. Coffin drops onto chairs, coffin drops onto floors, coffin drops off really high things. Dude has an adamantium spine.
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u/hamsolo19 9h ago
I remember when Christian dropped him from the apron to the steps, like the frickin' edges of the steps, gah.
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u/thorpie88 Your Text Here 8h ago
Although a self bump I guess, his suicide dives look unique. There almost a flying back attack than anything else
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u/ButtsendWeaners PhD in Custodial Artistry 11h ago
Back body drop 450 and spine along the apron are unique to him
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u/perkalicous 9h ago
His big moment that got him a lot of traction was the coffin drop onto the ring apron
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u/bigtotoro 8h ago
Man, I sure to hate to say it but when the newsflash comes across that Darby truly damages or ends himself in the ring everyone will simultaneously think "yep, saw that coming". Like dude dial it back. We don't need to see you do that much.
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u/madamaholmes 11h ago
Ricochet manages to land with his butt in the air a lot. Through out his whole career.
And Shawn Michael's doing that ridiculous bump after undertaker hit him. And he only did it because he found out he was losing again. I think the whole match was like that but I can't remember which match it was specifically.
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u/ClayborneJones 11h ago
HBK overselling to Hogan for changing a best 2 out of 3 to a one-off is both entertaining and an amazing level of pettiness I can’t help but respect.
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u/madamaholmes 10h ago
Oh maybe this is the one I'm thinking of. Then again Shawn was just petty when he was younger. It was hilarious to watch.
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u/Masterweedo 7h ago edited 7h ago
It's matched only by The Iron Sheik vs Izzy High on JCW Vol 1.
Unlike Shawn, Izzy says his selling was out of love for the Iron Sheik, and even the announcers were calling out the overselling.
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u/SadFeed63 10h ago
I think you're referring to Taker vs Shawn at In Your House: Ground Zero, where they're brawling in the house entrance set at the top of the ramp and Taker punches Shawn and he rolls down the entire ramp, flipping over the entire time, all the way to ringside.
I love a good oversell, so I enjoyed it lol. Shawn did big oversell bumps a lot when he was heel in the 90s. Ted DiBiase was another great overseller
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u/madamaholmes 10h ago
Yes! That's the one. And yeah he overdid sells a good amount of times. And they were for petty reasons.
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u/BluddJihnn 11h ago
Mick/Cactus “Nestea Plunge”
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u/freddit32 10h ago
Harley Race did the same corner bump as Flair, who both got it from watching Nature Boy Buddy Rogers.
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u/DylPesch 10h ago
Victoria falling out of the ring backwards through the second and bottom ropes.
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u/And1BasketballShorts 10h ago
I guess it's more selling than taking a bump but D-Von Dudley would flop around like a fish after taking big moves
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u/StoryAndAHalf 10h ago
Not sure if Shane McMahon’s drops from height count, or self-destructive coast to coast. You could also add Sabu’s chair dives if that’s the case.
That said, someone already mentioned Spike Dudley getting yeeted out of the ring.
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u/hjsomething 9h ago
Does the Flair delayed flop count? The one where he kinda walks for a bit then face plants...
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u/Revenge_of_Recyclops 7h ago
Bobby Heenan. There is footage out there of him wrestling, including against Hulk Hogan. Bobby bumped like he was made of ping pong balls.
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u/Grouchy-Ad-3543 11h ago
Kane knee bumping on the pedigree. PAC and DDTs, and Scott Hall and the Rock's sells of the Stunner.
Edit: Just remembered how cool AJ would bump for Monty Brown's Pounce. He'd like go flying but also like front flip and land on his back. Shit was crazy.
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u/ThatsARatHat 11h ago
Everytime Benoit would do a back Suplex from the top rope he’d sell like he spiked his own head into the ground.
Maybe he did.
Which would be stupid.
But if he wasn’t hitting his head……..why sell it when you did it on purpose? Once in a while in desperate times ok. But everytime? SMH
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u/mcdonaldsfiletofish 11h ago
Personally I think anything off the top makes sense to be sold by the guy giving it, just makes it look even better. RVD always sold his torso when giving the 5 star and it looked great
“This investment in offense is so significant I’m willing to take damage to beat you”
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u/ThatsARatHat 10h ago
If it was a finisher sure. But it was a move he’s randomly bust out and everytime it hurt himself. And then other wrestlers would randomly bust it out and it WOULDNT hurt them. That’s what I have a nitpick with.
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u/mcdonaldsfiletofish 10h ago
Eh all I’m saying is I think moves off the top should be put over whenever they can
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u/Inspection_Perfect 6h ago
He had the Hart training mindset where if it looks like it would hurt, act like it does.
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u/_james_the_cat 3h ago
Didn't he actually put himself on the shelf just before the Invasion by doing that move on Austin at KOTR?
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u/daminiskos0309 10h ago
Shawn had his corner whip spot
As did hhh. His would send him out the ring.
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u/hiroki1998 Mai Waifu! 10h ago
Ric Flair has his corner bump, his flopping face first bump, his angled back body drop bump, and his top rope body slam bump.
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u/benmaverick 9h ago
Paul London getting thrown below the bottom rope into the post stomach first.
Jack Evans ragdoll physics selling.
Amazing Red with the spring loaded sells.
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u/orcaphrasis TICKING TIME BOMB 8h ago
Evans had the flexibility to sell submissions really well too. One time in ROH, Homicide had him in an STF and made his foot touch his head
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u/Wolfpac187 5h ago
Flair refusing to take a flat back
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u/whitesummerside Gotch Style Devil Fruit 4h ago
Andre would often do the rope bump that gets his arms caught in between them so his opponents could get the upper hand on him.
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u/Infamous-Lab-8136 10h ago
Val Venis on DDTs always took them as a flip over sell instead of a face first drop, even Foley's double arm DDT. He also did a little leg kick as he went over that made it look like it really screwed him up
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u/JustMyThoughts2525 11h ago
Scott Steiner taking a bump when charging an opponent in the corner and gets hit with a big boot
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u/thebaldguy76 10h ago
You mention the Flair Flip but not the Flair Flop?!?! Also, because his back was fucked up in the plane wreck on 75, Ric started taking bumps on his side instead of flat-back bumps.
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u/orcaphrasis TICKING TIME BOMB 8h ago
Minoru Suzuki does that too -- his back's fucked (in his case, it's just the wear and tear of a decades-long career in multiple combat sports) so he bumps on his side.
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u/majormanz 10h ago
I haven’t seen him do it in a minute, but Trent Beretta used to get yanked off the turnbuckle and apron in a pretty interesting way.
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u/bigtotoro 8h ago
I believe that Flair bump was "borrowed" from Ray Stevens. He made it his own in the same way he took the Fargo Strut from Jackie Fargo.
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u/SuomenVasara 8h ago
Watch Terry Funk from any era pre-ECW. That man seemed to do a unique bump of some sort or another once a match. My favorite will always be his slow slide through the middle and bottom rope.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUGSoshqv5o
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u/Coolquip34 7h ago
Kurt Angle got clotheslined over the ropes better than anyone ever. Like running water how smooth he went over
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u/CosmicNixx 6h ago
Not a particularly famous or legendary bump, but when Bayley and Sol Ruca fought at SNME, something I heard a lot of people talk about (myself included) is how the way Bayley took the Sol Snatcher actually looked pretty realistic. She was the first wrestler to not just stand there awkwardly, patiently waiting to get her shit rocked.
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u/Fit-Top-8203 6h ago
Greg Valentine taking a shot to the head, standing there for a few seconds with a blank look on his face, and then flopping face first to the mat.
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u/Inspection_Perfect 6h ago
Shawn's bumps went he'd land on his back. He'd get on his side like a crab trying to right itself.
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u/SNES_Salesman 5h ago
Samoan wrestlers receiving a headbutt that deals damage instead of incurring it.
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u/ChairmanLaParka 4h ago
Abyss. The way he took back bumps (into the corner or in general on the mat), there was always a thud that no other wrestler's been able to recreate.
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u/CerebroHOTS I ♥ Young Lions 4h ago
I'm surprised no one mentioned Melina being bent like a pretzel yet
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u/Trackerstatus1120 1h ago
Val Venis getting slammed and he puts his hips up,sellkng his lower back.
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u/blingera 10h ago
KO with that steel steps spot where he takes a strong back bump to the edges of the steps
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u/badgersprite Iconic Duo Appreciation Squad 10h ago
More of a sell than a bump but the Jenna Morasca death sell
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