I’ve been a pro wrestling fan for over 40 years, but I’m not some crotchety old-timer who complains about how much better things were before the internet. I feel like I understand the evolution of pro wrestling.

Sometimes the finishing moves of yesterday become the transitional moves of today. For example, 40 years ago, only Jake Roberts was using the DDT, and he used it to put opponents away. Now, it’s hard to see a match without a DDT in the middle of it. However, there is one move that I feel should have never been given transitional status, and that is the piledriver.

Back in the days of the territories, the piledriver was universally recognized as not only a match ender but also as an overly destructive move that could end careers. In many promotions, the piledriver was ‘banned’ and seen as an illegal move.

Jerry Lawler famously gave comedian Andy Kaufman a piledriver, which cost Lawler the match for using the illegal move.

As you can see in the video, when someone was on the receiving end of a piledriver, it usually meant they were leaving the arena in a stretcher. The piledriver was a good way for heels to get heat. Translation for normies: it was a great way for the bad guys to get a heated crowd reaction. The time Terry Funk gave Ric Flair a piledriver on a table comes to mind.

The piledriver mostly disappeared from pro wrestling after the infamous match between the late Owen Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin at WWF SummerSlam 1997. In that match, Hart, who was almost never sloppy in the ring, botched a piledriver to Austin, which broke Austin’s neck. I’m not going to post the video of it, but I was watching it on TV live when it happened. Before Austin’s head had even hit the ground, I knew the move had been botched. Outside of The Undertaker, who gives the safest piledrivers ever, the move was legitimately banned in the WWF/E.

I didn’t see the move again in WWE until a 2011 match between John Cena and CM Punk. Thankfully, it was done safely, and the move wasn’t approved backstage beforehand. Considering the names involved, there was no backstage drama over the move. The move didn’t end the match and, by this time, was largely seen as transitional. This was also around the time I stopped watching WWE in general.

Before AEW came into existence in 2019, I would dip in and out of watching TNA. I also watched a lot of Lucha Underground. But I didn’t feel the same spark I used to when I was younger.

AEW brought the wrestling fan in me back out, but on shows like Dynamite, the piledriver is used on an almost comical basis. Jon Moxley uses it in just about every match. And in too many instances, his opponents will just pop up after it, killing any suspension of disbelief.

My gripe with the piledriver being neutered is there is no move left in professional wrestling that garners as much heat as the piledriver used to. In short, wrestling needs a new ‘death’ move, and I know just the move.

The heart punch.

It’s just what you think it is, a straight punch to the heart. The heart punch was made famous by Ox Baker, one of the most hated heels in wrestling history.

Through no fault of his own, two separate opponents legitimately died in the ring when facing Baker. With pro wrestling being the carny spectacle it is, Baker would claim that he killed both men by using the heart punch. In 1974, Baker started an actual riot when he gave multiple heart punches to the popular Ernie Ladd.

Think about it. We haven’t seen the heart punch in decades. It would almost be like introducing a new move to a new audience. If you give it to the right heel and treat the heart punch like it used to be treated, then it could be a license to print money. Imagine someone like Darby Allin selling the heart punch after taking it from a killer like Jon Moxley or Samoa Joe. Add the victim of the heart punch being stretchered out of the ring, and voila.

Most importantly, it’s a much safer move than the piledriver.

At the end of the day, I know wrestling constantly reinvents itself. Moves evolve, styles change, and what was once sacred gets tossed into the mid-card blender. But some things shouldn’t be forgotten, especially the psychology that made certain moments unforgettable. The piledriver lost its edge because it stopped being treated like it meant something. If today’s wrestlers want that same reaction without risking someone’s neck and spine, the answer has been sitting in the vault for half a century.

Bring back the heart punch. Treat it like a loaded gun. Make people fear it again.

That’s how you make wrestling dangerous without actually being dangerous.

#bringbacktheheartpunch