Alberto Del Rio is conspicuously absent from an article posted yesterday on WWE.com listing the “Top 25 Most Devastating Submission Holds” in professional wrestling history.
Del Rio’s Cross Armbreaker submission has been heavily pushed as his finishing move since his first match with the WWE on June 25 2010, when he made Rey Mysterio tap out. Other notable victims of the move have include Daniel Bryan, Sin Cara, Kofi Kingston and Christian. The hold was also an instrumental part of a submission-based rivalry over the WWE Championship between Del Rio and CM Punk which concluded at the 2011 Survivor Series.
Its absence from the WWE.com article is thus striking – particularly when one considers that the primary aim of WWE.com articles is to push talent and further televised storylines.
The top spots on the list, which claims to feature only the “most destructive” submission manoeuvres from wrestling history, were given to Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter, Undertaker’s Hell’s Gate, and John Cena’s STF in first, second and third place respectively. Several other obvious candidates to make the grade include CM Punk’s Anaconda Vise (#13), Chris Jericho’s Walls of Jericho (#6), and Daniel Bryan’s Yes Lock (#9).
Also featured, however, are several moves which have been used only sporadically over the years by certain performers, and which were rarely used to win matches, such as Big Show’s Colossal Clutch (#24) and Brock Lesnar’s Brock Lock (#18).
Surprisingly, the article also includes the rope-assisted Tarantula, made famous by Tajiri, which in its very nature made it impossible for the wrestler applying the hold to win by submission. The article justifies the Tarantula’s inclusion at number 21 by claiming that although “the hold is technically illegal,” it remains “both visually thrilling and physically destructive”.
Other submission moves in the list include the Figure Four Leg-lock (#8), the Full Nelson at #11, and Ultimo Dragon’s Dragon Sleeper (#20).
