5 Wrestling Submission Moves That REALLY Hurt

Just because it’s scripted doesn’t mean it isn’t painful and if you don’t believe it, well we dare you to try it for yourself. Today we’re going to be taking a closer look at submission moves. If you’ve been watching wrestling for a long time then you know depending on how good a wrestler is that they can either make a submission move look really silly on TV or really painful.

Regardless of how these submission moves look on TV if you had any one of these moves locked on to you in real life you would be crying like a baby in no time. Let’s take a look at 5 of the most dangerous submission moves that would be sure to make you scream like a little bitch if someone applied them to you.

Keep in mind that the order of the moves in this list holds no significance because they’re all pretty much equally as painful.

5. The Ankle Lock

This move is pretty straightforward, just grab someone’s ankle and apply pressure by attempting to stretch the ankle in a direction it shouldn’t go. It doesn’t matter which way you twist it because if you apply enough pressure and attempt to turn someone’s ankle in a direction that it’s not supposed to go…it’s going to be painful. In wrestling this move is commonly used while the person applying it is standing and they grab their opponents ankle lift their leg then apply the pressure. When used in MMA however most people using the move would use it while lying down and wrapping their own legs around the legs of their opponent so that it would allow whoever’s using the move to apply more pressure and give their opponent less options to counter the attack.

Regardless of how you apply this move the basic principle is always the same, grab the ankle, apply pressure, watch opponent squeal.

4. The Armbar

This is another move that’s certainly not based on rocket science. It doesn’t take much common sense to figure out that when you apply pressure to someone’s arm and try to invert it while hyper-extending it your opponent will feel pain. There are many different variations of the armbar that are used in both wrestling and MMA but much like the ankle lock the basic concept always stays the same, invert the limb, apply pressure, and inflict pain.

3. The Crossface

This move is most commonly associated with Chris Benoit because the “Crippler Crossface” but many different wrestlers have utilized it over the years. The move can be used if you disable your opponents arm by locking it between your legs and then lock your arms across their face and apply as much pressure as possible.

When applied correctly this move just hurts on so many different levels. Although in WWE the arm never really takes the brunt of the pain if done correctly you can do some serious damage to your opponents arm with your legs depending on how strong they are, but that’s not the beauty of the move. The beauty lies in what happens to your opponent’s face. It’s safe to say that if someone tries to pull your head back via your face and invert it with your neck it’s not going to feel good and it’s going to feel even worse if the pressure is being applied directly on your nose.

You see this move a lot in wrestling but not so much in MMA and with good reason. Anyone who has ever had this type of move seriously applied to them was most likely not the same afterward.

2. Kimura 

All you have to do is take one look at this move to see for yourself that there’s nothing fun about having it applied to your arm. You can apply this move several different ways but the basic mechanics stay the same in that you lock your opponents arm with yours and apply pressure to both sides of their forearm as if you were attempting to snap it. Now we know that Brock Lesnar didn’t actually break Triple H’s arm twice with this move in the timespan of a few short months, but that’s not to say it wouldn’t be possible to break someone’s arm with it if you’re strong enough.

1. The Liontamer/Walls Of Jericho

There’s something about being flipped upside down and having your entire back inverted while your spine takes most of the pressure that just isn’t fun. Chris Jericho has been doing this move for a very long time and although the “Walls of Jericho” isn’t as devastating as “The Liontamer” it’s still pretty painful. In other words, this move hurts like a bitch.

Just imagine someone trying to crush your spine by inverting it with pressure backed up by the entire weight of their body, and you get the picture. Since we obviously didn’t listen when WWE told us not to try this at home and found out from personal experience just how painful it is, we don’t recommend finding out for yourself.