Wrestling is not considered to be a sport. It is in its own category and defined as Sports Entertainment. Unlike many combat sports, the aim of WWE Superstars is not to actually hurt each other. Instead, the aim is to put on the best show that they can and protect their opponent while looking like they want to hurt them.

Over the years a number of ex-WWE stars have sued the company after being diagnosed with brain injuries because of the years of being hit in the head with chairs. WWE has since banned chair shots to the head as well as banning a number of other moves on their programming because Superstars have been injured or because the WWE Universe were copying them and they were injuring fans.

It's a vicious circle in WWE. But the company's biggest mission is to ensure that the fans are safe and that their Superstars are safe. So they have no problem banning moves that have been seen to cause consistent problems for either superstars or fans.

The following is a list of 15 awesome wrestling moves that WWE decided to ban for apparently being too dangerous, much to the annoyance of the WWE Universe.

15 15. The Tiger Bomb

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The likes of Chris Jericho and Cesaro have been seen performing this move in the past, but WWE has decided to ban the move due to the fact that the person who was actually taking it couldn't protect themselves because the person delivering the move had hold of both of their arms.

The person taking it is hooked in a position where it looks like they are about to be under hook DDT'd until they are then flipped over and forced to land in a powerbomb position. Because of this, it meant that on a number of occasions many stars landed on their necks and it caused some lasting injuries and spinal problems. With the 205 Division now throwing out a number of high-risk moves on Monday Night Raw on a weekly basis, it is silly to ban a move like this one. Tyler Bate has began using this move on NXT TV and calls it The Tyler Driver 97.

14 14. The Original Piledriver

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Not to be confused with the move that has been made famous by The Undertaker over the past few decades, the original piledriver was seen as the move that broke Stone Cold Steve Austin's neck and was performed a different way to The Undertaker's Tombstone version.

When performing the move a wrestler would place their head between their opponents legs and be lifted vertically by their mid section before they were then dropped on their head. There was a lack of control about the whole move and this lack of control caused a number of injuries while WWE stars were still able to use the move. The company outlawed it a number of years ago and there is only The Undertaker who is allowed to perform his variation of the maneuver.

13 13. The Brainbuster

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One of the best-known moves in wrestling and perhaps one of the most accurately named wrestling moves known to man, The Brainbuster is exactly what you would think it is and this is why WWE has decided to ban it because it could legitimately cause damage if it isn't' done correctly.

It is only WWE who have decided to ban the move since the likes of TNA and many Japanese promotions still allow the move to be performed and there doesn't seem to be any problems with these stars using it. With all the lawsuits WWE currently has stacked against them, it makes sense that they would be wary about what moves they will and won't allow on programming because the last thing they want is more lawsuits added to the list.

12 12. The Diving Headbutt

Diving Headbutt Daniel Bryan

Perhaps one of the strangest wrestling moves ever used WWE TV. Chris Benoit made the move famous, but always looked as though he managed to hurt himself much more than he hurt his opponent.

Daniel Bryan later used the move during his tenure with WWE, but it is now unlikely that any other star will be given the green light to perform a move that could have links to causing brain problems. It is a move that is liked to Benoit and WWE definitely don't want any links to that. It is perhaps for the best. As already mentioned, it was never a move that was considered to create much of an impact on an opponent and rarely ever looked as though it hurt the person any more than it hurt the wrestler who was delivering it.

11 11. The Vertebreaker

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The name of this move pretty much covers exactly what it is and what it does. The Vertebreaker used to be performed on WWE TV by The Hurricane, where he would under hook an opponent's arms before listing them over his head and dropping them into a back piledriver position.

Hurricane was looking forward as the move was performed back to back and had no control over where his opponent would land and how safely they would hit the canvas. This could have been one of the main reasons why WWE decided to take the entire move out of their allowed moves-set for shows because it only takes one slip and the move could have caused serious neck injuries. Plus, Hurricane never looked fully comfortable lifting men above him and performing the move anyway.

10 10. The Burning Hammer

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It is easy to see why WWE wouldn't want any of their stars performing this move on TV. Not only is it a particularly dangerous move, but it would also make John Cena's Attitude Adjustment look weak in comparison. And WWE would never want to do anything to make Cena look bad.

The Burning Hammer sees the wrestler pick up their opponent in an AA position before rotating and dropping them at a close 90-degree angle without breaking their neck. Just watching videos of it shows why the move should be banned and as of yet it is unknown why Brian Kendrick was allowed to pull it off when he performed as part the Cruiserweight Classic last year. But he hasn't been able to pull the move out on WWE TV since.

9 9. The Canadian Destroyer

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The Canadian Destroyer is one of the most dangerous wrestling moves and sees a wrestler forced to do a complete flip in the hopes that their opponent will allow them to land in the right place and not on the back of their neck.

Numerous wrestlers have been injured by the Canadian Destroyer and variations of the famous move. The move originated from Petey Williams during his time in TNA but has never been allowed to see air time in WWE. This is because the move relies so heavily on timing and for both stars to get their cues right that there is very little room for error and if an error does happen then there is no way to prevent injury, which is a risk WWE is not willing to take.

8 8. The Wings Of Love

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This was a move made famous by Michelle McCool and was seemingly her variation of Awesome Kong's Implant Buster. It was impressive to see a woman as small as McCool able to lift women up vertically and then drop them down into a faceplant.

The move worked for her for a while, until WWE officials thought it was a bit too much for the image of the women of WWE at that point and told McCool to stop using it. Michelle of course still had her version of The Styles Clash in her arsenal as well, which she managed to pull off a number of times without any injuries being recorded. This could have just been WWE being cautious once again to avoid any injuries to their female wrestlers.

7 7. The Poisoned Frankensteiner

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The Frankensteiner is a move that has been used for a number of years in WWE. But there is a new way to make it even more dangerous. And this is to do it backward off the top rope.

The original version of the move was a hurricanrana that allowed the opponent to land in a way where they wouldn't injure themselves. The backward variation doesn't give the wrestler much chance as they are thrown backward on their head. Neville and Mustafa Ali have been able to get away with using the move recently in WWE because they have found a way to do it safely. But when Bayley performed the top rope version of the move at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn back in 2015, Sasha Banks was injured on the landing.

6 6. The Buckle Bomb

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Seth Rollins made the Buckle Bomb famous as a lead in move to set up his Curb Stomp finisher. But after the Curb Stomp was taken away, Rollins just used it as a signature move instead.

That was until Sting was injured by the move at Night of Champions back in 2015 and then Finn Balor was put on the shelf for more than six months after he was injured by the move at SummerSlam in 2016. So WWE decided it was time that Rollins other move was taken away as well. The last time the move was used in WWE was at WrestleMania 33 when Rollins faced Triple H. But this wasn't an officially sanctioned match, which means that the move could have been used regardless of if it was banned.

5 5. Randy Orton's Punt Kick

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Randy Orton has become well-known for his devastating RKO Outta Nowhere finisher in recent years. But back when The Apex Predator was known as The Legend Killer, he would finish off his opponents with a punt kick to the head.

Orton punt kicked the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Dusty Rhodes, Sgt. Slaughter, and Shawn Michaels while he was playing the storyline of chasing and killing legends. But the Punt Kick was seen as a risk with the ongoing concussion awareness lawsuits. so WWE decided to take the move away from Orton and it hasn't been referenced on WWE TV since. The kick was more part of the storyline than it was Orton's character so he easily managed to move on from the kick because the RKO then became a huge thing.

4 4. The Shooting Star Press

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The Shooting Star Press has been used by a number of different stars over the past few years. Many wrestlers on the Independent Circuit have added the move to their arsenal as well. But the one time the move was used on the big stage by Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XIX, he managed to botch the move and almost break his neck.

The entire arena fell silent as Brock landed lifelessly on his head rather than on top of his opponent. WWE was aware of how much of a close call it was that Brock wasn't seriously injured by the move so they made the decision to ban it from being used on WWE TV moving forward. Unsurprisingly Brock hasn't tried to do the move since either, so it seems that he learnt his lesson as well.

3 3. The Original Pedigree

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Triple H's move has become famous all over the world and it is the move that is most associated with the former World Champion. But its current variation isn't the original version of the move, even though it is the one known to WWE fans.

Triple H used to deliver the move differently where he would hold on to his opponent's hands until he had finished the move. This meant that his opponents were helpless to take his entire weight and the bump from the move on their head and face. It was quite a dangerous variation, but thankfully The Game has switched the move up somewhat over the past decade and now it can be delivered quite safely if the arms are released in time for the wrestler to protect themselves.

2 2. The Muscle Buster

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Samoa Joe made the Muscle Buster finishing move famous throughout his career and was even able to use it throughout his time in NXT and on the main roster when he competed in a dark match against Tyson Kidd. It was this match that is most memorable for the WWE Universe since it was the final time that Kidd competed in a WWE ring after the finisher left him needing neck surgery.

Joe continued to use the move after this, but WWE have slowly managed to get rid of the move in favor of Joe's Coquina Clutch ever since he was moved up to the main roster. It could be for the best since the move did seem to be walking a fine line between looking incredible and being slightly dangerous. the last thing WWE needed was to have Joe labeled as a dangerous wrestler as well.

1 1. The Curb Stomp

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Seth Rollins brought the Curb Stomp to WWE and it was referred to as Peace of Mind while he was part of The Shield. It later won him the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31 when he hit Roman Reigns with the move before pinning him.

This was the last time the move was seen on WWE TV and it has now been edited out of all highlight footage of the event. The story was that WWE decided to take the move out of Rollins arsenal because too many of the WWE Universe were finding it easy to copy and were getting injured. WWE also has a number of ongoing concussion lawsuits so any more that is purely focused on causing pain to the head was probably not a good idea.