Botched Tombstone Ruins Armageddon Main Event

Now, it is not that we want to see superstars get injured, but when the move is performed properly, injuries should not occur - same goes for possibly the most devastating move in wrestling history - the Tombstone Piledriver.


Although this move was banned for several years, The Deadman and Kane especially, have used this maneuver to put away opponent for years.


When done properly, the opponent would be hoisted onto, in this case, Undertakers' shoulders and pulled down so that their body would be dangling upside down and their head in between Taker's thighs. Taker would then lift at his feet and drop to his knees, where his knees would hit the canvas first to take the brunt of the piledriver, followed by the opponents, in the case, Batista's head.


It takes very strong arms to perform this move because you can not let the opponent slip too far down and allow their head to hit the mat first because that is just too dangerous. However, when done properly, opponents should be able to pretty much get right back up.


Now, at Armageddon, Undertaker held onto Batista too strongly. As Taker dropped to his knees to finish the tombstone, it was clear that Batista's head was about a half foot off the ground. Problem is, it was a live show so Batista had to play along.


Edge took out Taker and covered Batista for the victory as he was "out" after being hit with the piledriver. At first I didn't think that they would botch the move that badly, so I rewound the tape and watched it a few times. I thought, as you will see on occasion when Taker actually hits the move that the springs in the mat will cause the opponent to bounce back up a little bit, but that was hardly the case. It was more than clear that his head was nowhere near the mat at any point.


It is not that any of us are naive that we think Batista would really be knocked out if the move was performed properly as we know that they follow a script and they would not allow a move to be used that could cause major harm to one of the athletes.


However, in the closing seconds of a $40 pay per view, you want to see the best action you can get and to see it end like that was disappointing.


You often see when they go for a knee drop that their knee does not hit their opponent in the face and that they just get very close and often just hit the canvas or just graze their opponent, because these competitors are not actually trying to beat each other in a sport like MMA, or boxing, or in Ultimate Fighting or anything like that. They are not actually trying to knock each other out - not to say they aren't being competitive or that what they do isn't just about if not as physical, but that is another debate, which I have already covered early on if you want to read that article, but back to this piledriver.


Look, for a PPV, you want to see the best. Now, for a taped show like Smackdown, maybe they re-do it or just use different angles, but on a live show like Raw or a PPV, they should do the move over again, maybe motion to the audience that that wasn't enough to put away their opponent or they just wanted to hit it again to make sure their opponent will not kick out. The fans won't complain about seeing another piledriver be hit by the Phenom - they will rise to their feet again and cheer him.


All I am saying is that they follow a script, it is a live show, mistakes can happen, but when they are so obvious and so important to the outcome of the match, such as this, hit the move again. Maybe they are told to pretend like they don't make mistakes, I don't know, but if that is the case, that is silly because mistakes and mishaps will happen.


Sometimes they are mistakes like this that make what is supposed to be a devastating move a joke, or it can be a costly mistake that injures your opponent - something you always hate to see, but is aways has a chance of happening in any type of sports venue.


When some is injured, that is not good, but when something happens to make the match look silly, just hit the move one more time.