Mick Foley Says Common Move Destroys Careers And Ruins Quality Of Life

Former WWE star Mick Foley was known for absorbing an extraordinary amount of punishment in the ring, but the one move he would rarely take was a German suplex.

"I did not let people throw me backwards very often," Foley said on his "Foley is Pod" podcast. "There would be times a guy like Rick Steiner would throw me whether or not I wanted to go, but I generally had a plan B. I just don't like German suplexes. I think that over time they shorten careers, and they destroy the quality of life."

Foley and co-host Conrad Thompson discussed the Ring of Honor Pure Championship match between Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia from last week's "AEW Dynamite" and the effect physical matches like that can have on wrestlers in the future.

 "It's just [that] over time it's going to wear you out," Foley said. "You couldn't show the match that Garcia had with Yuta to any reasonable orthopedic guy who would say that what those guys were doing was not going to lend itself to a poor quality of life," Foley said.

The hardcore legend said that a dangerous-looking move such as a chair shot to the head, when taken incorrectly, might result in a concussion, but a German suplex could potentially paralyze an opponent. "These guys are great workers. I just think they could do without that move," he said.

Foley compared the German suplex to the topé suicida and other dangerous maneuvers that often leave wrestlers injured. "I don't want to see any of us in wheelchairs. I don't want to see any of us needing long-term care. ... There [are] just other ways around it," Foley stated. "I just wonder what it's going to take for people to say, 'Let's take the German [suplex] off the menu.'"

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Foley is Pod" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.