Maven: In WWE, A Piledriver Wasn’t Worth Doing Unless You’re Kane, Undertaker, Or Jerry Lawler

Maven opens up about how piledrivers were viewed during his time in WWE. 

A piledriver is one of the oldest wrestling moves in the book, but it’s also one of the most dangerous moves if done improperly. For the most part, it’s known that piledrivers are not allowed in WWE. 

Maven, who was a WWE Superstar from 2001-2005, spoke about piledrivers during his latest YouTube video, Maven says that it was common knowledge during his time in WWE that unless you were Undertaker, Kane, or Jerry Lawler, a piledriver just simply wasn’t worth adding to your arsenal. 

There is a very good reason that the classic maneuver is banned. It goes back to when Stone Cold Steve Austin broke his neck after being on the receiving end of a sit-out Tombstone Piledriver that was delivered by Owen Hart at WWE SummerSlam 1997. 

“We all know that Austin hurt his neck on a piledriver. So it was one of the moves that was just phased out from the business because the pop that you’d get from the audience wasn’t worth the risk given to the wrestler receiving the move. It was never told to me, ‘Don’t do any piledrivers’ because it wasn’t a move I was going to do anyway. It was just common knowledge backstage, just leave it out. Not a move worth doing. Not a move you needed to put in your arsenal. Well, unless your name was Kane, Undertaker, or Lawler.” 

CM Punk famously used a piledriver on John Cena during a February 2013 match on WWE Monday Night Raw and received a tremendous reaction from the audience. However, even stemming back to Jerry Lawler’s days in the Memphis wrestling territory, Piledrivers were “banned” and only utilized on special occasions. 

Fans can also learn what Maven has to say about WWE being strict about being busted open unintentionally at this link.

If you use any of the above quotes, please credit Maven’s YouTube channel in addition to linking back to this article and giving Fightful credit for transcription.