"Dude Suplexed a motherfucking train for christ's sake. THAT IS AWESOME."
A suplex is any Professional Wrestling move that starts with both people in a standing position, where one person lifts another off the ground and then drives him down with the first points of contact being the back, neck, or back of the head. Countless variations exist, and it is common for a wrestler to specialize in a specific type
(German, Tiger, Dragon, Super, any variation of the wrestler's belly/back facing the opponent's belly/back, etc.). Suplexes are often also used by characters in other storytelling formats outside of Professional Wrestling.
This is for a number of reasons:
- They're dangerous. The victim's getting his cerebellum knocked around (which can easily cause unconsciousness) and putting tons of stress on the spine.
- Unlike most moves popularized by Professional Wrestling, the Suplex can be performed without any help from the victim. In fact, it's sometimes used in legitimate Greco-Roman wrestling.
- It looks really damn cool.
Sub-Trope of Wrestler in All of Us.
Examples
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Advertising
- There's a popular gif of security footage in an elevator showing what appears to be a Japanese schoolgirl suplexing a would-be purse snatcher. Said footage is actually staged; it comes from a local pro wrestling commercial.
Anime & Manga
- Several anime/manga in the Panty Fighter genre like this move, especially when both fighters are wearing short skirts.
- In Angel Beats!, this move becomes the subject of an entire episode, as it is the move Yui always wanted to perform on someone ever since seeing it on TV when she was alive (but could never do) and doing so ends up being her final request.
- Great Teacher Onizuka got his job when he German suplexed the Vice Principal of the school he was interviewing for when said VP kept verbally abusing problem students.
- Doraemon: Nobita and The Space Heroes, a Superhero Episode of the Doraemon franchise, sees the gang getting superpowers. Gian in particular gets Super-Strength (unsurprisingly) and defeats a Not Zilla monster by suplexing it (despite being a fraction of the monster's size). Later on Gian fights Ogon, The Brute of the film, at different points, where Ogon defeats Gian in the final battle by suplexing Gian into an unconscious heap; the climax has Gian returning the favor by doing the same to Ogon.
- Dragon Ball Z: Recoome uses his Recoome Death Driver to finish off Vegeta, severely incapacitating him until Goku arrives with Senzu Beans.
- Dragon Ball Super: Gohan gives a pretty epic one to Lavender in the Tournament of Power Expo.
- During the epilogue of Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works], Rin faces off against Luviagelita Edelfelt, who quickly proves to be a very capable hand-to-hand combatant, and during their big fight, she suplexes Rin hard enough to leave a crater in the floor. The move proved popular enough that in Fate/Grand Order, Luvia got fused with the Greek Goddess Astraea, and can do this as the finisher of her Noble Phantasm, even to GIANT enemies. Sabin, eat your heart out.
- Hajime no Ippo: Mamoru Takamura knocked out Aoki with a German suplex. It was only partially successful as he slipped and hit his head on the floor.
- In My Bride is a Mermaid, Nagasumi does this to a shark.
- From Cinnabar Gym onward, Ash's Charizard of Pokémon: The Series has won all of its major battles by way of Seismic Toss. Well... there was that one time it won a battle with an improvised move: Flaming Seismic Toss!
- Kaname performs one of these on Sōsuke in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu during one of her over-the-top tsundere rages at him. One of the characters labels it by name.
- A Hakubi family tradition, it seems; Washu is shown performing one on Dark Washu, and Ryoko's gone for her share, in the Tenchi Muyo! manga episodes.
- In Nichijou, the principal fights a deer in the schoolyard (don't ask) and ultimately subdues it with a German suplex (pictured above).
- The unexplained rules and moves of "Go-Soccer" can involve a one-man suplex, as Makoto Sakurai demonstrates in Episode 14.
- Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne has one at the end of the first episode with two mechas.
- Puni Puni☆Poemi has the titular character perform one on a random civilian at his computer because "playing perverted games in the afternoon is evil. (Those are evening games!)"
- To be expected in Tiger Mask, as it is a series on pro wrestling where it's real. That said, when Tiger Mask pulls it off the first time it surprises everyone, as until then he had only used illegal moves. The suplex then goes on becoming his favourite legal finisher and Signature Move (he has an illegal one too, but you must have really pissed him off to be inflicted it) until he creates the Super Tiger Drop, and later returns as part of the Tiger V, his third original finisher (that ends in a suplex that puts the victim out of the ring).
- Tiger Mask W has it as well for the same reasons, but the new Tiger Mask 1one-ups the original by performing FOUR suplexes in a row on Black Python.
- Used extensively in Kinnikuman Nisei (Ultimate Muscle), and the work it spun off of, Kinnikuman, both wrestling series as well. Early in the series, the newest batch of wrestlers have to practice their suplexes with a ball of spikes as "motivation" for proper arching of the back.
- In Fushigi Yuugi, Miaka uses this against some men who were trying to rape her. She even leans on the fourth wall and says she learned how to do that from watching women's wrestling.
- Kemono Michi. The only anime where one can pull a suplex on a princess. And get away with it.
- In Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun, Iruma unknowingly casts a spell that makes it impossible for him to fall down for one day, and as a result when he fights Azz and grabs him from behind, Iruma's feet remain planted and thus completely by accident he performs a perfect German Suplex. This is how Azz becomes his best friend.
Fan Works
- Doing It Right This Time has an Evangelion piloted by Rei of all people do this to the Angel Sachiel, after beating the ever-loving crap out of it.
Misato: "Okay, now you're just showing off."Maya: "I didn't know she was into professional wrestling."Misato:"Actually, I think she got that one from Final Fantasy."
- Dragonspawn has Shishida manage to suplex Ryuuzaki, an actual fucking dragon.
- A Hollow in Equestria treats us to Blossomforth exploiting her unnatural equine flexibility to perform this maneuver against Nightmare Moon.
Films — Live-Action
- In Blade II, the title hero just got his ass kicked and most of the blood in his body drained out, and happens to be a hallway away from a giant fountain/waterfall of the stuff (he is in the hideout of the Big Bad vampire of the movie.) Cue a dive that not only heals him but supercharges him for a while, and he now easily takes out the entire horde of familiars that had taken him down before, and ends with — of course — a suplex. Bonus points for holding the guy vertically in the air while staring down Reinhart before dropping the poor guy.
- In the Donnie Yen movie Flash Point, Ma Jun gives a crook who just Kicked the Dog by throwing an innocent girl forcefully aside and hurting her a suplex from hell before pummeling him to death.
- In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, during the fist fight on the freeway between Captain America and Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers performs a German Suplex on the Winter Solider.
- Hitman (1998) starring Jet Li and Simon Yam; the final battle has the Lancer vs. Dragon duel with Simon Yam winning by backflipping his opponent in a suplex move so that his opponent's head ends up in the corner of a table.
- In the 2017 Power Rangers movie, this is how the Megazord defeats Goldar.
- In The Old Guard, Joe — in full Tranquil Fury mode — uses this move to kill one of the bad guys who had harmed his lover Nicky.
- In the famous alley fight in They Live! between Roddy Piper (as Nada) and Keith David (as Frank Armitage), Piper performed two suplexes on David, with the second ending the fight.
- Ultraman Zero Gaiden: Killer the Beatstar has this occurring in the battle between Glenfire and Ace Killer, the former who defeats the latter by lifting him overhead and slamming him down. Ace Killer managed to groggily get baack on his feet, before falling over, and then (predictably, since this is the Ultra Series) exploding.
Live Action TV
- On My Name Is Earl, Joy has agreed to be a surrogate for her half-sister Liberty, who is trying to become a pro-wrestler. Part of the agreement she signed was that she was to do a drug-free vaginal birth, no matter what. The baby is overdue, and Joy is becoming frustrated with being pregnant. She tries everything she can think of to induce labor: jumping on a trampoline, eating hot peppers, and vibrations from speakers...nothing. She finally asks Darnell to bring her to the hospital so they can induce her. She tells the nurse at the front desk that she's in labor, and is escorted into the birthing suite. Of course, since she's a surrogate, Liberty and Ray-Ray are notified, and come rushing down to the hospital. Joy reluctantly agrees to give birth in a pool of water, and a nurse comes in with a needle full of Pitocin. Liberty doesn't want Joy to use any kind of medications (even analogues of hormones naturally produced by the body, like Pitocin, which is an analogue of oxytocin, used to speed up or induce labor), and suplexes the nurse. It's Darnell that ends up being stuck with the needle...and he goes into "labor."
- A recurring Finishing Move in the Ultra Series, especially for strength-based Ultramen such as Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Leo, Ultraman Tiga (strength type) and Ultraman Dyna (Power Type).
Sports
- The German suplex has occasionally been used as a tackle in American football, as that robs the ball-carrier of at least a yard. Unfortunately, it is also against the rules and can lead to penalties or even fines.
- Dan Severn, an early UFC champion, won his first MMA fight with the aid of two suplexes on his opponent. It should be noted that Severn is an expert in various wrestling styles, including Greco-Roman. (he later had a stint as a professional wrestler)
- Another MMA example. In his fight against Fedor Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman has executed one of the most devastating suplexes ever (including in pro wrestling). Despite looking like it would have killed any man with a pulse, Emelianenko's Ukemi from both Judo and Sambo allowed him to tug his head in and only land on his shoulders, causing the devastating attack to do practically no damage, and Fedor amazingly won the fight by submission just 45 seconds after the move.
- It's practically the signature move of Kazuyuki Miyata to the point where on at least one occasion he stated outright that he was going to use the technique on his opponent (a promise he made good on in the match).
Video Games
- Keep in mind, almost all fighting games will have a suplex in one form or another. It could be a piledriver, like Zangief, but these usually show up as grabs.
- Bayonetta is capable of suplexing five angels at the same time as well as a dragon.
- Final Fantasy
- Final Fantasy VI has Sabin, reigning supreme by suplexing a train, among other things. Himself included. Then the ROM hack Brave New World has Sabin able to suplex anything in the game, including Kaiser Dragon and the god form of Kefka.
- In Final Fantasy VII Tifa's limit break sequence finishes on a suplex, so she can suplex ridiculous things as well.
- Final Fantasy VI has Sabin, reigning supreme by suplexing a train
- Kensei: Sacred Fist as poor Ann Griffith learns in the demo, pro-wrestler David Human has a combination attack that links 4 German Supplexes before finishing with a flying piledriver. Only characters with full or almost full health can survive this particular move.
- Kinnikuman Generations has a tag team suplex, capable of knocking out both opponents at once.
- Kirby gains access to the German Suplex through his Suplex and Backdrop abilities, and it immediately kills any Mooks in his grasp.
- In Live A Live, this is the one of the techniques the Wrestler Character can learn from battle in his chapter or gain by leveling up in the final chapter.
- In SaGa Frontier, the Suplex is a basic martial arts move, and it can be combined into the DSC which is capable of killing almost anything except bosses.
- In the Romancing SaGa remake you can suplex anyone if you know the technique, even the Final Boss, it deals quite a bit of damage and can possibly stun the target (Enemy cannot act that turn).
- Shadow Force: Tengu, of the four playable heroes, is The Big Guy and a Cyborg with enhanced strength. Naturally, his special move have him grabbing enemy ninjas and suplexing them over his back, capable of killing lower-level mooks instantly.
- Street Fighter
- Zangief, being a Russian wrestler, is a master of the suplex. His newest move from SF V, The Bolshoi Russian Suplex has him suplexing the opponents with such force it plants them into the ground.
- Dead Rising, being a Capcom game, gives a Shout-Out to Street Fighter by allowing Frank West to perform certain moves, including Zangief's suplex, which kills any zombie.
- Alex from Street Fighter III has a Super Art that involves five back-to-back suplexes if you grab their back first. In Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, his suplexes are one of the few grabs that work against Humongous Mecha.
- Mortal Kombat 9
- Smoke's X-Ray move is a suplex that shatters his opponent's skull and spinal cord. He then proceeds to kick them square in the face, shattering their skull even more.
Smoke: Stay down.- Cyrax's X-ray move has him blast his opponent in the air, then flying up and shattering the back of their ribs with a solid kick. Then he drive them into the ground with an inverted piledriver, breaking their neck and skull.
- God Hand has an action command suplex for certain enemies. For regular mooks this is instant death, elites not so much but still rather effective. Additionally, if you kill someone with it, you completely bury their head in the ground. Even if the floor is solid stone or metal.
- Resident Evil 4 has Leon being able to apply a lethal Northern Lights suplex which could cause Instant Death on some enemies. Instant head-exploding death.note Josh Stone and Jake Muller maintain the tradition in Resident Evil 5 and 6 respectively - while Leon does reappear in the latter, he drops the suplex in favor of a seoi-nage shoulder throw.
- Nero from Devil May Cry 4 can do suplexes as Devil Bringer special moves on certain enemies — both normal suplex, and Zangief's Final Atomic Buster.
- In Devil May Cry 5, Nero continues the wrestling tradition against more demons, and it only gets better after he regrows his lost arm and awakens his true Devil Trigger. He can even do this to his father Vergil, who he can suplex right out of the air during their final battle when he's going in for a dive-bomb attack in Sin Devil Trigger.
- No More Heroes allows the player to perform wrestling moves (the majority of them being different suplex variants) on stunned enemies, including bosses. This is usually followed by Travis' beam katana falling on the fallen enemy. Not only do you learn progressively cooler and cooler suplexes, but each boss has a difficult to set up custom boss suplex, except for the final boss of the first game, who is immune to and reverses any grabs, and any boss in either game who isn't fought in close combat, or who is fought by Henry or Shinobu. Namely, you have access to the following variations: Belly-to-Belly, Captured, Full Nelson, German, Trap, Double Wrist, Tiger among others.
- Dungeon Fighter Online has a suplex as a common move available to all Fighter subclasses, and even has a class specialized in throwing/slamming enemies (Grappler) that has SEVERAL variants of the move. Another ability adds a lightning bolt to the end of each Suplex. Finally, there is even a Fighter weapon named "Death by Suplex."
- Final Fight lets you do this as Haggar, an ex-wrestler the size of a brick outhouse. In Final Fight: Streetwise he can teach Kyle the Reverse Suplex, one of the game's quickest and most devastating grabs, and Haggar can use this move himself in Arcade mode.
- Suikoden
- Kasumi is able to do this to pretty much every single enemy in the game.
- Other characters throughout the series who possess the "Shrike Rune" can do this move, too.
- The King of Fighters
- Ralf has suplexes to finish some moves.
- His partner, Clark, is a grappler and has even more, with some suplex finishers having an elbow drop finisher.
- In the Conan the Barbarian game for PS3, the Cimmerian can learn the 'Warrior Suplex'.
- In Sengoku Basara, Kanbe can pull a variation of the Final Atomic Buster as well. With proper timing, he can add in up to 10 suplexes before finishing off with a piledriver.
- Batman has one of these as a counter-move in Batman: Arkham City. Why? Because he's Batman.
- In Patch v1.5 for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a suplex was added as a finisher move for Unarmed kills.
- Blaze from Streets of Rage will perform a German suplex from a rear grapple. This and other variations of suplex were the most common back-throws available, and often the most powerful moves in their respective games.
- Within the Tekken series, several characters do suplexes, but there are Julia and Michelle Cheng, where almost all of their throws are suplexes of one sort or another, and King, whose move-list consists primarily of throws and wrestling grapples, including some insanely complex chain grapple attacks.
- This is your most powerful move in the original King of the Monsters. Landing one actually has your monster automatically do a cheering animation to celebrate. Unfortunately, the length of time the cheering goes on for often results in the power-up you just smashed out of your opponent bouncing out of bounds.
- We don't actually see it, but in Undertale Undyne is apparently a huge fan of them—in the middle of battle, she will randomly suplex a boulder or ten boulders just because she can or suplex herself "just to prove that nothing is impossible". If you play your cards right and make some phone calls, you get to hear her suplexing Papyrus (apparently as a form of flattery).
- In Warframe, every sparring weapon has a suplex as a stealth finisher on the Infested Chargers. With stealth finishers being difficult to perform on a Hive Mind, achieving one is very rewarding.
- In Monster Hunter: World, large monsters can skirmish against one another, with one of the matchups being Deviljho vs. Diablos. The result is Deviljho suplexing the Diablos as if it isn't the threat that it usually is.
- Hyper Princess Pitch: Princess Pitch can use a pile driver to dispatch enemies.
- Fighting Force: Each character can do this to finish off enemies.
- League of Legends: Sett, the Boss has this as his ultimate ability, appropriately called "The Show Stopper", where he grabs an enemy, carries them a short distance, and craters them and any other unfortunate enemy below them (he has a few different animations for it too, including a Power Bomb, a DDT, and a crazy Spinning Piledriver by the face). The amount of damage it deals scales directly off of the victim's maximum health, so you ideally want to pick on the enemy team's big frontline tank to make the biggest splash.
- In Hybrid Heaven, a suplex is one of your special moves you can use on enemies. Likewise, some enemies (most who are aliens or created creatures) can do the same to you.
- Rick from Unbound Saga have a special move that allows him to grab and lift enemies, before suplex-ing them down causing extra damage.
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate features Incineroar, whose presentation and moveset draw copious inspiration from pro-wrestling heels. This extends to its throws, particularly its back throw, a German Suplex capable of reliably delivering KOs when used right at the edge of a stage (especially if Incineroar has received a Revenge boost beforehand).
Web Original
- Homestuck has Dave trapping Karkat under his cape and suplexing him onto a table.
- Final Fantasy VII: The Sevening: Tifa manages to do this to a demonic train.
- Slightly Damned: Mirandanote uses a suplex to finish off the fire demon Triska after she crushes her spine and/or ribs in her arms.
- Dreamscape: Kaila attempts this on Mechelly in "A Curse or a Blessing", but since Mechelly is a robot, this does nothing.
- DSBT InsaniT: Killer performs one on a Brainwashed and Crazy Lisa in 'Carneelval', which actually ends up giving her a grevious head injury due to slamming her into metal.
Western Animation
- In the Adventure Time episode, "Beautopia", Finn suplexes a Lub-Glub.
- In the DuckTales (2017) episode, "The Split Sword of Swanstantine!", a random woman Scrooge mistakes for F.O.W.L. Agent Black Heron does this to him at the beginning of the episode in response.
- Justice League Unlimited, "For the Man Who Has Everything": Wonder Woman suplexes Mongul, though it barely fazes him.
- In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, she does this to Superwoman, shortly before she elbow-drops her and ties her up with the Lasso of Truth.
- In Wakfu season 1 episode 22, Sadlygrove does a Suplex Finisher to one of Rubilax's stone clones.
