angel wings

A facebuster, also known as a face plant, is generally a takedown move in professional wrestling in which an attacking wrestler forces his/her opponent down to the mat face-first without involving a headlock or facelock. If these are used then the move is either a DDT or bulldog variation.

Inverted mat slams are commonly referred to and considered to be facebusters.

A standard Facebuster also known as a Jumping facebuster involves the wrestler grabbing hold of the opponent's head / hair and jumping down to their knees, forcing the opponent's face into the mat. Ivory is best known for using this version, which she dubbed Poison Ivory. The most common variation of this move sees the wrestler drop down to a seated position, but this move can also see the attacking wrestler first charge at the opponent, grabing hold of their head/hair before jumping to force themself and the opponent to swing round before being brought down to the mat.

Other variations

Argentine facebuster

The attacking wrestler places an opponent in an Argentine backbreaker rack, where the opponent is held face-up across both the shoulders of the wrestler, from here the wrestler falls sideways (towards the side where the opponent's head is held) while still holding the opponent's head with one arm and flipping the opponent's legs over with the other, driving them down to the mat face-first.

Belly-to-back inverted mat slam

From a position in which the opponent is bent forward against the wrestler's midsection, the wrestler grabs around his or her opponent's midsection and lifts so that the opponent is held upside down, facing in the same direction as the wrestler. The wrestler then hooks both arms of the opponent using his or her legs, and then falls forward planting the opponent's body into the mat face-first.

The move often sees the wrestler keep his/her legs hooked under the arms of the opponent after hitting the move, using the underhooking technique to turn the opponent on to their back into a Rana style pinning position.

Vic Grimes, who called this move the Wild Fandango, was the first professional wrestler to popularize the move, using it during the early 1990's while in California. Since then, the move has been closely associated with AJ Styles who calls his the Styles Clash. Styles has been known to perform a Super Styles Clash from the second rope.

Complete Shot

Well known as the Reverse STO, this is a move in which a wrestler stands side-to-side and slightly behind with the opponent, facing in the opposite direction, and reaches around the opponent's torso with one arm across the opponent's chest with his/her hand holding onto his/her other hand which is behind the opponent's head. The wrestler then falls backward, driving the opponent into the mat face-first. In Japan, the wrestler known as Gedo began using the move while a member of a stable of wrestlers known as the "Complete Players," this is where the Complete Shot name derives.

Numerous other variations upon the move exist; Edge used to perform a variation named the Downward Spiral where he would cross his leg behind the opponents leg, forcing the opponent to fall with greater velocity. Carlito uses a version in which he would lift the opponent off the mat then drop them into the Reverse STO.

Another variation is to hook the leg similar to a Russian legsweep, which was popularized as the Flatliner by Chris Kanyon. While Alex Shelley (calling it the Shellshock) and Frankie Kazarian (calling it the Wave of the Future) use swinging variations in which an opponent is drawn forward before being thrown back swinging them round and down to the mat.

Arm triangle facebuster

This version of a Complete Shot first sees an attacking wrestler apply a standing arm triangle choke before falling backwards to drive the opponent's head face-first to the mat. This stresses the choke which is already applied on the opponent while further damaging their arms, shoulders, and neck as well as impacting the opponent's face on the mat. The arm triangle choke is often maintained after the initial facebuster for a submission attempt.

Double underhook facebuster

The wrestler bends their opponent forward, placing the opponent's head between the wrestler's legs and then applies a double underhook on the opponent. The wrestler then jumps up while tucking their knees causing them to lift their opponent off the mat before landing on their knees, forcing the opponent's face into the mat. Triple H, the most famous user of this move, would name it the Pedigree, a name later commonly adopted when referring to this move.

A variation of this move, most famously used by CM Punk who called it the Pepsi Plunge, sees a wrestler ascend to the top turnbuckle so that they are standing on the top rope. While doing this they pull their opponent with them so that the opponent is standing on the second rope. The wrestler then applies the double underhook and jumps forwards lifting their opponent into the air before dropping to the mat, landing on their knees and driving the opponent's face into the mat with increased force.

CM Punk innovated a slight variation of his Pepsi Plunge in which the opponent is seated on the top turnbuckle facing the ring while Punk stands in front of the opponent on the top turnbuckle before applying the double underhook and jumping backwards, pulling the opponent off the top rope, and falling to his knees driving the opponents face into the mat.

Inverted double underhook facebuster

An attacker stands behind an opponent, overhooking both arms of the opponent and pivoting 180º so that the opponent is now looking down to the mat with the back of his/her head situated under the lower back (often with the attacker's legs partially straddling the opponent's head.) Leaving the arms underhooked behind both wrestlers, the attacking wrestler would drop to a kneeling position driving the opponent's face into the mat. This is often referred to as an Inverted Pedigree, in reference to the double underhook facebuster.

A variation on this which is often known as the Unprettier sees the attacking wrestler take hold of the wrists of an opponent from behind and placing his/her head onto the upper back of the opponent. From this position the wrestler would pivot 180º so that the opponent is now looking down to the mat with the back of his/her head situated under the upper back of the attacker and his/her arms (which are still held by the wrestler) come over the shoulders of the attacking wrestler. At this point the wrestler would fall backwards driving the opponent's face into the mat below. The move was named the Unprettier by frequent user, Christian Cage, who originally called it the Impaler.

Jason Cross uses another variation of this move, which he calls the Idolizer, in that version he hooks up the arms of the opponent and places himself on an elevated surface (top turnbuckle) from here he performs a front flip over the opponent so that he connects to an Unprettier as he lands back down to the mat.

Lifting double underhook facebuster

This inverted mat slam is performed when a wrestler bends an opponent forward, placing the opponent's head between the wrestler's legs (a standing head scissors), and hooks each of the opponent's arms behind his/her back. The wrestler then pulls back on the opponent's arms lifting him/her up so that the opponent is held upside down facing in the same direction as the wrestler, the wrestler then falls forward planting the opponent's body into the mat face-first.

In a variation of the lifting double underhook facebuster, also known as a sitout double underhook facebuster, instead of falling forward the attacking wrestler would drop to a seated position forcing the opponent's face into the mat between the attacking wrestler's legs. Another variation of this is used by Christopher Daniels, called the Angel's Wings, where Daniels spins 90° with the opponent lifted in the air before landing the move in the sit-down position.

F-5

Described as a fireman's carry facebuster, this move was named and made popular by Brock Lesnar. The move sees the attacking wrestler put an opponent up in a fireman's carry (across the wrestler's shoulders) position, then throw the opponent's legs out in front of him/her to spin them out while the attacking wrestler falls backwards to drive the opponent's head in to the mat. The move's name was taken from the Fujita scale, which ranks the intensity of a tornado, with F-5 being the strongest. After leaving WWE, Lesnar renamed the move The Verdict, in reference to his 2005 court proceedings with the promotion.

Forward Russian legsweep

This facebuster, best known as The Stroke as used by Jeff Jarrett, sees an attacking wrestler stand side-to-side and slightly behind an opponent (facing in the same direction) before reaching behind the opponent's back to hook the opponent's head with his/her other hand extending the opponent's near arm, then while hooking the opponent's leg with his/her own leg the wrestler falls forward, pushing the opponent forward to the mat face-first.

Full nelson facebuster

In this variation on the Forward Russian legsweep, the attacking wrestler stands behind, slightly to one side of and facing the opponent before reaching under the opponent's arms with his/her own corresponding arms and places the palms of his/her hands on the neck of the opponent, thereby forcing the arms of the opponent up into the air (as in a full nelson hold). The attacking wrestler next hooks the opponent's near leg and throws themselves forwards, driving the opponent face first into the ground.

Front facelock drop

The attacking wrestler applies a front facelock and then throws their legs out behind them, falling stomach first to the ground and driving the face of their opponent into the ground. Similar to a DDT, but targeting the face of the opponent rather than the head.

This move can also see the wrestler run at an opponent who is bent over facing them which is often referred to (wrongly) as a Spinning DDT. This sees the wrestler apply a front facelock and uses his/her momentum to spin themselves in a circle before falling to his/her stomach, or back, to drive the face of the opponent into the ground.

Gory Bomb

A back-to-back release facebuster a move which is a variation of the Gory special where wrestler would release the arms of the opponent to take hold of the oppoent's legs while dropping to a seated position, forcing the opponent to fall forward and impact the mat face-first.

Chavo Guerrero, Jr. would invent this variation on the Gory Special; a move named after his grandfather Gory Guerrero.

Hangman's facebuster

Also described as a over-the-shoulder faceplant or an inverted snapmare into a facebuster. This facebuster is performed when an attacking wrestler, who is standing in a back-to-back position with an opponent, reaches back to pull the opponent's head over his/her shoulder before (while keeping a hold of the opponent's head) falling forwards to twist the opponent's head over so they slam face first into the mat.

Push up facebuster

A variation where a wrestler puts his opponent's head between his legs as he performs a number of push ups, causing the opponent's face to be slammed into the mat a number of times. Often instead of straight push ups, the wrestler just bounces his legs up and down to create the effect.

Reverse chokeslam facebuster

The attacking wrestler grabs hold of an opponent's neck with both hands, one on the front, and one on the back. The arm that has the hand on the back of the neck may hook the opponent's arm. The wrestler then lifts the opponent up, releases the hand holding the front of the opponent's neck, and pushes forward and slams the opponent to the mat face first with the other hand.

The name for this move is a reference to it being an inverted (reverse) version of a standard chokeslam.

Sitout facebuster

Also known as a sit-down facebuster. This is the most common variation of the standard facebuster in which the attacker grabs hold of the opponent by his/her head or hair then jumps down into a sitting position, forcing the opponent's face into the mat between the attacker's legs. It was most famously used as a finisher by X-Pac, who called it the X-Factor. The X-Factor became a common name for the move with wrestlers often imitating the name; for example Konnan, who called it the K-Factor (he later renamed the move Facejam).

Wheelbarrow facebuster

Also called a reverse powerbomb this facebuster sees the attacking wrestler grab a standing opponent around the waist from behind and lift them before then falling to a sitting position, swinging the opponent down so that their face is driven into the ground.

Not all wheelbarrow facebusters see the wrestler drop to a sitting position, Vader used a variation where he remains standing while he slams the opponent to the mat. Vader called this a Face Eraser, a name later used in reference to the variation.

Feint backdrop wheelbarrow facebuster

A variation to the wheelbarrow facebuster which sees the attacking wrestler stand at the side of an opponent and begin to lift them as for a backdrop suplex. Instead of falling backwards to drop the opponent back first, the wrestler would stops after lifting the opponent, grabs a hold of his legs while still holding the opponent up, and slamming him/her face first on to the mat. Also known as a Cannonball buster.

Like all wheelbarrow facebusters this can be finished with the attacking wrestler dropping to a seated position, or left standing.

Chickenwing facebuster

The wrestler hooks both an opponent's arms in a double chickenwing, lifts them up into the air from behind, then drops the opponent down onto the mat face first.

The sit-out variation, where a wrestler drops to a seated position while faceplanting the opponent between the wrestler's legs, is often known as the Waffle Face; a name used by Paul London.

Full nelson wheelbarrow facebuster

An attacking wrestler applies a full nelson from behind and lifts an opponent before falling to a sitting position and swinging the opponent down so their face is driven into the ground.

See also

• List of professional wrestling throws