5 WWE Superstars you did not expect would ever tap out

The incredulity that follows an unexpected submission manoeuvre in a wrestling match is unparalleled to most. WWE, flourishing in the grey area between basic sports and grandiose entertainment, has its own understanding of wrestling moves which are so arranged as to draw the most exasperated of sighs and exhilarating of cheers from the many people partaking of the experience. Submission holds are essential to the storytelling of a match in so far as they are legitimate finishers of the involved parties. If a certain finisher is a better selling move than a signature submission hold, the latter rarely results in a victory. Correspondingly, the probability of a performer tapping out inside a WWE ring ultimately boils down to the character they are embodying. It is not often that a top babyface taps out to a heel, choosing instead to pass out or counter it altogether if he must.

Within the carefully constructed confines of WWE kayfabe, it is imperative that any move inside the squared circle add to the superstar’s character. Such is the case with submissions. While pinfall victories depend on those three fateful seconds, their endurance inside a submission hold paints the hardened wrestler as having mastered the threshold of pain. Therefore, besides the usual binary of face and heel, it is also the fundamental bearings of their gimmick which bring to question their possibility of tapping out. The following list of five Superstars who have, to the amazement of many, tapped out on occasion is premised on such a principle. Most of the “characters” discussed in this list are WWE mainstays whose larger than life billing pits them as rarely having submitted. Despite the insistence of WWE canon, these very Superstars have submitted to a hold, stretch or lock at least once in their “sports entertainment” career. However, it should be said that in some of the cases the tapping might have come under a different gimmick, or even disregarded altogether. Here it goes: