As a wrestling game, WWE 2K20 incorporates victory via pinfall or submission. In any combat sport, winning via submission requires the competitor to hold his opponent in a lock where he either taps out or breaks crucial bones due to foolhardy persistence. Tap out, he loses the match to fight another day. Otherwise, his limbs would be overextended beyond repair, shortening his wrestling career.
WWE 2K20 has a wide selection of submission moves to equip. With over 200 maneuvers in the submission category, 2K20 doesn’t fall short of variety. However, some moves are more excruciating than others. Some are more career-ending, riskier, and more dangerous to perform in real life. Here are 10 bone-breaking submission maneuvers.
10 Armbar
The armbar is a popular submission move widely used in different combat sports. There are a lot of set-ups to an armbar, but what it does is it wrenches the opponent’s arm, hyperextending it beyond the brittle fulcrum confines of the elbow. While the attacker’s legs anchor the recipient’s body in place, the attacker pulls at the wrist and forearm, forcibly pivoting the arm over 180 degrees. Ronda Rousey managed to break Miesha Tate’s arm with the maneuver, along with some other victims. What makes the move even more dangerous is that persistent opponents won’t be able to sense their arm breaking until it’s too late.
9 Heel Hook
This submission maneuver is a banned move in certain Brazilian jiu-jitsu stipulations. The heel hook is a maneuver that takes the opponent’s leg and locks it in firmly between the attacker’s legs, isolating the leg from the rest of the recipient’s body. Then, once the leg is in place, the attacker pulls the recipient’s foot so that the recipient’s foot points forward. Simultaneously, as this places the foot in an already uncomfortable position, the attacker applies torque on the foot, twisting it away from the ankle with his body weight. The move can really mess up someone’s ability to walk. When performed in real scraps, the maneuver can end a victim’s sports career.
8 Kimura Lock
The kimura lock is a hammerlock move that pivots the opponent’s arm, unscrewing it from its shoulder joint. Using the forearm as a lever, the attacker turns the arm with his body force and causes excruciating pain on the shoulder. One of the ways to escape the move is to roll in the direction the arm is being turned.
However, the kimura locks the opponent in full guard with the attacker’s thighs, preventing any escape. Shown above is a different variation. Brock Lesnar locks this move out of nowhere and has once made Triple H tap out in outstanding fashion.
7 Sharpshooter
The sharpshooter is a maneuver that applies pressure on the victim’s back. The move is a modified Boston crab where the attacker takes the opponent’s legs, twists them in a knot around his thigh, turns, and bends backward. What this does is it places the opponent in a prone position, and forcibly brings his toes to touch his head. This rolls the body in an uncomfortable position like an easy-to-open can. It could possibly break someone’s back– a person’s most vital set of bones. Anyone caught in the move is sure to feel 10 years older upon walking out of the arena.
6 Crossface
Imagine looking upwards then being pulled down by the lower jaw. The crossface is a move that wrenches the opponent’s head backward, pulling back at the neck. It chokes the opponent as well, making it a solid submission move. In addition, the crossface traps the opponent’s arm to isolate it from the situation. This limits the opponent’s options in countering the move. When enough force is applied, the attacker can either make the opponent pass out, or snap his head from his neck. Whichever comes first. The late Chris Benoit has used this move to end many rivalries back in the day. After suffering from brain damage, he also killed his son with the move before ending his own life.
5 Yes Lock
Daniel Bryan’s ‘Yes Lock’ is a kimura and crossface in one. A normal crossface would trap one of the opponent’s arms between the attacker’s legs. For the ‘Yes Lock,’ instead of simply trapping the arm, Daniel Bryan places his opponent’s trapped arm in a wrenched position.
This is so that as he pulls his opponent’s head, an agonizing amount of pain is also placed on the shoulder. Even if his opponents manage to maneuver their arm to more comfortable positions, their arm would still be trapped, unable to prop themselves up.
4 Rings Of Saturn
The Rings Of Saturn is an arm-trapped crossface move that locks the other arm as well. Locking the other arm prevents the opponent from turning to a comfortable position. What this modified crossface does is it wrenches the head beyond the bending capabilities of the neck. The added arm locks not only prevent the recipient from countering with his hands but also wrench his arms from their shoulder sockets as well. This move simultaneously applies pressure to the head and shoulders, with both the arms and head risking dislocation (and decapitation).
3 Dragon Sleeper
The Dragon Sleeper simultaneously wrenches the opponent’s neck backward, and deprives them of oxygen. The chicken wing clutch applies pressure on the throat and arteries leading to the brain, cutting off the supply of blood and oxygen necessary to keep the victim kicking. The move is similar to a reverse guillotine, but unlike the standard guillotine, the attacker has a wider range to overextend the victim’s neck. The submission move also acts on the opponent’s lower back, arching the opponent to a shape similar to a walking cane. This move has the potential to decapitate.
2 Bro-Mission
The bro-mission is a move that twists the opponent’s spine like a wet towel squeezed to dry. Known as the twister maneuver, Matt Riddle uses this move as his sports entertainment submission. The move captures the opponent in an arm-trapped crossface but instead of locking the other arm like in the Rings Of Saturn, the attacker locks the opponent’s opposite leg.
As the opponent’s leg is anchored to the ground, the attacker twists away from the locked leg. This turns the opponent’s neck and lower back opposite ways, exerting extreme twisting pressure on the spine. However, the cranking force is focused on the fragile neck.
1 Elevated Boston Crab
2020 has shown the importance of not kneeling on someone’s neck. The elevated Boston crab does just that. If the sharpshooter aims to snap the opponent’s back, the elevated Boston crab anchors the opponent’s head down to the mat by leaning on it with the knee. Instead of the pressure being applied to the back, that force is now focused on the opponent’s neck. This can snap the skull off the spine, in addition to already making breathing impossible. Chris Jericho has always used the move under the name ‘Liontamer.’ But because it was so dangerous, he had to remove the kneeling-on-head step. The move was renamed to ‘Walls of Jericho.’
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