Doomsday Device - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Doomsday Device, often shortened to Device, is a term used in professional wrestling

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

to reference a tandem move

Professional wrestling double-team maneuvers

The double-team maneuvers in professional wrestling are executed by two wrestlers instead of one and typically are used by tag teams in tag team matches. Many of these maneuvers are combination of two throws, or submission holds. Most moves are known by the names that professional wrestlers give...

in which one wrestler hoists the opponent on their shoulders so that they are facing in the same direction in what is known as the electric chair position, while another wrestler climbs the ring post to the top turnbuckle and delivers a flying attack on that prone opponent.

The Doomsday Device name comes from a popular professional wrestling tag team

Tag team

Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...

known as the Road Warriors

Road Warriors

The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion...

, who innovated the basic version of this move in which a flying clothesline is hit on the opponent who is being set up in the electric chair position; knocking the opponent off the shoulders of the grounded wrestler, who pushes up on the opponent's legs to flip them backwards as they fall to the mat. A slight adaptation of the standard device, best known as the Dudley Boyz

Dudley Boyz

Team 3D was a professional wrestling tag team, consisting of Brother Ray and Brother Devon, formerly sporadically joined into a stable by Brother Runt on several intervals...

's Dudleyville Device, sees the wrestler (in this case Bubba Ray Dudley) keep hold of the opponent's legs, falling backwards with them and completing a traditional electric chair drop maneuver.

Variations

Other variations of the maneuver, which use alternative flying attacks to knock opponents backwards off the shoulders of another wrestler are often named after the Doomsday Device, or are described using the Device term. Most frontal attack variants can see the grounded wrestler simply release, or, fall backwards with the opponent, as in the basic Doomsday Device. However, not all variations of the Device see the elevated wrestler attack an opponent head on, some see wrestlers strike from behind to propel the opponent forward off the other wrestler's shoulders. This allows the grounded wrestler to utilize a version of the electric chair which sees them drop to a seated position with the opponent landing face first between the wrestler's legs.

Doomsday clothesline

This variation is the one that is usually used when tag teams perform the Doomsday Device. This variation has one wrestler lift one opponent up in an electric chair position followed by another wrestler climbing to the top rope and performing a flying clothesline onto the elevated opponent, making the opponent fall backwards off the wrestler's shoulder making them crash into the mat.

Doomsday dropkick

This variation sees one wrestler lift up their opponent in regular Doomsday fashion and another wrestler climb to the top rope and perform a missile dropkick to knock their opponent down.

Doomsday Rana

Unlike the previous variation, this Device variant sees a head scissors throw used to pull the opponent forward off the shoulders of the other wrestler. The flying head scissors throw performed is commonly known as a diving hurricanrana, and is where this move gets the "Rana" part of its name.

Elevated cutter

Another variation exists which is the same doomsday style attack but rather than a bulldog or a clothesline, the attacking wrestler performs a cutter

Cutter (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a cutter is a common term that refers to the three-quarter facelock bulldog maneuver. The move is also described as an inverted neckbreaker, though it is not one, it only bears an inverted style to it...

off of the elevated surface (usually the turnbuckle) pulling the opponent face first off the partners shoulders.

Elevated diving bulldog

This variation sees the elevated wrestler come from behind the raised opponent to push/drag them forward off the grounded wrestler's shoulders and down to the ground using a diving bulldog.

Shining Impact

Another flying kick variation of the Doomsday Device. This variant sees a wrestler perform a diving variation of the Shining Wizard attack used to knock the opponent from the shoulders of another wrestler.