Cutter (professional wrestling)

In professional wrestling, a cutter is a 3⁄4 facelock neckbreaker maneuver. This move sees an attacking wrestler first apply a 3⁄4 facelock (reaching back and grabbing the head of an opponent, thus pulling the opponent's jaw above the wrestler's shoulder) before falling backwards (sometimes after running forwards first) to force the opponent face-first to the mat below.

The cutter was innovated by Johnny Ace, who called it the Ace Crusher. It was later popularized by Diamond Dallas Page, who called it the Diamond Cutter, which is where the move got its name. The most famous of all the cutters is the RKO, the finishing move of Randy Orton. The cutter also formed the base for the later development of another professional wrestling move known as the stunner.

Variations

Argentine cutter

The attacking wrestler gets the opponent in the Argentine backbreaker position as to execute the Argentine Backbreaker drop. The attacking wrestler then pushes the opponent's legs so that they flip horizontally 180 degrees. As the opponent's weight is being shifted to one side, the attacking wrestler applies the 3⁄4 facelock and drops the opponent.

Backpack cutter

Also known as a Piggyback cutter, in this elevated cutter variation, the opponent is first raised up in a piggy-back position with whichever arm holding the opponent's head with a 3⁄4 facelock.