Music

Miguel accidentally leg-dropped a fan pro-wrestling style at the Billboard Music Awards

by Aaron Zorgel

May 21, 2013

Sunday night's airing of the Billboard Music Awards delivered plenty of "oh shit!"-worthy highlights, from Justin Bieber getting viciously booed, to Prince's (obviously) flawless finale performance, but the real memorable (and meme-able) moment was nouveau R&B crooner Miguel's head-spinning performance of "Adorn." The performance itself was OK, but during the song's final moments, Miguel literally almost took a girl's head off with an impromptu leg drop, straight out of the Hulkamaniac's repertoire.

Sunday night’s airing of the Billboard Music Awards delivered plenty of “oh shit!”-worthy highlights, from Justin Bieber getting viciously booed, to Prince’s (obviously) flawless finale performance, but the real memorable (and meme-able) moment was nouveau R&B crooner Miguel’s head-spinning performance of “Adorn.” The performance itself was OK, but during the song’s final moments, Miguel literally almost took a girl’s head off with an impromptu leg drop, straight out of the Hulkamaniac’s repertoire. Check out the accidental pro-wrestling move in the YouTube clip above.

Miguel appears to be jacked up on adrenaline during the song’s closing chorus, and after some crotch-splitting dance moves and aggressively ornate vocal runs, he sizes up a gap in the audience pit, and winds up for a leap across the human moat. The sharply-dressed singer, pointy boots blazing, comes down hard on a couple of fans who are pressed up against the side of the stage, almost taking off one woman’s head with a leg drop suitable for the Ric Flair “WOO!”-era WWF’s heyday. The victim seems to quickly recover from the pummeling, and Miguel continues to sing while apologetically reaching for her hand, and giving another bystander an affectionate squeeze. In a tweet that was later deleted, Miguel said “Rockandrollmademedoit.”

Almost instantly, the Internet lit up with Miguel/pro-wrestling mashups. Some Photoshopped the sprawled-out singer’s body into wrestling rings, while others ripped the clip and laid pro-wrestling commentary underneath the visuals, both to somewhat hilarious effect. The most popular lyrical tweak seemed to be “Let my nuts adorn you.” Well played, Internet.

To anyone familiar with Miguel’s career trajectory, this is more than just an isolated performance gaffe. Miguel’s accidental leg-drop is an overarching metaphor for the pompadoured troubadour’s tendency to overshoot his limitations. His latest recorded effort, the genre-defying Kaleidoscope Dream, is a brilliant amalgam and a true showing of the 27-year-old’s potential talent, but his live performances are rarely controlled enough to reflect this. More often than not, the singer seems to strive for complex vocal runs that are just barely out of his reach, instead of singing the pre-existing solid hooks straight. His overly ambitious, wank-guitar heavy recreations of “Adorn” and “How Many Drinks” on Saturday Night Live this season did little to introduce a new audience to Miguel on his best days, and instead, showed a side of him that had clearly bitten off more than he could chew. The same could be said for his performance on the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, but this time we’ve got a hilarious, viral representation of Miguel’s eager enthusiasm. He geared up for a performance-crushing leap, fell short, and it almost turned into a head-crushing wrestling move.

There’s nothing wrong with an overly ambitious artist, but Miguel runs the risk of making the audience tap out before realizing his full potential. As a musician, that is. If Miguel wants to set up a side-hustle as a pro wrestler, then he’s probably doing it right.