I would suggest that using more power than the woofer can handle just makes it more likely to blow the woofer.
Staying under the speaker rating is safer and you don't really give up much because you need to double the power to get a 3db difference in volume. That isn't a lot of volume change and the speaker can't handle it anyway.
The complication is that the power ratings on many speakers and amps are a fantasy. That makes it harder to judge just how much can be handled and how much you are actually producing.