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Best Wrestling Finisher?

Which One?

  • Rainmaker

    Votes: 31 7.8%

  • RKO

    Votes: 76 19.1%

  • Sweet Chin Music

    Votes: 47 11.8%

  • Tombstone Piledriver

    Votes: 101 25.4%

  • Spear

    Votes: 6 1.5%

  • Diamond Cutter

    Votes: 72 18.1%

  • Sharpshooter

    Votes: 64 16.1%
  • Total voters
    397
Lashes.541

Lashes.541

Member
Dec 18, 2017
1,749
Roseburg Oregon
As someone that came extremely close to becoming a pro wrestling I still look at this question from the perspective of being a worker. Is the move sudden, can you do any place? Can you do it to any size person? So I think I would go with ddt, cutter or a submission.
 
pochi

pochi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,132
Chucker said:
Also no Vertebreaker?
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Bruh that's legit scary.
 
Kabuki Waq

Kabuki Waq

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
4,821
Jake the Snake's DDT was the best before it became a regular move. The way he delivered it looked violent and quick. Perfect.

Also was a big fan of razors edge. Probably the best name for a finisher ever.
 

mc emcee

Member
Oct 27, 2017
95
What finisher was so good that 3 different wrestlers on WWE were performing it the same night? The answer is chokeslam.
 
shintoki

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,074
People have been naming them, but finishers have to look good and be versatile. DDT, Diamond Cutter, Stunner, RKO, Sweet Chin music are all A++++ finishers. You can do a slow set up and play with the crowd. You can pull it any time, while there are plenty of counters to them. And they always look impactful.

Overly complicated finishers like One Winged Angel or Canadian Destroyers are crap as a finisher. They are impressive set pieces, but don't work nearly as well for the story telling as they have to follow a predictable pattern to set up. The beauty of the Stunner was it could come out of anywhere. Austin teasing that its coming, to be countered twice, then the third one is a good. Doing Sweet Chin Music when the other is going into their high flying finisher. Orton made is career solely out of the RKO being a damn near perfect finisher.

Hogan's leg drop and Rock's People's Elbow were on the too simple of a side. They were very one note in their set up and usage.
 
EYEL1NER

EYEL1NER

Member
Oct 26, 2017
3,774
GravaGravity said:
Where's the One Winged Angel?
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I like this quite a bit. I'm not seeing how it's overly-complicated or requires a lengthy set-up like some are saying, unless that gif is sped up a lot. Lifting the opponent up on your shoulders does require a bit of set-up and suspension of disbelief but it all looks like it's a quick-enough move.

I chose the Diamond Cutter in the poll but it's about tied with the Stunner for me. The Swanton Bomb told my list too.
 
345

345

Member
Oct 30, 2017
7,356
i wanna say chokeslam because it's iconic but it kind of makes no sense as a move. like, you would be better off not doing the slam part if you're able to hold the choke.

my vote goes to the pedigree. was never a big triple h fan but i always liked how it could either come out of nowhere or be taken real slowly.
 
pyxl_8

pyxl_8

Member
Oct 27, 2017
927
Haven't watched rasslin since I was a kid so idk shit but the Stunner always seemed like the best because it was quick, could be done on literally anyone and had that two-step execution where it could be escaped if the recipient wasn't worn down enough.

Honestly, the timing of it is just perfection. You get just enough time to realise he's doing it and then bam, the instant gratification. A lot of the more… athletic examples in this thread have more of an air of co-operation between the performers that kills the ability to suspend your disbelief. Like you're watching acrobats get set for a stunt. But the Stunner is like a knockout punch. Magnificent.
 
deimosmasque

deimosmasque

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?
Moderator
Apr 22, 2018
14,159
Tampa, Fl
shintoki said:
People have been naming them, but finishers have to look good and be versatile. DDT, Diamond Cutter, Stunner, RKO, Sweet Chin music are all A++++ finishers. You can do a slow set up and play with the crowd. You can pull it any time, while there are plenty of counters to them. And they always look impactful.

Overly complicated finishers like One Winged Angel or Canadian Destroyers are crap as a finisher. They are impressive set pieces, but don't work nearly as well for the story telling as they have to follow a predictable pattern to set up. The beauty of the Stunner was it could come out of anywhere. Austin teasing that its coming, to be countered twice, then the third one is a good. Doing Sweet Chin Music when the other is going into their high flying finisher. Orton made is career solely out of the RKO being a damn near perfect finisher.

Hogan's leg drop and Rock's People's Elbow were on the too simple of a side. They were very one note in their set up and usage.
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I don't consider the One Winged Angel that complicated or immersion breaking (Canadian Destroyer is, really simple but it's all about the person who is taking it, not the person who is supposedly performing it)

There is a reason I said Diamond Cutter(Shoulders up, Chest out!) . Like the RKO (same move) it can be done from any position and always looks devastating. Like the Stone Cold Stunner actually. Though like the DDT, the stunner has become a transitional move now a days.

People's Elbow was supposed to be a false finish move like the Worm but it became its own thing.
 
RedVejigante

RedVejigante

Member
Aug 18, 2018
5,640
deimosmasque said:
People's Elbow was supposed to be a false finish move like the Worm but it became its own thing.
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I still chuckle when I think back to this random WWE documentary where they briefly have Mick Foley talking about how incredulous he was when he first saw The Rock perform the People's Elbow after having seen him do the Rock Bottom.

It was kinda like; "you have one finisher that looks so high-energy and so devasting and then you also have...this?"
 
ShaggsMagoo

ShaggsMagoo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,674
RedVejigante said:
I still chuckle when I think back to this random WWE documentary where they briefly have Mick Foley talking about how incredulous he was when he first saw The Rock perform the People's Elbow after having seen him do the Rock Bottom.

It was kinda like; "you have one finisher that looks so high-energy and so devasting and then you also have...this?"
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I always just fanwanked it as the Rock Bottom (and occasionally the Spinebuster) were the rock's real finishers. The People's Elbow was just him being a dick.

Speaking of the Spinebuster, there is a move that could use some more love in this thread.


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RedVejigante

RedVejigante

Member
Aug 18, 2018
5,640
ShaggsMagoo said:
I always just fanwanked it as the Rock Bottom (and occasionally the Spinebuster) were the rock's real finishers. The People's Elbow was just him being a dick.

Speaking of the Spinebuster, there is a move that could use some more love in this thread.


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Oh, totally. I want to say in that interview segment Foley even ultimately acknowledges the storytelling going on with the Rock Bottom/People's Elbow combo.

And, in all fairness to Mick, who is easily one my favorite people in pro-wrestling, like, ever, I did find it humourous that a guy who ultimately used the Mandible Claw + dirty sock would potentially throw stones at anyone else for having absurd finishers.

Also, plus one vote for the Spinebuster. Arn Anderson was always such a weird figure in wrestling for me because, on the one hand, he just kind of looked like your high school gym teacher. But then he was so good in the ring, and his Spinebuster in particular looked so devastating, that I was terrified of him as a kid.
 
Soupman Prime

Soupman Prime

The Fallen
Nov 8, 2017
8,554
Boston, MA
ConfusingJazz said:
Because they don't do it right. HBK perfected the Superkick. He made sure the technique was perfect, and knew exactly where to aim. Others, most famously the Young Bucks, haven't mastered it yet, and are sloppy.

It's the same reason why some wrestlers can kick out of DDTs from most, but never from Jake the Snake.
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If it has a name it's gonna end matches. Always reminds me of R Truth and his corkscrew elbow thingy that was just a regular move. They then called it the Lie detector or something like that then it was all of sudden ending matches lol.


I always loved the Five Star Frog Splash, the theatrics after RVS hit the movie just made it look better.
 
RedVejigante

RedVejigante

Member
Aug 18, 2018
5,640
Soupman Prime said:
I always loved the Five Star Frog Splash, the theatrics after RVS hit the movie just made it look better.
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RVD looking like he was sacrificing his body for the Five Star Frog Splash was always great, but I have to say, and this might be the most absurd, nit-pickiest criticism anyone has ever made about anything in pro-wrestling, but was I the only one annoyed that RVD's Frog Splash generally had him rotating his arms outside his legs, when, in my mind, the Platonic ideal of a Frog Splash has the wrestler tucking their arms between their legs before fully extending their body?
 
Night

Night

Late to the party
Member
Nov 1, 2017
5,085
Clearwater, FL
So there was a finisher I used to use in an old-school wrestling video game. I seriously can't remember who used it! I googled for like 15 minutes and just couldn't figure it out. The wrestler would lift the person up so their body was facing up and then he'd slam them down to the mat, them facing down, with their head between his legs like a pedigree. I always liked it and when we trampoline wrestled as kids that was my go to besides the stunner.
 
Zeliard

Zeliard

Member
Jun 21, 2019
10,940
345 said:
i wanna say chokeslam because it's iconic but it kind of makes no sense as a move. like, you would be better off not doing the slam part if you're able to hold the choke.
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That's why I always liked the Million Dollar Dream. Great name too.

Also Mankind's mandible claw. I'm not gonna vouch for its actual effectiveness but it always seemed terribly unpleasant. I actually don't know if it was worse for the other person with the sock or his fingers. Probably the sock was actually cleaner.

mankind-sock.gif
 

Rito

Member
Sep 5, 2019
96
Sephiroth said:
One of the best spots ever imo

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Love the armbar reversal Nakamura did one time. Rainmaker is the kind of simple finisher that works so well. But the Stunner is the best looking one because it can be done literally anytime.

The most devasting looking is Steiner's Screwdriver. Always looks like Steiner is gonna break the guy neck.

Empty Your Head said:
The 619 is the second worst finisher of all time. Only one worse is the tree of woe.
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Rey's finisher was actually a combo of the 619 with the West Coast Pop, and looked amazing. But he probably can't do the West Coast anymore because of his age/knees.

As for the best finisher, is probably any kind of Cutter (the Stunner being the best one).

But I love the Tiger Driver 91:

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This topic made me realize that the One Winged Angel is basicaly the Joker Driver.
 
RedMercury

RedMercury

Blue Venus
Member
Dec 24, 2017
17,645
I def have to go with the diamond cutter/RKO, just so many cool variations and situations over the years. I also always liked Gangrel's Impaler DDT and the Evenflow DDT
 
Sheldon

Sheldon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,331
Ruhrgebiet, Germany
EYEL1NER said:
I like this quite a bit. I'm not seeing how it's overly-complicated or requires a lengthy set-up like some are saying, unless that gif is sped up a lot. Lifting the opponent up on your shoulders does require a bit of set-up and suspension of disbelief but it all looks like it's a quick-enough move.
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It's a little sped up, but not by much. You'd be astounded how much mileage Omega gets out of the set-up. As you say, as long as it's not overly-complicated, that's a strength, not a drawback. You can create drama around having to lift a guy onto your shoulders first, which you can't with moves that come out of nowhere.
 
Professor Beef

Professor Beef

Official ResetEra™ Chao Puncher
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,498
The Digital World
Night said:
So there was a finisher I used to use in an old-school wrestling video game. I seriously can't remember who used it! I googled for like 15 minutes and just couldn't figure it out. The wrestler would lift the person up so their body was facing up and then he'd slam them down to the mat, them facing down, with their head between his legs like a pedigree. I always liked it and when we trampoline wrestled as kids that was my go to besides the stunner.
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Was it this?

 

Dis

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,934
It isn't the best finisher but I do fucking love the spear the goldberg gave dolph ziggler at Summerslam a couple of years back.

Video is here but you may have to skip to 30 seconds as don't know if youtube is gonna have the timecode.

 
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