In the ring during a match, the wrestlers are doing their very best to tell a story. Those stories need to have good endings and that’s generally where finishing moves come into play. There isn’t a single wrestler - then, now, or forever that doesn’t have at least one big finishing move in their back pocket.
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Just like nearly every other facet of the professional wrestling business, there are all sorts of Easter Eggs and hidden details about some of the best and biggest finishing moves in the entire history of the sport across companies like WWE, WCW, or TNA.
10 The Sharpshooter - Undertaker Was The First To Break Out Of It
From the moment Bret Hart commandeered The Sasori-Gatame from Riki Choshu and Sting and rechristened it The Sharpshooter, the move more or less became Bret’s.
Over the years, there were seldom few who got to break out of the bold. According to The Hitman from his book - none other than The Deadman was the first to pull off the escape.
9 Dudley Death Drop - The MCMG Kickout
The importance of a great finisher has been lost to time as most of them get kicked out 95 times during a match. But there was a time that when a finisher was signaled for - the crowd popped, the move was hit and the three count was made.
It certainly was one of the reasons that The Dudley Death Drop and now the 1D are so heralded - because the move is protected big time. Bully Ray has spoken about this a lot on Busted Open. He also mentioned the one time that the 3D was kicked out of. In TNA, when Team 3D wanted to put over The Motor City Machine Guns, they kicked out of the 3D.
8 Stone Cold Stunner - Suggested By Michael Hayes
After spending years in Memphis, World Class, and WCW, Stunning Steve Austin headed Up North to become The Ringmaster. It wasn’t long before the company and Austin realized that gimmick stunk and Stone Cold was starting to formulate. But The Rattlesnake needed a much cooler finishing move.
Michael Hayes had suggested Austin start using a move that a famous Gaijin - Johnny Ace of all people had made famous - The Ace Crusher. Austin added the kick to the gut for the set-up and The Stone Cold Stunner was born.
7 DDT - Invented By Accident
When Jake Roberts was once asked what DDT stood for, he menacingly and matter of factly said “the end.” But over the years, the move has become much more of a transition move than a devastating finish.
Oddly enough one of the best finishers and most popular ones happened upon by accident. Jake was wrestling a journeyman and had him in a front face lock when his foot got stepped on, and they fell backwards, giving birth to The End.
6 The Claymore Kick - Invented By Accident
Another move invented by accident is nowadays one of the most devastating shots in all of the WWE - The Claymore Kick. During The Scottish Warrior’s 3MB days, he was known for wearing ridiculously tight pleather pants.
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On occasion, they were even tighter than usual and instead of high kicking like he was David Lee Roth, McIntyre slipped and fell over. Thankfully, he still landed the kick, which didn’t make him look nearly as foolish as he might have thought he looked.
5 The People’s Elbow - Started As A Rib
It might be “the most electrifying move in all of sports entertainment,” but we all know just how silly The People’s Elbow was. The beauty of it was how The Rock simply had everyone eating out of the palm of his hand as he zig-zagged the ropes, did some trash talking and barely delivered the elbow.
It all started out though as a rib on The Deadman of all people. The Rock was trying to get him to break character at house shows.
4 Sweet Chin Music - Was A Set-Up Move
Shawn Michaels had been tuning up the band for nearly twenty years and Sweet Chin Music has inspired a bunch of leg-slapping fools all across the industry. But it wasn’t always HBK’s big finisher.
He actually had used at as a set-up for The Teardrop Suplex. However, he quickly realized that after knocking an opponent out with the superkick, there was no point in picking them back up for a suplex and should just pin them instead.
3 Diamond Cutter - Was Originally The Pedigree
For a time, The Diamond Cutter was deemed the baddest move on the planet. To this day, whenever Randy Orton or Matt Riddle hit the move, they have each found new and exciting ways to catch their opponents off guard with it.
Which is exactly as DDP had intended. For a brief time however, The Diamond Cutter was The Pedigree, being used as a Triple H finisher. But thanks to a phone call from Page to Helmsley, Triple H agreed to stop using the move in favor of DPP making it his own.
2 Scott Hall - The Razor’s Edge
If you listen to anyone speak about Scott Hall - both before and after his untimely death - that he had an amazing mind for the wrestling business.
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Part of that mind knew the importance of protecting a finisher. It’s why he refused to ever nail The Razor's / Outsiders' Edge unless he was going to be winning the match. No he didn’t mind losing, just minded his finish getting bastardized.
1 The F-5 - Modified TKO
Don’t ever, EVER say it to his face, but somehow inadvertently Brock Lesnar snagged more from Marc Mero than just his wife. Once The Wild Man became The Marvelous One, he started wearing fight shorts - just like a certain you know who. But even more still, take a side by side look at their finishing moves - of which both The Marvelous One and Sable used during their careers.
Both The F-5 and Mero’s TKO are very much the same twisting discuss heave. But again, you probably shouldn’t tell Brock this, or that Mero’s Shooting Star was better either.
