10 Iconic Wrestling Finishers: Who Did Them Best?

Every wrestler wants to have a unique finishing move to stand out and add to their presentation. However, the industry being around for so many years led to many iconic finishers being used by many wrestlers. WWE and every other promotion will see moves being used in overlap by various wrestlers.

The scenarios of multiple relevant wrestlers using the same move will automatically create debate between fans and talents over who did them best. Each finisher has a different history, but the story remains the same with multiple names hoping to do it best. The following all-time great iconic finishers saw these wrestlers doing each move the best.

10 Sharpshooter: Bret Hart

They Called Bret The Excellence Of Execution For A Reason

Bret Hart Made Sure No One Will Ever Improve Perfection
Multiple Other Hart Relatives Do It Well
Canadian Wrestlers Love Using It Too

Many fans believe the sharpshooter is the best submission finisher in WWE history. Bret Hart was the first face of the company to make a submission his calling card to win matches. Future wrestlers like Owen Hart, Trish Stratus, The Rock and Natalya used the sharpshooter throughout the years.

Bret deserves a lot of credit for making his sharpshooter feel so credible. Owen may have been the closest behind his brother in terms of execution, but no one is topping Bret with this move. Kobe Bryant did a lot of basketball moves like Michael Jordan, but nothing compared to the original, and the same applies to Bret’s sharpshooter.

9 Elbow Drop: Randy Savage

No One Could Follow Savage, Who Made It A Legendary Move

Randy Savage's Elbow Drop Is Still The Standard
Shawn Michaels Had A Beautiful Version
CM Punk Had The Ugliest (But Charming) Version

Randy Savage captivated audiences when he started using the elbow drop as a trademark finisher. A wrestler the size of Savage as a jacked athlete delivering the elbow drop felt so new and fresh at the time and inspired many others to do it.

Kairi Sane and Shawn Michaels are two of the better wrestlers at using the move, even though they had other finishers as well. CM Punk is the biggest name to use it since the 1990s, but his execution makes his physically the worst despite the fun charm. Savage deserves to be viewed as the wrestler with the best elbow drop all this time later.

8 Choke Slam: Big Show

Height Helps With Choke Slams

Big Show's Height Advantage Made His Choke Slam Best
Kane Got Great Height On His Too
The Undertaker Made It Popular

Multiple big men have used the choke slam as a finisher or a secondary finisher throughout the years. The golden trio of choke slams would be the three legendary WWE giants from modern times of The Undertaker, Kane and Big Show.

Both Undertaker and Kane had great choke slams, but they won few matches with it due to the tombstone following it up. Big Show made the choke slam more of his finisher closing matches and using his height to raise his opponents higher than anyone else did before dropping them.

7 DDT: Jake Roberts

Perfected The Art Of A Finishing Move

No One Has Ever Done It Better Than Jake
Raven Was A Distant Second
Wrestlers Changed DDT To Secondary Finisher

The DDT finisher is one of the most fascinating moves since it was once the most respected finisher and turned into a secondary move today. Jake Roberts was outstanding at perfecting the move and had many fans viewing it as the deadliest move in wrestling.

Other wrestlers like Raven and Tommy Dreamer tried using the move before it became outdated. Jon Moxley and some others have created variations of the move, but nothing will ever compare to Roberts making it the hottest finisher in wrestling.

6 Moonsault: Christopher Daniels

Improving An Already Perfect Move

Daniels' Move Was Called Best Moonsault Ever For A Reason
Kurt Angle Had A Scary Moonsault
Moonsault Was An Early Eras High-Flying Finisher

Wrestling fans fell in love with the use of high-flying moves as it picked up greatly in the 1990s. The moonsault felt like the coolest thing in wrestling since the idea of any human being doing that in a ring felt impossible until it started happening.

Names like Kurt Angle, Vader and even the newcomer Tiffany Stratton all delivered outstanding moonsaults in different ways. However, Christopher Daniels deserves the top spot for creating the best moonsault ever finisher adding a few jumps to the top rope before delivering the move perfectly.

5 Stunner/Cutter: Randy Orton

Orton Was The Best On A List Of Iconic Names

Randy Orton Made The Move Viral
Steve Austin Got The Biggest Pops
DDP Made The Diamond Cutter Must Watch TV

The variations of the stunner and the cutter led to many all-time greats using the move. Steve Austin is most popular for his stunner that saw names like Kevin Owens following suit. Diamond Dallas Page made it feel cooler with his cutter coming out of nowhere.

WWE allowed Randy Orton to challenge that and add new levels with his RKO finisher. The countless views online for Orton’s greatest RKOs became a huge part of WWE history with many memes made about it. An argument can be made for the RKO from Orton being WWE’s greatest finisher comparing all historic moves.

4 Cross Face: Bryan Danielson

Few Wrestlers Do Any Moves Better Than Bryan Danielson

Bryan Danielson Made The Move His
Many Wrestlers Have Experimented With It
All-Time Important Wrestling Submission

The cross face became another commonly used and respected submission for years. Chris Benoit made it most popular in the past during his success in WWE and WCW. Many wrestlers have since used the move and attempted to improve it.

Shawn Michaels made it a secondary move for him that started in a match when his superkick was banned. However, Bryan Danielson aka Daniel Bryan found the most success and did the move best. The variation LeBell lock saw Bryan winning many huge matches thanks to making others tap out.

3 Frog Splash: Rob Van Dam

He Called It Five-Star For A Reason

RVD's Looked The Most Impressive
Eddie Guerrero Had A More Effective Frog Splash
Today's Stars Use Move As Secondary Option

One of the coolest looking finishers that will never lose that appeal is the frog splash. Rob Van Dam and Eddie Guerrero were considered the godfathers of making that move so popular in the United States. Fans are split down the middle, but no one got higher than Van Dam when hitting the move.

Recent years have seen some wrestlers using great versions of the frog splash like Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, but they never use it to win matches. Christian had an underrated frog splash that became a finisher for a few years later in his career.

2 Spear/Gore: Rhyno

Paul Heyman Picked The Right Finisher

Rhyno Made The Gore His Identity
Roman Reigns Is Still Thriving With It
Edge Delivered The Most Memorable Spears

Wrestlers have and will continue to use the spear finisher as a popular one for decades. Names like Goldberg, Edge and Roman Reigns all became legends and world champions using that move. Fans view it as part of their identities.

However, someone else made a full career out of hitting the same move while calling it the gore. Paul Heyman marketed Rhyno as the final major ECW star. Rhyno hitting the gore on ECW and later WWE stars became must-see TV with fans waiting for his finisher from the start of the match.

1 Powerbomb: The Undertaker

The Undertaker Made The Powerbomb More Terrifying

Undertaker Getting Elevation Improved It
Kevin Nash Won World Titles With Move
Sycho Sid Helped Get It Over

The powerbomb is another superb move that will likely always be in wrestling due to its popularity. Big men like Kevin Nash and Sycho Sid made it popular when using it for world title wins in both WWE and WCW throughout their careers.

However, another big man perfected the move when The Undertaker came up with the Last Ride. WWE wanted Undertaker to have a new finisher once adopting the American Badass persona. The choke slam and tombstone were both still used, but Undertaker raised his opponent higher than anyone else who did the powerbomb to deliver a heavier impact.