2010 Pro Wrestling Thread

2 words: Flying forearm.

Arriba!

 

I love the direction this thread has taken.

I agree that the Attitude Adjustment and People's Elbow aren't really that great of finishers, but at least they get the crowd somewhat involved. I think the absolute worst finishers are the ones that 1) look lame and 2) also get no reaction from the crowd. Surprisingly, Piper's Sleeper always fit the bill for me. DJ Gabriel, who was in ECW for about five minutes, had a lame European uppercut from the top rope.

As far as great finishers, I go with the opposite idea - Does it look like it hurts? Does it look cool? Does it get a pop from the crowd? As simple as it is, I always thought the Spear from Edge and Goldberg fit the bill, even if Goldberg's actual finisher with technically the Jackhammer. The Rock Bottom was a sweet move. When it comes to aerial moves, I think Bourne eventually becomes a major star solely because of the Shooting Star Press, and I'm the only person who apparently thinks Jericho should have just kept the Lionsault as his finisher.

 

For my money, Petey WIlliams and "The Canadian Destroyer" was the most inovative and potentially disastrous finisher. It was almost like a reverse piledriver, but looked really cool.

I found it after looking at this site, which is pretty cool

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6slid_top-40-most-impressive-finishing-mo_shortfilms

 

Loved the Canadian Destroyer. That was the first finisher that I had seen in years that made me say, "Holy shit!"

Other finishers that, to me, are great, off the top of my head: Jake Roberts' DDT (Done better than anyone), Savage's top-rope elbow, The Eliminators' Total Elimination, DDP's Diamond Cutter (especially one he did where he had the guy in a fireman's carry, and just flipped him around for it), Snuka's top-rope splash, the Hart Attack, the 3-D, Vader's moonsault (another 'Holy shit' move the first time seen), Davey Boy Smith's running powerslam, Road Warriors' Doomsday Device (another move that was really dangerous when you think of it), Victoria/Tara's Widow's Peak, Luger's torture rack (loved the first time he put it on Hogan. Luger was the heel, but the WCW crowd majorly popped), Sting's deathdrop (or whatever it's called), Angle Slam.

Moves that I liked, but should never have been finishers: Perfectplex (loved how Hennig would announce it before, though), Kerry Von Erich's Discus Punch (usually a set-up to the claw, but WWF had him finish with it).

Sucky finishers: Ricky Steamboat's flying bodypress off the top rope (always thought that was lame), Attitude Adjustment, Khali's head chop, People's Elbow, Mr. Socko claw (I was OK with it when Foley had the finger guard), Booty Man's 'Hi-Knee'.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

 

Surprised not to see mention of some of the more impressive powerbombs. For some reason, as a kid, I always thought that was the most devastating finisher out there, especially when executed by Kevin Nash or Psycho Sid. When those tall, huge guys, would hit that move, it just seemed like lights out every time. I would apply the same to The Giant/Big Show's Choke Slam.

Others mentioned that I used to enjoy include Sweet Chin Music, Randy Savage's elbow drop and the Diamond Cutter.

I always thought the Doomsday Device was clearly the best finisher for a tag team, just really cool. And great call on Vader's moonsault.

As for some of the worst, I always hated the Ultimate Warrior's schtick. I know it was more of a combo with the gorilla press then the running jump on top of the guy (can't think of what it's called right now). The Warrior was tremendously entertaining to watch but we all know it had nothing to do with his in ring work and his finisher was the worst. I was never a big fan of any submission moves save for Flair's figure four and Bret Hart's sharpshooter and that was more just because of the two guys executing the moves.

 

Anyone remember the Garvin stomp?

 

The Attitude Adjustment/FU was fine in the early days when it was more akin to a Death Valley Driver. But they got away from that (and for good reason, even though it weakened his finisher). At least by that point the fans had been accustomed to popping when he got someone up there, and it gradually changed into what it is now.

Pretty much any double-team move the Midnight Express elected to finish a match with was awesome. Otherwise, most of the major finishers have already been covered.

I'll defend Hogan's legdrop on two grounds. First: He used it during a simpler time for wrestling moves. Dusty Rhodes used an elbow drop. Magnum T.A. used a belly-to-belly suplex. Iron Sheik had his camel clutch, which didn't look so bad except he sold it very well, and also we now know he wants to fuck B. Brian Blair in the ass while he's got it cinched in. So in that respect, the leg drop didn't appear so obviously week. Second: Realistically, if a well-build 300-pound man dropped his leg on your neck, willingly accepting that his boncing off the ropes adds an indeterminate amount of momentum, it's going to hurt. By the time finishers got more complex and daring, people were already trained to pop for the legdrop, so it stayed.

The "hurts for real, sucks in fake fights" tag also goes to the full nelson and sleeper. Amateur wrestlers get penalized and DQ'd for full nelsons, which can do serious neck damage. Cops use variations of sleeper holds to subdue suspects. But they've been in pro wrestling for so long, they're viewed as little more than rest holds (and almost nobody uses the sleeper or its variants anymore).

 

Randy Orton used it as a setup for a while toward the end of his first heel run. JR even called it the Garvin Stomp, confusing the hell out of 80 percent of the Raw audience.

 

Whooooooooooooo.

http://msn.foxsports.com/boxing/story/ric-flair-wife-022210

 

Orton does the stomp now. And I can't believe that he's actually gotten that sequence over in 2010.

 

Don't know if anybody caught this, but former wrestler Angelo Poffo died.

Of course, most of you probably know he's the father of Randy Savage and Lanny Poffo.

http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/article/father-of-randy-savage-and-lanny-poffo-dead-at-age-84-97501

 

While we're talking about moves, I need to vent about something.

It's time to get rid of the double chokeslam. I was watching this year's Royal Rumble last night via Netflix and Kane did it on (IIRC) Morrison and McIntyre. There are very few instances where the double chokeslam looks like anything but shit but it's especially bad when you can tell the two guys in the big dude's grasp are clearly jumping to execute the move.

Oh, and in RE: Bourne's shooting star press. I never thought I'd say it but he's got Kidman beat on it and that's not an easy thing to do. I know long-term Bourne will never be able to stay with the style he's got now, especially when he gets older, but Christ is that kid fun to watch. He sells his moves just about better than anyone else in the biz right now and his SSP is f-n beautiful to watch, especially in person.