What was the best finishing move in the 90's?

[CM Steel]

The world of wrestling was so much better in the 1990's with three wrestling promotions going strong. WWF, WCW, and ECW. A triple threat of wrestling from left to right! But out of all those superstars from those wrestling promotions. Who had the best finishing move of the 1990's era? If I had to give an answer, it would have to be...Diamond Dallas Page's "Diamond Cutter"! Because after DDP hit the "BANG" on you it was a rap for his opponents. 1,2,3 he's finished!

So in your own opinion. What was the best finishing move in the 90's?

 

[2Future4U]

Michonuku Driver, id get a laugh how Taka would get hyped and mimick the move before actually doing it. To me that was one of my favorite finishers in the 90's

 

[shalliin]

Here's a list of a few, aside from the 1st, no real order. some might seem odd, but I liked them
1) Undertaker's Tombstone Piledriver
2) Marc Mero's TKO (a shoulder lift spin out into a cutter-think Cena's AA into an RKO)
3) The Original version of Chris Jericho's LionTamer submission. a high back/side twisted Boston Crab variation that was dumbed down in the 2000's to a weak boston crab
4) Texas CloverLeaf- something like a combo of a boston crab/figure four
5) Sharpshooter
6) Litasault-great agilty and style from one of top divas of all time
7)Razor's Edge-unique variation on the powerbomb.
8)Eddie Guerrero's superior version of the 5star frog splash.
9) Bonsai Drop- 500+ lbs dropping 4 feet to crush your chest. he didn't even need this, could have just sat on the chest and few would have been able to kick out. the upgraded version of Earthquake's splash.
10) Mandible Claw-first submission move to cause Undertaker to seem human. this was the one move that started the humanization of the undertaker character as it showed that he was human and thus had human vulberabilities. Prior to this, he was portrayed as an inhuman monster who was nearly unstoppable by weak human means.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

It has to be the Stone Cold Stunner, the best finishing move of all time in my opinion. It could be hit at any time, very rarely did anyone kick out of it, and the pop each time Austin hit it was incredible. I still clearly remember the first time he Stunned Vince McMahon, and the amount of times Austin would hit the Stunner out of nowhere to finish a match. The move did everything a finishing move should, and is instantly recognisable. I know Mikey Whipwreck used a version of it in ECW, but I do think the Stunner is a move that noone will ever use as a finisher in WWE again, it is immortalised with Steve Austin.

But my personal favourite finishers from the 1990's are the following.

Moneymaker (Kid Kash)
Five Star Frog Splash (Rob Van Dam)
Steiner Screwdriver (Scott Steiner)
Jackknife Powerbomb (Kevin Nash)
Razors Edge (Razor Ramon)
Swanton Bomb (Jeff Hardy)
Cradle Piledriver (Jerry Lynn)
3D (Dudley Boyz)

 

[swordiris]

My favorite would be Sweet Chin Music/Superkick. It is so simple yet so elegant. Coming from a martial arts background I know the athleticism and power that comes from a kick to the face especially on someone taller.

Another mention goes to the Mandible Claw for being so creative. Other than that and the Million Dollar Dream matches do not really end by a hand dropping three times. The receiver usually hulks up at two so often the suspense goes away.

One of the worst finishers would be the People's elbow. I am a huge rock fan but that move did not seem believable to me. First off it takes too long and second it is hard to buy that move would keep the opponent down for three seconds. Extra true in triple threats and fatal four ways where it doesn't seem like you would want to wait that long for a pin.

 

[rokuma]

I'll give my top 5:

1) The Diamond Cutter: If you didn't enjoy the Diamond Cutter, there was something wrong with you. DDP usually hit it out of nowhere and the crowd ALWAYS popped

2) The Stone Cold Stunner: Once he gave it to McMahon, it became wrestling legend. No one really has ever duplicated it either. A sign of respect

3) Goldberg's Spear: Technically, the Jackhammer was his finisher, but the Spear was more lethal and you knew NO ONE was getting speared and then NOT Jackhammered. It was so brutal.

4) Sweet Chin Music: Love it more in the 2000s, but HBK always nailed people with it and it was fun to see and nobody kicked out of it. As a Shawn Michaels fan in 1996, the whole buildup was phenomenal and to me, it always seemed so much more brutal than a typical 'superkick' from like Lance Storm or Chris Jericho.

5) The Torture Rack: HIGHLY underrated. In WCW in 1996-1998, Luger was big and when he racked some of the big names, especially Hulk Hogan in his 1997 WCW title win on Nitro, the crowd would go NUTS. A pretty unique finisher and the crowd loved it.

Honorable mentions: Scorpion Death Drop (it was so cool seeing Sting sneak up on people, grab the hair, look down on them, and drop them), The Sharpshooter, the Lion Tamer, The Jackknife Powerbomb, Razor's Edge, Million Dollar Dream, The Tombstone Piledriver, The DDT (Jake Roberts), Shooting Star Press (Kidman), Mandible Claw (how crazy was that when it was debuted? As a kid I was blown away), The Doomsday Device (LOVED it), The Axe Kick (Booker T), The Rock Bottom

 

[HeenanGorilla]

I think a finisher should have a...well, "finishing" feel to it. A move that would legitimately do an opponent in, if hit properly. I don't like finishers that are simply regular moves that are consistently done towards the end of a superstar's match. An example would be the People's Elbow. This would sometimes be used as a finisher by the Rock. And while it is good for the crowd (the pause right before he sets it up, the elbow pad toss, the running the ropes, etc) It all comes down to a simple elbow drop. Not something that should end a match.

I do like moves that can come from a variety of situations and setups (Michaels, Austin, DDP, Orton, etc.) They can really put a nice finish to a great match and add an element of surprise.

I like to add something new to posts that have repetitive answers; but, to be honest, this popped in my head right away anyway. I always liked Power and Glory's finisher. Herc would do a back suplex from the middle rope (superplex) and Roma would come down with a big splash from the top rope. When timed right, it was a really cool-looking move.

 

[returnofplex]

"It's time,....It's Vader time!"
Vader's stiff-ass Power Bomb before someone actually made him care about breaking a jobber's back. There's just something about a 450 lbs guy bombing a guy on the back of his head that just made me mark out as a teen. Career ending potential aside, it was my favorite finishing move.

 

[Da Solo]

The Lion Tamer still will always be my favorite submission move ever. I still can't imagine not tapping to that one. Second goes to the Stunner, or maybe the Jackhammer

 

[Headman]

The Texas Tornado Punch. Not too many finisher's more effective than winding up and punching somebody right in the head. And when you've got somebody like Mr Perfect or Ted Dibiase selling the hell out of it, it just looked brutal.

 

[Makaveli31]

The Frankensteiner...It was always impressive to see Scotty Steiner jump up from a standing position and wrap his legs around his opponents head. Amazing athletic ability.

 

[L'autre frere rougeau]

Back then i was a real mark for finisher that were differents than what i was to from the WWF, so the WCW and the ECW were just a gold mine for me specially with the cruisierweight division.

My all time favorite to this day is the diamond cutter simply because of all the differents variation brought to the move. Kind of hard to imagine that the first time i'Ve seen it my first thought was ''it's just an over the shoudler running bulldog''

Was i wrong or what? and i'm glad DDP showed me how wrong i was

But here's some of my favorite.

LAsh Leroux samoan Driver
Blitzkrieg spinning moonsault
Dean Malenko Cloverleaf
Jericho Original liontamer
Juvi 450
Harlem heat Heat Bomb
Faces of fear backbody drop into a powerbomb
JErry Lynn Cradle Piledriver
Simon Diamond Simonizer
Nova Kryptonite Krunch
RoadKill(Angry amish warrior LOL) and danny doring piggyback ride
Doring Wham bam thank you maam
RVD Van Terminator
Harlem HEat heat missile

I'm sure i could find more if i give more thoughts but those are the ones that comes in my mind right now.

But my all time favorite move and even 17 years later i haven't seen any moves that looked as stiff and painful as that one spot to me is the first match between Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio at great american bash 1996, MY ALL TIME FAVORITE match ever. The moment malenko got rey on his shoulder on the top rope, leaps and toss rey over him and catch rey to hit a stomach breaker on him. I swear i'Ve lost my breath for Rey at that moment and i asked myself'' How can you top a move like that?'' and i just couldn'T believed that rey kicked out from that. So far i haven't seen any move of spot that topped that one to me. Maybe it's also a reason why i don't want to watch that match on video again because i don't want to spoil that memory in case i find a few things that i haven't noticed back then.

 

[Wrestlefan27]

Well, the Stone Cold Stunner was definitely up there, as you just knew that whenever Austin was on your screen that somebody was gettin' it, and you never knew who it was, face or heel.

The spear-Jackhammer combo was just satisfying as hell to watch and looked brutal to boot.

But I'd have to vote for the Diamond Cutter, as it was the only thing that made DDP over. The way he would come up with multiple variations and use it out of nowhere from multiple positions is what made DDP's career in the ring. To this day, I have no idea what his character/gimmick was other than a guy who looked like trash, but fought like hell. You just never knew where it was coming from or when. That move MADE the wrestler.

I also think that Wrath's pumphandle powerslam was pretty vicious, but it was so short lived.

 

[Danger Burger]

It has to be the Stone Cold Stunner, the best finishing move of all time in my opinion. It could be hit at any time, very rarely did anyone kick out of it, and the pop each time Austin hit it was incredible. I still clearly remember the first time he Stunned Vince McMahon, and the amount of times Austin would hit the Stunner out of nowhere to finish a match. The move did everything a finishing move should, and is instantly recognisable. I know Mikey Whipwreck used a version of it in ECW, but I do think the Stunner is a move that noone will ever use as a finisher in WWE again, it is immortalised with Steve Austin.

I read a great austin interview about the origins and effectiveness stunner. Its was actualy Micheal P. Hayes that ripped it off of Johnny Ace's cutter only with a different finish. He goes into how the gut kick was essential part of the psychology. It not only let everyone know what was coming, but let them be prepared for the reversal too. If I can find it i'll come back with it. Actually, now I remember it was his broken skull ranch blog... I thought it was a video. I'm stumped. Worth a look though.

Anyway, the stunner would have to be my pick too. It worked without fail, and was always believable. Totally suited austins persona too.

Honourabl mentions to the sweet chin music and the pedigree.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Frankensteiner was the most impressive of the early 90's, that Steiner could do it was impressive but that he could almost hit it anytime was equally so. Had he been able to keep that he'd have been a bigger star...

For those slating Jericho's WWE Walls move, he says why it changed in his book... The Tamer style doesn't work on bigger guys... It was fine in the Cruiser division but not for the relative giants of the E.

For me it's still a toss up between the Mandible Claw and Perfect-Plex.

The claw was brutal, try putting your fingers under the tounge and you feel why...

I think though the Plex edges it, the move was unique and worked cos of Hennig's incredible neck strength... That move is impact, but the bridge was what made it work...

Honorable mentions to the Total Elimination, Van Daminator/Van Terminator and Bam Bam's moonsault.

 

[LODemolition]

My favorite has to be the razor's edge because of how tough it looked to pull off.

The DDT doesn't get enough credit because everybody kicks out of it now, but Jake could hit that out of nowhere much like Orton's RKO or DDP's diamond cutter.

 

[Galvatron]

Razor's/Outsider's Edge from Razor Ramon/Scott Hall: One of the reasons I became a fan of Razor as a kid was that move. I would always get pumped when he called for it.

Doomsday Device from LOD/Road Warriors: I always loved that move as a kid and got a flip book out a box of cereal with LOD doing the move to some poor jobber.

Press Slam and Splash from Ultimate Warrior: A great move that perfectly displayed the Warrior's power and intensity. I was always impressed with the Press Slam part of the move when he did it.

Flying Elbow Drop from Randy Savage: Nobody did or does the Elbow Drop as well as Savage did. It looked perfect every time. I have jumped into many pools trying to duplicate it and I'm sure many people wondered what the hell I was doing.

 

[Ric 'The Nature Boy' Flair]

the stunner because of how it was sold

 

[MCMG]

This is a difficult one. I have a two. Sweet-chin music will always be one of my favourite finishers of all time. It was simple but so effective and just a great finisher to see. The Stone-Cold Stunner was arguably the most iconic finisher of all time. Him stunning Vince McMahon is one of the most memorable moments in WWE history and helped to shape the Monday Night wars.

 

[Wolf Pac]

The Stone Cold Stunner. Naitch said it all. The pops it received were incredible, Austin could hit it out of nowhere and you'd never see it coming, it's been involved in a ton of great WWE moments, and the selling from the people on the receiving end of it were absolutely amazing. I marked out everytime Rock flipped over after taking the move, and Vince shaking like an epileptic the first time he got hit with it, was hilarious.

Goldberg's Spear + Jackhammer is second best for me. Spears had been seen before in wrestling, but Goldberg's Spear was so unique in that he looked like he could legit split you in half with it. The fans ate it up instantly and it was the perfect set-up for the Jackhammer. The Spear could've been a finisher on it's own for Goldberg. And everytime Goldberg would raise his opponent up in the air for the Jackhammer, whether his opponent was small or a heavyweight, the place would erupt and Tony Schiavone would always sell it so good, screaming out "HE'S GOT HIM UP", before Goldberg would plant the opponent down and win the match.

Diamond Cutter is third best. Like everybody else said, DDP pulled off an amazing variety of set ups and counters with the move.

Other favourites are...

The Total Elimination
3D
Sweet Chin Music
Rock Bottom
Pedigree
Outsider's Edge
Jacknife Powerbomb
Any variation of Mike Awesome's Powerbombs
Tombstone Piledriver
Cradle Piledriver
Steiner Screwdriver
Frankensteiner
Sharpshooter
Liontamer
Ankle Lock
Texas Cloverleaf
Torture Rack
Crippler Crossface
Tazzmission
Macho Elbow Drop
Five Star Frog Splash
Van Daminator/Van Terminator

And tons more. But I won't fill up the page, so I'll leave it at the Van Daminator/Terminator.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

To all those mentioning Total Elimination and the Van Daminator....great picks! Two of the most deadly looking moves in the business!

I love both those moves, I'm surprised I forgot to put them on my list. The VanDaminator is KICKING A CHAIR INTO SOMEONES FACE! No matter how you protect yourself, that shit is going to hurt! I was completely shocked the first time I saw Van Dam hit that move, it was amazing.

The Total Elimination is right up there with the 3D and Doomsday Device as one of the best double team moves I have ever seen. The force that Saturn and Kronus would hit that move was brutal. There are some clips where the opponent is hit SO hard, it looks absolutely devastating!

ECW had some of the greatest finishing moves I have ever seen. I will also add The Tazmission to the list too, a great submission finisher.

 

[SSJPhenom]

There were a lot of great finishing moves from the 90's. I guess that I'll make a list of my personal favorite like most people are doing.

1. Diamond Cutter: IMO, this was the best move from the 90's. Page could literally hit the Diamond Cutter from anywhere. Knowing that always added an extra air of unpredictability to his matches. I loved the Diamond Cutter.

2. Stone Cold Stunner: This has to be the most iconic finisher from the 90's and the Attitude Era as a whole. Like most posters have already said, this was by far the most popular finisher as the crowd reaction that Austin would get every time he connected with the Stunner was amazing. Also, this was my favorite move to try out on my friends while we were backyard wrestling on trampolines.

3. Tombstone Pile-Driver: 'Taker has always been my favorite wrestler so it shouldn't be any surprise that his finishing move is also one of my favorites. It seems like nobody can make the Tombstone look as good as 'Taker makes it look. Kane's Tombstone looks sort of sloppy in comparison to 'Taker's. It was the perfect finisher for his character.

4. Sweet Chin Music: Another one of those finishing moves that could come out of anywhere at anytime. There were other people that also used the Super Kick sort of move, however, it never looked as good and as devastating as HBK's did.

5. Torture Rack: Lex Luger was actually a pretty big deal for awhile there in WCW and I believe that this move is why. Being able to lift another grown man up onto his shoulders and jump up and down was impressive by itself, however, the fact that he would lift up just about anyone and deliver the Torture Rack was amazing. I'll never forget seeing him Torture Rack the Giant.

 

[shalliin]

I don't get the love for the Stunner or the misbelief that it could come out of nowhere. it was extremely choreographed move that was nothing more then a kick to a gut and then a jawbreaker, something people had done before and still do occassionally, only difference was Austin turning his back on the receiver before dropping to his ass. This was a move that succeeded because of the receiver selling it far more then the person performing the move.
The misconception of it coming out of nowhere is due to the fact that most of the time you saw it, it was Austin sneaking up on the back of the receiver, waiting until they turned or turning them around then double finger salute, gut kick, slow turn his back while grabbing head and then down on his ass and guy acts like Austin's shoulder was a trampoline flopping back and around like an idiot.
A much better version was the Osaka Street Cutter. Start with what looks like an inverted suplex to lift the receiver, but as he comes down over the shoulder, lands on feet and performer drops into the sitdown jawbreaker/stunner. Much more visually appealing and shows more ...technique? class? strength? then just a kick to the gut and dropping on your ass.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I don't get the love for the Stunner or the misbelief that it could come out of nowhere. it was extremely choreographed move that was nothing more then a kick to a gut and then a jawbreaker, something people had done before and still do occassionally, only difference was Austin turning his back on the receiver before dropping to his ass. This was a move that succeeded because of the receiver selling it far more then the person performing the move.
The misconception of it coming out of nowhere is due to the fact that most of the time you saw it, it was Austin sneaking up on the back of the receiver, waiting until they turned or turning them around then double finger salute, gut kick, slow turn his back while grabbing head and then down on his ass and guy acts like Austin's shoulder was a trampoline flopping back and around like an idiot.
A much better version was the Osaka Street Cutter. Start with what looks like an inverted suplex to lift the receiver, but as he comes down over the shoulder, lands on feet and performer drops into the sitdown jawbreaker/stunner. Much more visually appealing and shows more ...technique? class? strength? then just a kick to the gut and dropping on your ass.

I agree with you about the misconception that people seem to have about the Stunner coming out of nowhere because it was rarely ever a surprise when he used it. However, I don't think that people are wrong in saying that it was the most iconic and popular finisher from the 90's and Attitude Era. As simple as it may have been, the fact remains that the crowd would go absolutely crazy whenever Austin would connect with the Stunner. Not only is the Stunner one of the greatest finishers from the 90's, it's one of the greatest finishers of all time.

 

[Irishock]

Hart's sharpshooter, imo. It looked legitimately painful until Michaels, Rock came up with unbelievably shitty renditions of the same move