Jeff Deliverer of Mail
Money for nothin, chicks for free
Wrestling has always had the showcase move since I've watched in the early 80s on. The match would be nearing the conclusion and you know one of these two wrestlers will execute his special move to end the match, here's my top 10 of all time.
No. 10
Macho Man Randy Savage's body slam that sets up his flying elbow off of the top ropes. He won the WWF Championship in a tournament in WM4 with this move and his execution of it was a sight to see. Rarely a wrestler could kick out of it unless they were named Warrior or Hogan.
No.9
Sting's Stinger splash followed by The Scorpian Deathlock. Sting won many a WCW / TNA championship titles. He also utilized a Stinger Deathdrop when he became Crow Sting that might have been every bit as successful as his Splash/Deathlock was. He had a very successful career and he put away many heels with his special move...especially The Nature Boy himself.
No.8
Sean Michael's Elbow off the top then Sweet Chin Music. I wasn't a fan of Sweet Chin Music at first, considering The Rockers used it ten times per match back in the day. It was hell of a lot better than what HBK started out with though (Remember that modified back suplex thing he did? Ya, terrible). But it grew on me and HBK won championships with it.
No. 7
Triple H and The Pedigree. This should be higher on the list because of the amount of times he's won a title with the move alone. But I'm putting it here.
No. 6
Stone Cold Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner. Very effective finisher that was rarely kicked out of. The execution of the wrestler receiving the Stunner was always as entertaining as the finger flipped before it.
No. 5
The Rock's Rock Bottom or The Peoples Elbow. The Rock had a couple of finishers he could tap into to win the match. One could argue that his finishers are a little weak as they've been kicked out of or countered plenty of times. But he's won many championships and had success with both finishers.
No. 5.5
Bret Hart' s Sharpshooter Brets submission hold was executed by the excellence of execution himself and ended the match for many heels throughout his career. It brought him much success and revolved around some pretty time stamped memories in wrestling lore...ex: Stone Cold refusing to give up while locked in it and bleeding all over the place...and HBK reversing and using it during the much revisited Montreal Screwjob.
No. 4
Goldberg's Spear then Jackhammer. The man's spear alone was fucking deadly, his Jackhammer was just overkill at that point. Only one man (I think) ever kicked out of The Jackhammer and that man is.....
No. 3
Brock Lesner. The Beast uses the F5 and that's all he needs to put people away. He's crushed so many wrestlers with it that I can't remember anyone ever kicking out of the F5 other than.....
No. 2
The Undertaker and his Chokeslam then either Hell's Gate , Last Ride or The Tombstone Piledriver. All of Takers special moves were deadly and rarely kicked out of or reversed.
Tie for 1st Place
But Jeff, you can't have two wrestlers in 1st Place! Yes I can, it's my list and I'm doing it. Come at me, bro!
Randy Orton's Guillotine DDT then RKO. I don't know what it is, but IMO the RKO has to be the most protected special move in the history of wrestling. Do you remember anyone, ever kicking out of it? I don't. It's always a match ender if there's no shenanigans involved. The RKO is also executed beautifully and from seemingly any situation. It's also brought 15 heavyweight championships plus other belts so its not too shabby.
Hulk Hogan's Boot then Legdrop could replace the boot with a slam...but it was usually the boot that set up the leg drop. Hogan blazed through the 80's, booting and leg dropping bad guys and holding titles for long periods. I don't think anyone kicked out of it until WM 8 or 9 when Sid Justice kicked out before Pappa Shango interfered. Anyway, it's the iconic, legendary special moves that will go down in history for Hulkamaniacs forever and it's number 1 in my books.
That's my top ten special moves in wrestling history. I'm sure everyone's list would look quite different as I've left out many amazing special moves here.
No. 10
Macho Man Randy Savage's body slam that sets up his flying elbow off of the top ropes. He won the WWF Championship in a tournament in WM4 with this move and his execution of it was a sight to see. Rarely a wrestler could kick out of it unless they were named Warrior or Hogan.
No.9
Sting's Stinger splash followed by The Scorpian Deathlock. Sting won many a WCW / TNA championship titles. He also utilized a Stinger Deathdrop when he became Crow Sting that might have been every bit as successful as his Splash/Deathlock was. He had a very successful career and he put away many heels with his special move...especially The Nature Boy himself.
No.8
Sean Michael's Elbow off the top then Sweet Chin Music. I wasn't a fan of Sweet Chin Music at first, considering The Rockers used it ten times per match back in the day. It was hell of a lot better than what HBK started out with though (Remember that modified back suplex thing he did? Ya, terrible). But it grew on me and HBK won championships with it.
No. 7
Triple H and The Pedigree. This should be higher on the list because of the amount of times he's won a title with the move alone. But I'm putting it here.
No. 6
Stone Cold Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner. Very effective finisher that was rarely kicked out of. The execution of the wrestler receiving the Stunner was always as entertaining as the finger flipped before it.
No. 5
The Rock's Rock Bottom or The Peoples Elbow. The Rock had a couple of finishers he could tap into to win the match. One could argue that his finishers are a little weak as they've been kicked out of or countered plenty of times. But he's won many championships and had success with both finishers.
No. 5.5
Bret Hart' s Sharpshooter Brets submission hold was executed by the excellence of execution himself and ended the match for many heels throughout his career. It brought him much success and revolved around some pretty time stamped memories in wrestling lore...ex: Stone Cold refusing to give up while locked in it and bleeding all over the place...and HBK reversing and using it during the much revisited Montreal Screwjob.
No. 4
Goldberg's Spear then Jackhammer. The man's spear alone was fucking deadly, his Jackhammer was just overkill at that point. Only one man (I think) ever kicked out of The Jackhammer and that man is.....
No. 3
Brock Lesner. The Beast uses the F5 and that's all he needs to put people away. He's crushed so many wrestlers with it that I can't remember anyone ever kicking out of the F5 other than.....
No. 2
The Undertaker and his Chokeslam then either Hell's Gate , Last Ride or The Tombstone Piledriver. All of Takers special moves were deadly and rarely kicked out of or reversed.
Tie for 1st Place
But Jeff, you can't have two wrestlers in 1st Place! Yes I can, it's my list and I'm doing it. Come at me, bro!
Randy Orton's Guillotine DDT then RKO. I don't know what it is, but IMO the RKO has to be the most protected special move in the history of wrestling. Do you remember anyone, ever kicking out of it? I don't. It's always a match ender if there's no shenanigans involved. The RKO is also executed beautifully and from seemingly any situation. It's also brought 15 heavyweight championships plus other belts so its not too shabby.
Hulk Hogan's Boot then Legdrop could replace the boot with a slam...but it was usually the boot that set up the leg drop. Hogan blazed through the 80's, booting and leg dropping bad guys and holding titles for long periods. I don't think anyone kicked out of it until WM 8 or 9 when Sid Justice kicked out before Pappa Shango interfered. Anyway, it's the iconic, legendary special moves that will go down in history for Hulkamaniacs forever and it's number 1 in my books.
That's my top ten special moves in wrestling history. I'm sure everyone's list would look quite different as I've left out many amazing special moves here.
