Best Finisher Kick Outs

[#hamler]

Remember the good old days where a finisher meant something? Remember when someone kicked out of a finisher, it was a big deal? Remember those days? Now it seems every big match there is a kick out whenever someone hits their finisher. So, I ask you WrestleZone to think of the best kick out from a finisher in WWE History.

The Rock vs. Steve Austin - Wrestlemania X7​

With the exception of a select few, kicking out of Steve Austin's infamous Stone Cold Stunner is/was absolutely unheard of. Steve Austin could hit the move from just about anywhere. While The Rock was laying the smackdown on Mr. McMahon's ass, he turned right into a Stunner. The Rock sold (over) like a motherucker. The crowd went nuts. They went even more nuts when he kicked out at two. Vince handed Austin a chair and he nails Rocky. Covers and Rock kicks out again. Austin was pissed. He took the chair, pissed as fuck, and hits the Rock a total of 16 times to win the WWF Championship. The crowd here was fucking electric. One of the reasons this is my favorite Wrestlemania. Great finish.

Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker - Wrestlemania 25​

Shawn Michaels is notorious for kicking out of finishers at the last second making the crowd simultaneously shot their warm cum all over the arena. These two beat the shit out of each other all night. Now I'm writing this from memory but I believe Shawn was caught on the ropes and Taker hits him with the tombstone. The crowd knew it was over. JR even said it was. But HBK kicks out and the place goes crazy. Undertaker has a look on his face that I'll never forget. What a great way to finish the match had it actually finished it...but it didn't. Shawn Michaels kicking out of the Tombstone is one of the most memorable kickouts of our time.

Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage - Wrestlemania VII​

​

My personal favorite kick out. At the 7th Wrestlemania a retirement match took place between two of the most over guys to have ever stepped foot inside a WWE ring; "Macho Man" Randy Savage (rip) vs. The Ultimate Warrior. With the ref down, Savage goes to the ropes to hit one of the best flying elbow drops he's ever hit...ever. Surely that was it, but with the ref down, Savage took the ropes again. Another beautiful flying elbow. In fact, he would do this another 3 times equaling a total of five fucking ebow drops. Warrior layed motionless. The ref got his shit together, counted the pin....and Warrior kicks the fuck out. The crowd erupts in cheers as Savage sold it like only he could do. Warrior shakes the ropes, delivers his clothelines and the splash. But this time, it was Savage who suprised the crowd with his kickout. Fucking amazing moment if you haven't seen it. Do it now.

There are tons others: Undertaker/Kane, Triple H/Mick Foley, Rock/Hogan.

What are some of your favorite yet memorable kickouts from a finisher?

 

[Bmauricej]

Hands down, HBK kicking out the tombstone. It one thing for a kick out, but in this bout , Undertaker's reaction was just as classic as the kick out. Never before has undertaker looked like "What do I have to do to Win". It was simply amazing to watch that.

 

[Caitiff]

My pick actually goes to the Undertaker vs. Triple H from Wrestlemania 27. How many times has The Undertaker had to kick out of his own finisher? It just showed major desperation from both guys, and helped to tell an amazing story.

 

[The Future Rises]

Shawn Michaels kicking out of the Tombstone was is personal favorite. It was just so unexpected. HBK was layed out. First a Chokeslam. Then a Last Ride. And then a Tombstone Piledriver. Yet HBK still shockingly kicked out. And Jim Ross' commentating made the moment even greater. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels truly told a great story in a great match that is considered to be one of the greatest matches in WWE history.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I actually don't mind frequent finisher kick-outs. I know, a "finisher" is supposed to "finish" the match, but I'm not a fan of a fantastic match ending in a predictable, routine way. I actually don't think there are ENOUGH finisher kick-outs in the WWE right now. It seems to me that almost every single match ends with a finisher, and some of my favorite matches are those that end in surprise roll-ups, or get so desperate that even a random DDT will win you the match. It shows more desperation than hitting your finisher and having it magically knock out your opponent. Especially for those moves that just don't really look all that painful. A regular person could kick out of an Attitude Adjustment, no problem. Now, the F5 or a Stunner...that's a different story.

 

[legendkillerbsal]

Now i agree to having a match end in not the typical way. A match ending in a roll up or a "not in the usual repituar" move is shocking to see now a days. A good example is Daniel Bryan. He doesnt always end the match with the Lebell Lock. You hear him talking about how he learned new submissions and then he taps a guy out using a Guillotine or Triangle Chock. Its good knowing that you really dont know how he'll end a match. But then there are finishers that could be used at anytime and when they hit it'll end the match. Example is the RKO. It can be hit anywhere and it usually does FINISH the match but when it doesnt its a good kickout. I personally like to see people with 2 FINISHERS so u have to guess which one will be used. Or incase of the Undertaker 3 of them.

 

[Mr_Ab_Fab]

Got to say the best finisher kick out for me was rock vs angle for wwe title just before WM17, i knew the rock would win and then kurt kicks out of rock bottom, then rock kicks out of angle/olympic slam only for angle to kick out of rock bottom again! i honestly didnt know which way this match was going to swing!

 

[PompeyDJ]

definitely hbk kicking out of the tombstone. the tombstone is one of those moves that seems to always put the opponent away and to see someone kick out of it on the grandest stage was really something

 

[berlinbrawler]

Well, it's a very recent one, but I flipped out like a little kid when CM Punk kicked out of every single Attitude Adjustment from John Cena at Money in the Bank. I expected him to kick out from the first one, ok. At the second one I feared it was over. At the third I was sure of it. But Punk kicked out. It was amazing.

 

[muzzerman]

For me, it is between two matches.

The first one is The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels at WM25, just because Undertaker seemed to give everything he could and it still wasn't enough, as sometimes, just one of Taker's 3 finishers could finish someone off, and all three weren't enough here, and in all honesty, that match was the best match I had seen in a long time until I saw Punk/Cena at MITB.

My other option, and the one that is probably best, is Undertaker and Kane at WMXIV. Hyped as the first match between the two, it was my favourite match on the card (mainly because I couldn't stand all that Mike Tyson crap in the main event). It was shocking enough when Kane kicked out of the Tombstone, as he was, if I'm not mistaken, the first to do so, but he kicked out of it twice, which is just the most shocking thing I'd ever seen at the time. I loved that match, and it set the tone for all future Undertaker/Kane feuds.

 

[BTLion1990]

The Tombstone piledriver at WrestleMania 25 was classic. I can't remember the last time a person had kicked out of one before that, but The Undertakers reaction was priceless.

My favourite however, was Stone Cold Vs The Rock at WrestleMania 19. Austin took a Stunner, a Peoples Elbow and then a Rock Bottom. When he kicked out it was crazy. Then he took a second Rock Bottom and I think everyone thought it was over, but when he kicked out the look on The Rock's face and the commentary was priceless. Brilliant moment in my opinion.

 

[darbare]

I would say my favorite was also Rock vs Austin at WM 19...not just because this is my fav match of all time, but because it took Rock 3 rock bottoms to pin and Austin....EPIC

 

[The Dragon Saga]

The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania x8 in Toronto.

The Rock was booed throughout the match, there was not a freakin' damn person in that stadium on his side, Hogan was truly the "Real American" again it seemed, even adorning the Hollywood Hogan attire, but there is one moment in that match where the fans both go ape-shit and give The Rock the respect he deserves, and that is when he kicks out of the Legdrop. When The Rock kicks out, the place collectively loses its mind, either out of excitement or pure shock, considering how rarely people kicked out of Hogan's Legdrop.

 

[MizMark11]

I'm going off the board since a lot of good ones have been said, so I say when Miz kicked out of the AA at WM27. The whole crowd was so shocked because of the delivery Cena did. It's a shame that the match didn't go on longer.

 

[RattleRockerJet97]

I remember when Rock kicked out of the Hogan leg drop. Crowd was going bat-shit insane and when Hogan was hulkin up and hit the big boot, Jim Ross, Jerry, and the Roof exploded. 1....2...thr....No! Rocky kicked out and you all know the rest. Looking back i was kind of mad, the place would have imploded if Hogan went over, but its all win-win anyway.

I remember Rock kicking out of the Stunner as well.
Finally Punk kicking out of 2 AA's was pretty great, after the 2nd one it looked like Punk was laying down, dead but nope.

Oh how about NOC 2010 when Orton went over Sheamus. When Sheamus hit the Brough Kick i thought it was all over and Sheamus was going to retain, but nope. The emotion on Sheamus face was priceless.

 

[mrbrightside]

I'm going off the list and saying Undertaker vs Randy Orton at WM 21...When Orton countered the chokeslam with the RKO, I freaked out and then I freaked out even harder when Undertaker kicked out. One of the only times I actually thought the streak was coming to an end.

 

[legendkiller1979]

I have to go with Wrestlemania VIII when Sid Justice kicked out of Hulk Hogan's leg drop. This was back in the day when it was was unheard of for someone to do that to Hogan.
Nearly every Hogan match went along the same script. Hogan gets nearly killed, then hulks up. Three punches, big boot, leg drop, and the match is over. Since this was billed and Hulk's last match there was no reason to think that this match would end any different from the others. So when Sid kicked out of the leg drop, everybody in the arena and all over the world was stunned. The word is that Papa Shango missed his cue to interfere in the match. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense because Sid getting pinned would not have affected after the fact. Sid and Shango still could have beat down Hogan to set up the Ultimate Warrior's return. Either way this was probably the most shocking kick outs in the history of wrestling.

 

[tpf926]

This one was not as meaningful as the others because of crowd size, but I remember being totally shocked when Masato Tanaka kicked out of the Dudley Death Drop because that move finished everybody off. In ECW it wasn't odd to see somebody kick out of a finisher, but that finisher pinned anybody it was hit on. If they got hit with that move, they would be pinned unless somebody broke it up. When he kicked out of it, it was pretty unbelievable.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

1.Rock vs Austin at WM 17

These two guys probably formulated the whole a finisher a kickout and a finisher.... formula and the first time it happens is generally regarded as the best. Their biggest match was undoubtedly their match at WM 17 and this formula was in full effect for the entire match. Both men went for finishers early, then stole finishers from each other, then took turns delivering their own finishers and the whole madness finally ended with Austin killing Rock with about 15 steel chair shots. I know some guys have problems with this ending but I loved it. It made it seem that it was going to take a lot more than a finisher to put out a guy on that night and that is exactly what transpired.

2.John Cena vs CM Punk at MITB 2011

The great thing about having a protected finishing move is it looks awesome when someone actually kicks out of it. And Punk did it quite a few times in this match, each of which was met with a huge pop from the Chicago crowd. Two FU's were kicked out of and the STF was countered time and again and once, if I remember correctly, into an Anaconda Vice. On that night Punk was made to look as Cena's equal, nay, I dare say better than Cena. He countered Cena's big moves about 5 or six times while Cena was fortunate to escape Punk's finisher by luckily falling out of the ring.

3.Undertaker vs HBK WM 25

Somehow the formula that I loved seeing get repeated in every Rock/ Austin encounter seems like overkill to me in every WM match of The Undertaker. However it rocked the first time it happened. HBK countered everything that Undertaker threw at him and I felt that every spot had been planned extremely well. This is probably Undertaker's best match ever and Shawn's best singles match of all time.

4.Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels

Or perhaps this is HBK's best singles match of all time. I'm confused. Anyway we got to see the Superkick from Y2J in this match, the Walls from Shawn and both guys hit their respective finishers as well. I loved the ending of this match too with Shawn winning with a sunset flip. Like in the case of Rock/ Austin it felt that it was going to take more than a finisher to keep one man down in this contest and that is what makes the match even more special in my eyes.

 

[MEGATRON2507]

One of the best kick outs for me was when The Hitman kicked out of Davey Boys powerslam at Wembley.

I was a fan of both guys but being a brit Davey boy just edged it for me in this match. Anyway when Davey hit the powerslam for some reason I just knew that Bret would kick out, but yet when he actually did it WOAH! IT AIN'T OVER YET!!!!

Anyway it was a fantastic match all round and it was so great seeing the 2 of them take the main event slot from Savage and Warrior.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

To be honest, the only one in several years or so that has had any " HE KICKED OUT!" for me was the Wade Barrett vs John Cena match at Hell in a Cell last year. When Cena kicked out of the Wasteland, it was expected. Cena kicks out of most things after all. However, when Wade kicked out out of the AA, I jumped in shocked. EVERYONE in the crowd were just as shocked. "Like this smug asshole just took Cena's AA and kicked out!" I also think the fact that the two worked the match so well up to that point, that the crowd was completely hooked onto whatever they were doing helps a lot, lot more.


I hate finisher trading myself. Some finishers are built like Mortal Kombat Fatalities (such as the AA, Sweet Chin Music, Tombstone, RKO) in that once that move happens, the match is over; Like it or not. It doesn't take the crowd (including da kids) to learn that certain things/moves should be considered special. Finisher kick outs should be considered special because, umm.. Hello? "FINISHER" is in the phrase. The real good ones are full of shock and dramaz.

When you are just going 'Okay, now take my finisher like it is a regular move,' how do you expect the crowd to give a shit about anything else following it? A lot of people here praise Kurt Angle to high heavens, but when is really the last time you felt like his Angle Slam or Ankle Lock was a big deal in the match? Well, most of Angle's big spots have become throw-away moves, but those two get pegged as his finishers, do they not?

Most have talked about the Taker vs HBK Wrestlemania matches. Ok. I get that finisher kick outs are total "Wrestlemania" moments, but having like 10 finishers in one match? I don't get care what rasstler you are, that is too fucking much. And the crowd stopped caring about the 3rd or 4th finisher kick out.

 

[mikde_]

in my opinion kurt angle was always really awesome at kicking out! his timing was second to none and always got his shoulder up when the refs hand was pretty much down for the 3! Loved it when he kicked out of the stunner at Summerslam 2001.

But like other people said im not a big fan of this whole finisher trading that rock and austin made so popular! save it for the really big matches!

 

[#hamler]

Most have talked about the Taker vs HBK Wrestlemania matches. Ok. I get that finisher kick outs are total "Wrestlemania" moments, but having like 10 finishers in one match? I don't get care what rasstler you are, that is too fucking much. And the crowd stopped caring about the 3rd or 4th finisher kick out.

I agree with you. But Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker at Wrestlemania is a different story. The false finish a lot of the posters in this thread are talking about is where Shawn was caught on the ropes and The Undertaker nailed the Tombstone. What a perfect way to end the match, only it didn't end the match. The crowd knew it was over, only it wasn't. This was one of the best false finishes in some time. Look at how great The Undertaker sold it all.

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