Finishers - Build Up or Surprise?

[IrishCanadian25]

The great thing about the Stone Cold Stunner / Diamond Cutter was the fact that it was sudden. You literally had one second of notice when the Stunner was coming, and that was because of the kick to the gut to set it up. In the case of DDP, there was ZERO notice.

One neat aspect of The People's Elbow was the fact that there was a show that went with it. Elbow pad into the crowd, weird arm movements, two ropes, boom!

Randy Savage's Flying Elbow Drop was almost always accompanied by the two arms in the air, pointer fingers extended.

Both Shawn Michaels' Sweet Chin Music and Randy Orton's RKO started as sudden moves that could end a match, but both have evolved to include crowd-friendly set-ups such as the stomp (and crowd's subsequent clap) or Ortons new, shoulder-friendly punch the mat ordeal.

Even Edge's spear now involves the psycho look in the corner, crouched down low, willing his opponent to stand and turn.

So I have to ask:

Which do you prefer? Finishing moves that are sudden and impossible to telegraph? Or finishers with a build up that you can anticipate?

 

[Ferbian]

Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. I can appreciate any finisher, as long as it looks good. A finisher like Randy Orton's finisher looks good no matter how you twist or turn it. He has a build-up that also helps you hype up for it a bit, which evens it a bit with the pop that the surprise RKO gets. The same goes for Shawn Michaels.

And then sure there's some like John Cena who doesn't have a surprise finisher, or Kurt Angle as well. Both both of their finishers look good, and fit their characters, therefore they're just fine.

I guess if I had to choose one I would prefer however, I do love myself a good surprise. I loved some of the Shawn Michaels finishers like Rey Mysterio on Smackdown this year, or Randy Orton and Evan Bourne, hell even Edge and Rey Mysterio at Royal Rumble 2008. they all look great, and they all get a huge pop from the crowd. So they work, and that probably helps it get over with me, a little bit more than the other.

 

[The People's Peep]

I prefer surprise finishers. Build up moves have their perks such as building excitement and getting the fans involved, but I think the advantages from a surprise finisher are a lot better.

Surprise finishers allow for so much more during the match. First of all, you have it in your head already that the maneuver can come out of nowhere. Next, the quick execution of the move increases the scenarios that the move can be used in. Moves that require set up or build can only happen one way in one scenario. Moves like the RKO can happen at randomly and it makes for some really exciting spots, a la AirbourneKO.

 

[Reddannihilation]

It's entirely dependent on the move to me, part of what made the Diamond Cutter so awesome was how it came out of nowhere, which also the reason the RKO is terrible. That being said The People's Elbow, the Five-Star Frogsplash, Sweet Chin Music, etc. Work because of the build up, were the Rock to have just dropped an elbow and covered his opponents it would've taken away from the entire situation.

So, for me, it's entirely dependent on the move. If it's something quick like a cutter, then I'm always going to prefer moves like the Stunner and the Diamond Cutter over the Twist of Fate or the RKO. A move like the Jackknife Powerbomb, the Jackhammer, the Chokeslam, the Styles Clash, etc. require's some level of build up partially because the move simply can't come from out of nowhere. And with moves like the People's Elbow, the Atomic Leg Drop, the Frog Splash, the Spear, it makes the move more entertaining and belivable.

 

[Hazardous]

I agree with Reddannihilation, it depends on the move.

when you got something like the Tombstone, i love Undertaker signaling that it's coming. But if it's something like the Stunner, or even the Angle slam, then out of no where was always best. HBK did mix it up here and there, sometimes you would have the band tuning up, other times (a few times at WM) it would come out of nowhere and shock the hell out of everyone. but the 5 star frog splash? you just cant have it without the "R-V-D" chant first.

 

[The Holy One]

I for one love the build up that comes with moves like the People's Elbow, Sweet Chin Music, Angle Slam, and the Spear. I have a better taste for showmanship than quick and sudden. The only times when I do like the sudden move better is when it's a super type move like SCM to Shelton Benjamin or RKO to Evan Bourne. Other than that, I will always like the build up for the finishers better. The routines that the wrestlers come up with just makes me appreciate their creativity. Hell even moves like Bourne's Shooting Star Press and Justin Gabriel's 450 splash can get me excited as they climb the top rope.

 

[bigbadwolf2010]

I really prefer the sudden and impulsive finishers. When Aj styles hits the peele kick out of nowhere I always mark out. It just gets a little boring and old when you see edge for like 10 seconds trying to do his finisher, crouching there twitching his head, sitting and waiting while his oppopent oh so slowly gets up while you already no hes going to try spear him. It makes me bored; thinking dammit just spear him already. I like unexpected impulsion and those slow setups just get really tiring and become unnatural to me.

 

[Kinsey144]

It depends on the person doing it and their gimmick.