Good and Bad finisher build ups/signals

[RockFan89]

So I'm watching Smackdown and I see Kofi Kingston start clapping his hands together to get set up his finishing move and I start to wonder, what are some of the best and worst finisher build ups/signals?

Now if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to HBK stomping on the ground, Orton getting on the floor and pounding on the ground, Batista giving the thumbs down, Edge pulling his hair in the corner, and so on.

Now I am not talking about something like the 619 or the Worm. The 619 is ridiculous because no one ever just happens to be laying on the second rope and the worm itself is just an unrealistic finisher.

I should mention the fact that these build ups almost never pay off. The opponent always counters it or slides out of the way, so the main focus of this question is on the build up itself.

Like:
I like the Undertaker's throat slash. It is quick, doesn't let the opponent know what is coming, and conveys a lot of aggression (I think Christ Benoit did this to).

Don't Like:
HBK's foot stomp just doesn't do it for me. If the loud stomping doesn't give your intentions away, then the crowd counting should (and can some one explain why they do that? Is there a number of stomps HBK is supposed to do?). The super kick is a finishing move that is best executed out of no where, not with a build up.

 

[Disturbed]

I like HBK's foot stomp. When he tunes up the band, it means something. It helps him get more and more cheers because it gets the fans excited about Sweet CHin Music. It gets the fans to there feet and happy to see Shawn going for the Sweet Chin Music.

 

[CelticCorey]

I strongly dislike Orton's antics prior to attempting the RKO. I do however like HBK's tuning up of the band or when Rocky used to stalk people with his hands on his knees and then the build up to the People's Elbow. That stuff was grand.

 

[CAPT SPAULD1NG8]

the best build up signals in my opinion would be....

hogan- the hulk up is one of the most memorable and iconic taunts in wwe history. not only that its constantly copied.
undertaker- the cut throat and eye roll is probably one of the most effective taunts.
stone cold- the double middle fingers right before the stunner is classic
benoit- double cut throat is awesome because you know the crossface is about to come
santino- that whole cobra shpeel is pretty entertaining.
cm punk- when he puts his hands on the side of his head like a pillow before the go 2 sleep. you know shit is about to go down.
rikishi- when he slaps his ass you know someone is about to get a facefull of ass sweat.

the worst build up signs in my opinion are....

randy orton- when he pounds the mat i just crindge. after all he did dislocate his shoulder while doing its. its just stupid in my opinion.
john cena- he stole his signal from the dudley's, no origonality.
scotty 2 hotty- the worm. it made me laugh but i think its just rediculous.

 

[Suxen Redael]

I was gonna do a top 5, but honestly i cant think of enough to do it. I do have a honorable mention and thats Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now you are probably thinking that he didnt have a special build up to a finisher and to make you rethink, yes he did, it was called the element of surprise. Usually he gave the middle fingers before a stunner but when the fans loved it the most was when he would stunner someone OUT OF THE BLUE.

As for my choice, i choose Edge's spear stalking, for the simple fact that he looks like a maniac when he is pulling his hair and demanding the opponent to stand and since the spear is a very effective finisher, the stalking just compliments his strength when connecting a spear.

 

[My Couch Pulls Out But I Don't]

For me it would have to be:
Best:
Santino - The cobra build up makes me laugh every time
Hogan - like a previous poster said, it is just iconic
HBK - Tuning up the band was a great precursor to the Sweet Chin Music
Rock - Hands on knees stalking
Austin - One finger salute then...BAM! Lights out!

Worst -
Orton - looks like he is throwing a tantrum
Edge - same as Ryhno, or anyone with a spear
Warrior - Shaking the ropes...blah
Jeff Jarrett - Peace sign while holding opponents leg (went back with this one LOL)

 

[RKOx7]

Hmm so many pre-finisher taunts that I like and dislike. I'll just run a list of what comes to my mind.

I don't like Randy's body twirl to the ground, slithering fist pound thing because 1. He stops mid way and gets on one knee waiting for the opponent to get up, which is another 10 seconds, and the RKO that follows the taunt RARELY ever connects. Orton's finisher is a great one... but it only is really effective when it comes out of nowhere, not one that is prepped up. Dislike

Randy Orton's punt, which never happens and never works anymore has a pretty cool action prior to it. He looks at his opponent, places his hands on his head and face like he's demented and is hearing voices, walks backwards quickly into a corner and then shoots for the punt. It's simple and quick and works with his gimmick. Like

HBK's Sweet Chin... I have mixed feelings about it. It's definitely classic but it takes way too damn long and if I was his opponent, I would roll my ass out of that ring if I heard stomping. Too obvious. Dislike

Undertaker's throat slit. I don't really have to explain it... it's scary and effective. Like

Triple H's DX Suck it Chops prior to a Pedigree. Like Its badass.

My favorite though... Is Edge's maniacal hair pulling and teeth gritting before a spear. He's nuts and Edge's character is just summed into that moment before the spear. Love

My least favorite... would probably have to be John Cena's 5 knuckle shuffle... that is what happens prior to the AA/FU whatever. Its STUPID. HATE

Honorable Mentions.

CM Punk GTS - The hands together sleeping thing is just... perfect. As someone previously said... you know shits about to go down.

Melina's Primal Scream - I can't tell if she's about to have an orgasm or she just likes to scream but... it's kinda hot.

 

[MoeLester18]

Best -

Edge - The stalking and hair - pulling really makes it that much more entertaining.

Santino Marella- The whole thing is pretty hilarious.

Stone Cold - What better way to finish an opponent off than to flip them off right before it.

The Rock - If making the entire crowd jizz in their pants just by touching your elbow pad isn't a great finisher build up then I don't know what is. (You can say the removal of the elbow pad is part of the finisher but I'll just make the actual elbow the finisher.)

CM Punk - The signal for the GTS is cool and for reasons unbeknown to me it also makes him look like a badass.

Worst -

Randy Orton - The whole banging on the ground thing is pretty freaking stupid and when you think about it, how could his opponents not tell he's about to go for an RKO.

Batista - I just found the whole thing pointless. He could of just done the thumbs down instead of the thing with the ropes.

There are not that many that I don't like that much as to call it bad besides those two.

 

[NoCareEver]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned MY favorite...

The self-high-five from DDP. Huge pop probably to this day.

Also despite him being one of my least favorite wrestlers ever, Batista's thums down I've always thought was rad.

 

[supaman5279]

RVD 5 Star Frog Splash
With one leap RVD would pounce the top rope...give a look to the left...give a look to the right..and like everyone else is saying...u just knew shit was going down.

Honorable mention to the "RVD Thumbs" before Rolling Thunder.

 

[Miki]

I also like previously mentioned Stone Cold middle finger, The Rock hands on knees, Punk, Edge, Santion etc. But one that i didn't see is Cenas pumping the shoes thingy. I don't remember when is the last time he used it but i thought that was pretty funny and cool in a way.

 

[Undying777]

Stings stalk before he delivered the stinger death drop.

It may not be exciting to you guys but I will always remember the way he would hold his opponents in a menacing way before dropping them on the back of their head.

 

[Kyte Midnight]

It seems like a lot of people are missing the point of HBK "Tuning up the band". HBK was capable of both the Sweet Chin Music out of nowhere and from the stomping, but the stomping was almost exclusively reserved for as opponent coming off the mat after a devastating set of moves, where the opponent needed to be roused back onto their feet in order to do Sweet Chin Music and finish the opponent off entirely. Opponents who "knew" HBK or had wrestled a long time against him WERE more likely to get out of the way because they would realize they were being roused. A newer talent may not recognize that as HBK intentionally rousing them up.

It's all suspended disbelief on our part, anyways. Suspend your disbelief, damn it! You'll enjoy wrestling more.

 

[Amped08]

I like the big show when he gets ready for a choke slam and screams in his opponents face while he does it. He looks ridiculously dangerous and the opponent usually falls backwards from fear, making him look even more impressive. I also like when he gears up for the KO punch, but mostly because I like the move itself. It's one of the few that's never been kicked out of.

 

[Y2JChrisJericho]

Who cares if the opponent can hear the sound or not, we all know when it comes down to it the whole thing is scripted, so I never let that bother me at all. Therefore, I love HBK's "tuning up the band", it fits in with his finishing move, it gets the crowd going, and I like that.

The Rock had a great one before the Rock Bottom, where he would be crouching down, knees bent, would hop into any direction the opponent was, loved that one.

CM Punk's GTS was nice as well.

But I LOVE Edge's when he's an absolute maniac in the ring corner, he actually looks scarier than Orton does, and that tells you something. It's supposed to be in Orton's character looking like this maniac, but Orton's build up to the RKO isn't so good in my opinion, while Edge's build up to the spear looks great.

Undertaker's throat thrust isn't anything special to me, but it does fit with his character and is really monumental.

 

[Sparky]

If the wrestler is over I don't think there is such a thing as a bad one, as they are just to get the crowed pumped up but the worst one would have to be the cobra. they know he is going to do it, yet they turn around "dazed" and walk straight to where they know he is standing. at least people like Orton corner them and HBK and edge go to them afterwards so it makes sense.

 

[Yoshikawa]

Everyone loved when Eddie Guerrero did the shimmi after the 3 amigos it got the crowd going and everyone in the crowd would start doing it!

 

[Max Headroom]

What a fun thread.

When I was younger, I loved when Cena would pump the shoes, you knew someone was getting an F-U, which I also loved back then. I died a bit inside when I heard the name change but thats not for here.

Also during Jericho's return in his first match with Santino, he done a pretty cool taunt before hitting the Codebreaker.

I like lots of others too but they have been mentioned like 100 times already so I won't go there.

There are not many set-ups I hate, but I will make a mention. This is "the Cobra", i mean I know it's supposed to be comedy but I just plain don't like it. The Cobra should be THE set-up, to something Santino can do afterwards to really put an end to someone.

I guess the other one I don't like could be Melina's scream. It's terrifying and it gives me major headache, I'll mute/turn the TV down if I happen to realize she is about to let one go.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

Wasn't Benoit's throat slip to set up for the diving headbutt? I remember him locking in the crossface unexpectedly all the time.

I also think that Randy Orton's build up is pretty dumb and he looks like an idiot doing it. It helps though. It almost never pays off with the RKO, but it makes people get excited and it lets them know the RKO is coming. He usually hits it moments after he does that.

I like the Undertaker's throat slip because like someone said it is scary and you know what is coming. Plus, it pays off more than other guys who do their build ups like Randy Orton.

I also like Kane's build up of raising his hand symbolising the chokeslam is coming.

 

[#hamler]

Undertaker's throat slash has got to be my favorite taunts or build up to a finisher ever. What's more intimidating than a man standing over you cutting his throat as if he's about to seriously hurt you. Probably the most erie, threatening, taunt/build up to the any wrestling maneuver. I've always marked out when ever this occur during any match.

Next would have to be Batista's Ultimate Warrior shaking the ropes before delivering the Batista Bomb taunt. The taunt kinda showed us an animal side of Batista. When he shakes the ropes, it usually means he's ready to end it. Its very enthusiastic and gets the crowd into the Batista Bomb.

Some that I hate would be Hulk Hogan's taunt before hitting the Leg drop. Now Hulk Hogan was incredibly over with the crowd, I get that. Whenever he was going for the leg drop he'd always get a big boot, then put his hands to his ear and plays to the crowd. I didn't care for it, ever. It just didn't get me any more into the leg drop than I already was.

 

[BK Styles]

Any kind of 'stalking' has me entertained. So Rock's hands on knees, HBK's tuning up the band, Edge's corner stalk (also Goldbergs, although the Spear for Goldberg was a set up for the Jackhammer) and Kofi's hand clapping. Sure, most of the time they don't hit, but then you know it could happen at any time, then BAM!
I also really liked Flair's dance when he holds someones leg before locking in the figure four. It just amused me.
Ortons pisses me off, but it fits, and it does build up the anticipation. He does look a bit stupid though.
Rock's has got to be my favorite though. As soon as he places his hands on those knees, you know someones getting the smackdown laid on their candy ass.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I loved the whole build up that The Rock used before the peoples elbow.

The crouching waiting for the opponent to turn around
The Rock Bottom or Spinebuster
The kick to put the opponents arms to their body while on the ground
The elbow pad into the crowd
The whipping of his arms across his body
The bouncing of the ropes
The People's Elbow

Absolute perfection, turning one of the most boring, basic moves in the business into the most eagerly anticipated move in the business.

What a showman The Rock was, he had charisma that wrestlers today would kill for.

Legend

 

[RatedRockstar]

i love edge's but i like tommy dreamers chest bump as he yelled ECW before the trea of woe and the dreamer ddt or dreamer driver.

hmmmm i also like the cutting motion of taka michinoku before the michinoku driver, it was short lived but it seemed to get the point across of your boned after this move.

Ken Shamrock yelling before the ankle lock was always good also....of course all these were rather short lived ones i just thought deserved some mention.

 

[Trivia247]

honorable Mention, Christ Benoit use to blow snotrockets at his opponent before hitting either the flying headbutt or the crossface.

Pretty much any telegraphing of a Move would have to be something that would rev the audience up, but has to be believable that the opponent doesnt catch sight of it, or read that it means the end is coming. Undertaker's throat slash, the Edge/Rhyno Spear/Gore buildup. Are all good.

I would agree that the HBK stomp is pretty much telegraphing to the opponent they are about to get kicked, but also as an old school wrestling watcher, find it kind of insulting that the Macho Man's Flying elbow drop is relegated to a Setup move by HBK to set up a Kick, I mean he doesn't even bother covering...

Also in terms of the 619, it must be remembered that before the WWE Rey Mystero never used it as an impactful move at all but as a way to either fake out an opponent thinking he was going to dive on them, or to reverse himself out of a dive.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I am also a fan of how Undertaker, in his Bad Ass days, would stick the opponents hed between his legs in the ready position of the Last Ride powerbomb, then would flick his hair back and raise one fist into the air. That was basically signalling, the end has come.

The Ric Flair little dance before the Figure Four was always great to see too