Who Has The Best Punch In The WWE?

[giblet55]

One thing I've noticed over the years is that a wrestler is boring if he doesn't have style or finesse to the way he performs his arsenal of moves. One of the most basic things in his arsenal is his punch. Some punches have been based on realism, some with theatrics, but which wrestler do you think had the best looking punch in the business? Which wrestler had the most realistic punch in the business? Who had the most ridiculous punch?

I always thought Taker's punches seemed the most realistic to me, like they were calculated when he attacked. He just broke you down with them.

As for best looking or uniqueness, Scott Hall as Razor Ramon (stepping punch and the spinning punch), Jerry Lawler (his uppercut/body punch looking punch), and Bret Hart. Hart's punches always appeared to me like he threw his whole body into them.

For ridiculous, the Rock's punches were always too theatric for me. I never cared for Hogan's wind up punches when I was a kid either, looked silly and took way too much time. I used to ask my dad why the bad guy let take Hogan forever to hit him and why the bad guy didn't just punch Hogan while he was winding up his arm.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of today's superstars have very generic punches. I remember when everyone's punches were so different from each other, that if you played a wrestling video game, almost every character had their own individual punch.

 

[SickJames]

Rock had nice punches and they werent generic. I like his best. His kicks are also the best. Now I'm not talking about high kicks as thats CM Punk and RVD, but standard kicks- Rock rules. He put a nice style and spin on it.

Punches- Rock is nice with it, Road Dogg had a nice combo as well, The Shake Rattle & Roll


I'm gonna say the VINTAGE Attitude Era punches where two guys like (most notably) Austin & Rock would back and forth each other in the way only they could or HHH would do it with one or the other and one guy blocks it with an arm and strikes back. But they did this more in the Attitude Era and with a certain silent aggression of the arm

HHH's newer punches are cool. His "Game" punches I'll call them from 02 and on

and Taker of course is great at this


my fav is still The Rock

 

[JWGunslinger]

Realistic and best looking punches I would have to give to Taker,Kane and Jericho. These three men's punches are pieces of art that I have grown to appreciate very much over the years. I love Orton and I love HHH but their punches have always bothered me in the way they snap their wrists. If I had to pick the best all around I'd say taker, most underappriciated would be Jericho who never gets mentioned but has great punches, and nobody does a better looking uppercut than Kane.

 

[WWE Ice Cream Bar]

@bloewaters : It's a good thing you aren't a moderator otherwise we would have more "hate cena", "hate Pg" and "hate too many Ppv's" thread.

On topic, Undertaker's punches look real to me because he wears those Ufc type gloves that cushion the hard punches and make a believable impact when in contact with the body.

I still remember the Undertaker vs Mankind In your house ppv where Undertaker punched the daylights out of Mankind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpSmBBHG2Tw


On the other hand tho I think the weakest punch has to go to RVD. Horrible executed and doesn't look like it could hurt a fly.

 

[daddyJ_t]

best punches? gotta be hardcore holly and bradshaw. they were the most realistic because half of them were real. they were the stiffest wrestlers on the roster. if u remember what holly did to renee dupree after dupree rented a car in hollys name and got a traffic citation. very brutal

 

[SyndicateSaint]

I'd have to say my favorite punches are Bret Hart's punches. I modeled my own after that style. I also enjoy seeing Terry Funk hit his punch combo on people. They didn't look pretty, but they looked pretty painful. Apparently, Harley Race was notorious for potato-ing guys in the 70's. So I guess his punches must of been pretty decent as well lol!

 

[Matisyahu]

Undertaker always had the best punches because each one looked more devastating then the last. He always broke the opponent down methodically with his "giant soup bones" as Tazz would say.

Austin was always another great one.

Rock was too animated with every punch and kick but it was awesome too because it got me legimately excited. My favorite was when he would stomp his downed opponent but do a leg wiggle before each stomp...over the top.

I always thought Mick Foley was a great brawler too because he'd could scrap with the best of em. Each shot accompanied by a "HOOZA...WAH...HAZA!" watch any match its vintage Foley. He even jokes about it in his books.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

I'd say Vader, because whenever he punched someone, even now watching old matches, it just looks painful. Vader's punches looked like they could knock you out and break bones, because they could.

 

[Abbas]

Christian and the Rock without a doubt have the best punches. The sound of Christian's hand slapping the guy in the face is freaking amazing.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Undertaker is widely regarded as the best striker in te WWE and has been for a while. His MMA style punches look really realistic and devastating, so I think he would probably get my vote in this one. He looks like he has really worked on his strikes and is far better than most other wrestlers.

I always like Kurt Angle's punches too, they were fast and looked pretty good. He threw his whole body into them which always makes for a better looking punch. Definitely one of the best I have ever seen in the WWE.

Other good strikers were Kane, Triple H, Austin, Lesnar and The Rock (although his weren't realistic looking, they were damn entertaining!).

The worst punchers who were regarded as main eventers have to be Hogan and Cena, So fake looking, their strikes do not look devastating at all, which is really bad for the "face" of the company. Hogan's offense is mainly based around punches, and for him not to be able to pull of a decent one is awful.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

My favorite wrestling strike of all time is Kane's throat thrust. That said, I'm a fan of the way Orton punches. The way he really arches his arm back over his head and lays it in looks pretty brutal.

 

[Dusty Roids]

Greatest Punches

Austin, Bret Hart, Randy Orton, Triple H, Benoit. These guys all had very realistic punches.

Who had the most cartoonish punches are definately The Rock, Hogan and and Scott Hall.

And Ric Flair has one of the worst punches. No offense to Flair though, because everything else was pretty good like the chops and practically everymove he performed. But I never seen him lay some good looking closed fist punches.

 

[relentless1]

i always thought scott hall had an awesome punch, you could always hear the smack of his fist on the opponents face, just looked like it hurt gettin hit by razor....

 

[Pedigree1]

Taker Vader and Austin had the best punches i think!! They really looked liked they were kicking someones ass and it hurt alot!! Road Dogg with his shimmy i guess u call it looked cool

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Going with Kane (surprise surprise) for this. As others have mentioned, his uppercut always looked great and was sold pretty well. Taker is a good shout too, but sometimes his rapid punches to the mid-section in a corner and him going "bombombombombombom" made me laugh and just took me out of the moment.

But yeh, the Brothers of Destruction are good shouts for this.

 

[Karilas]

I'd have to say my favorite punches are Bret Hart's punches. I modeled my own after that style. I also enjoy seeing Terry Funk hit his punch combo on people. They didn't look pretty, but they looked pretty painful. Apparently, Harley Race was notorious for potato-ing guys in the 70's. So I guess his punches must of been pretty decent as well lol!

Dunno about Race, but I remember reading Mick Foley's first book, in it he talks about his first match with Terry Funk. Foley had always been a huge fan of Funk's punches and was excited to learn the secret, he recalls the moment in the match where he was backed into the corner and the Funkinator wound back with his left arm, Mick quivered with anticipation before realising that Funk's punches looked so good because they fucking hurt!

i wish i was a moderator. because if i was. I would close this thread.

on topic, i love kurt angles and kane's punches. they are fantastic!

lol@ Hugh Jackman!

Two things. One, I'm glad you're not a moderator, you'd have closed an interesting thread for apparently no good reason. What's the point? Really?
Two, why contribute to a thread you stated a desire to close? That makes no fucking sense!

Undertaker is widely regarded as the best striker in te WWE and has been for a while. His MMA style punches look really realistic and devastating, so I think he would probably get my vote in this one. He looks like he has really worked on his strikes and is far better than most other wrestlers.

I always like Kurt Angle's punches too, they were fast and looked pretty good. He threw his whole body into them which always makes for a better looking punch. Definitely one of the best I have ever seen in the WWE.

Other good strikers were Kane, Triple H, Austin, Lesnar and The Rock (although his weren't realistic looking, they were damn entertaining!).

The worst punchers who were regarded as main eventers have to be Hogan and Cena, So fake looking, their strikes do not look devastating at all, which is really bad for the "face" of the company. Hogan's offense is mainly based around punches, and for him not to be able to pull of a decent one is awful.

Gotta agree with the Naitch's assessment here.

Mad props to Kane for a fantastic uppercut, also I'd like to throw in an honourable mention for Shane McMahon's dancing jab combo. That always entertained the hell out of me.

 

[rokuma]

Scott Hall was my favorite....they always looked intense.

HBK had some good punches in 1996, they looked more real.

As far as the worst? HANDS DOWN - Ric Flair

 

[RJJ]

I have to say The Undertaker. The greatest striker of all time. He breaks down the opponent with those punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, and it looks real while he's doing it.


Good punchers: Austin, Rock(The only cartoonesh thing about rock's combo is the spit punch, his punches look and sound awsome), Kane, Hall, Angle, HHH, HBK.

 

[S.J. Maximus]

They call Undertaker 'the best pure striker in the WWE' and he sells that with his calculated and realistic (like the OP said) punching style. However, I don't think any style is more calculated or realistic than Triple H's "Game Punches" as someone said earlier. Triple H throws his whole body into them and always seems to make contact on them so I've always enjoyed his style. Honorable mention goes to Kane and Rock, who both made the clap sound for almost every punch they threw. The clap made it more intense, which those punches already were due to who was throwing them. I choose Triple H and Taker above Kane and Rock because they look more like punches I'd throw in a real-life fight.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

I was always a fan of Jake the Snake Roberts and his circling jabs. Other than that, Austin had a decent punch, definitely William Regal, and I'll throw in another vote for Taker.

 

[chiaone]

The first name that came to mind as the best puncher was Jake Roberts, and it looks like I'm just a little too late to use that one. When I first started watching professional wrestling, I always wondered why more people didn't copy Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and use vertical elbow strikes instead of closed fists. Valentine's strikes don't really hold up today from an aesthetic standpoint, but they certainly looked unique.

In my opinion, the worst striker ever was Hercules. I legitimately think the guy's shoulders and arms were too bulky to throw a normal-looking punch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0luZPTn5pU0&t=4m30s

I'm surprised by all the love for Scott Hall's strikes. I always found those big, looping discus-style punches (looking at you, Texas Tornado) too theatrical.

 

[giblet55]

i wish i was a moderator. because if i was. I would close this thread.


on topic, i love kurt angles and kane's punches. they are fantastic!

lol@ Hugh Jackman!

See, this always annoys me...why would you close it? Its an interesting topic, it spanned three pages in less than a day, and people obviously notice their punches and have comments on who's they felt were the best. It's an opinionated topic about one of the most basic things in wrestling, punches.

Punches and kicks are filler half of the time, but can also be used as a devastating move, like the Big Show.

Anyways, back on topic. I agree with the Undertaker, he looks like a beast when he put his dukes up and rushes towards somebody. As for Vader, I like Vader and I totally forgot about him. I love how he takes the person's head with his left hand and pushes it into his incoming right hand, but it always looked more like forearm blows to me, not punches. Still cool though.

Awesome mention about Roberts, he was one of my favs as a kid.

I just can't get into Rock's, I know it's stylish, but they just look awful and cartoonish to me.

 

[giblet55]

In my opinion, the worst striker ever was Hercules. I legitimately think the guy's shoulders and arms were too bulky to throw a normal-looking punch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0luZPTn5pU0&t=4m30s

Is it just me, or does nobody even sell his punches either in this clip? They look weak and pathetic. I guess one thing I forgot, is that a punch can look only as good as the person who sells it as well. Look it Shane McMahon, they attempted to make him appear like more of a striker and it only worked if his opponent was willing to sell it. Remember when Shane walked down to exact revenge on Orton? He threw some pretty lame punches, but Orton sold them like they were death blows...

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

I absolutely adore the basis of this thread.

When I think of punches I think of three people: Lawler, Taker, and Wade Barrett (tho it doesn't take much for me to think of him )

Lawler was a god in Memphis just because he punched people.. A lot. They were and STILL are tried like shotgun blasts to the face. What really makes his stand out that even in 2011, the guy can still make arena mark the ever living FUCK out for his punches.

Taker's punches always had such an intent to hurt someone. Nothing fancy, just straight up manly punches. While people credit his love for MMA for this, I really think it is his love for BOXING that shows when he is knocking heads. I've always loved his corner punches, but lawd help the asshole who has to take them.

Finally, Wade Barrett does have a legit background as a boxer. So, I am sure a lot of people are glad that he reels in the hits. However, since the Zeke feud ended, the man has been just one big ol' meanie in the ring. Nothing fancy from him; but that doesn't mean that his opponents can do whatever the hell they want. I think right now he uses his punches the most effectively because he used them to totally stop the momentum.

 

[Sub-Xero]

Have to agree with the majority here and go with The Undertaker at the top of the list. However, I always enjoyed Jeff Jarrett's punches. He comes in sidearm and plants his fist right under your jaw. Always on target, always looks great.