Another one for the wrestling fans: Best finisher

Take this category as you will; either for best looking finisher or for one that put the most people down for the three count.

There's something to be said for finishers like the Big Boot/Legdrop and the People's Elbow, for no matter how un-impressive they look, they get the job done with a very small chance of injury for both wrestlers. And Hogan and Rock are arguably two of the best ever, so its not like its hurting their careers any.

Most recent finisher I've seen and liked has been Kenzo Susuki's Iron Claw Sweep. Always been a fan of the Head Claw, and this takes it into a power finisher.

One of the most vivid memories I have as a wrestling fan is seeing a Moonsault for the first time. Its a bit passe in today's wrestling world, but 10 years ago, it was the ultimate.

I feel that the best finisher would have to be one that just about everyone could do, and just about everyone could take well. Thus, and I might change this answer at some point, I would have to say that the overall best finisher would be the Lariat. Not just a clothesline, but a Stan Hansen-esque "Send your head into the fourth row" Lariat. JBL comes close sometimes with the Clothesline from Hell, but I'll give the nod to that one.

Your thoughts?

Christian

Sweet Chin Music and Razors/Outsiders Edge

I've got several. I've always liked the Mandible Claw. I remember how disturbed I was the first time I saw "Mankind" take somebody down with that. The guy was spitting up, and Mick Foley/Mankind was squeeling like a stuck pig as he was doing the hold. Awesome finisher.

Another move, a little similar, perhaps a bit cheesy if you think about it, but it still amused me is Meng's Tongen Deathgrip. I guess he was grabbing the person's tongue from the fleshy gap in the jaw under the chin. It looked easily counterable, but if you actually grabbed someone on their glottis or whatever, it'd probably hurt like hell.

The Crippler Crossface is another of my favorites. All it is is a simple armbar takedown into a... not quite a blood-choke, but... whatever it is he's putting the pressure on. I don't know, it still looks cool, though.

Finally, these aren't exactly finishing moves that have been exhibited on television, but in the Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth video game, there were two moves that I thought were completely awesome that I'd like to see someone actually do, though I don't exactly know how safe they'd be in reality and whatnot. One was a Powerbomb to a Facebuster. One guy would get his opponent up into the air in a powerbomb position, and then push his legs off so that he falls forward, then he'd grab his head and slam it into the mat, just like an X-Factor. Another one was called a Mexican Stretchbuster, which is kinda hard to explain (I don't think this would be considered very safe, either.). One guy would get his opponent up into a suplex position, but once up there, balance him and grab both his opponents legs, like in a fisherman's suplex, but with both legs. Then he would jump and land on his butt with the guy folded in half on his shoulder. I think this is either a shoulder-impact or neck-impact move.

As far as Kenzo Suzuki's finisher, all that is is a variation of a foot sweep taught in the Marine Corps' Martial Arts Program. The difference is that in a combat situation with an actual opponent, you're not going to grab your opponent's head and go down with him. Instead, you'd either palm strike him in the face or shove his shoulder to off-balance him as you're kicking his leg out, but remain standing so you have the advantage.

Ooh! Thinking of the claw reminded me of an old-school finisher I liked, done by Bryan Adams, aka Crush, where he'd grab his opponent's head from behind and squeeze it on both sides, and then pick the guy up in the air and slam him. Simple and effective.

Im not a big fan of the mandible claw. i always thought the perfect counter to that was to just bite his fingers. i like the clothes line from hell or the piledriver. i know ive seen a few other really good ones but i cant think of them. i know mysterio had a good finisher. and not the lame 619 or whatever it is.

I know I'm going to get some stick for this but my favourite finisher is the Big Boot/Legdrop followed closely by the Running Powerslam.

As you can tell I'm a big fan of old school.

The Tombstone Piledriver and the Pedigree are my favorite finishers.

The "Sharpshooter"


Drew

The Sharpshooter and the Stone Cold Stunner come to mind immediately.

Even though I was never much of a fan of Austin, the Stunner, and the Diamond Cutter and RKO as well, are great finishers -- they hit fast, they look like they genuinely hurt, and they don't take a lot of blatant cooperation from the target to pull off.

The finisher I used to use...

"back in the day", was a belly-to-belly slam, similar to the Rock Bottom...instead of up and down, I would pick my opponent up, spin around with them in mid-air, and then the slam...

But best finisher of all?

Pedigree, especially in the sense it can be done to look like it knocks yer ass out, and it can be done, as in the case of when Shawn Michaels came back, when HHH would release it in mid-air and just push Shawn down, to take it easy on the person-ie bad neck/back- and still look great.

And yes, the leg drop was awesome too....

Ooh! I forgot another of my favorites! The Worm!

Oh, and as far as the People's Elbow and the Hulkster's leg drop, I think the cool thing about those finishers is that they're so simple. It basically says, "I just whooped the living crap outta you, and you're pretty much already done. Now here's the icing on the cake."

I also liked the Stunner, the Diamond-cutter and RKO. They're quick, high-impact and painful-looking.

Just thought of one more I wanted to mention -- from the world of joshi (Japanese women's wrestling) -- Aja Kong's finisher, the Uraken. It's just a spinning backfist, but she puts so much force behind it that you're amazed that the victim doesn't get up with a concave face.

Stuff like that, I think, shows that you don't have to have a lot of flashy moves to make a finisher convincing.

Oh, and if anyone cares: my vote for worst current finisher is John Cena's FU. It was okay when it was (kinda) a Death Valley Driver, but now he just flips the guy off his shoulders and lets him fall. What is that?

My favorite finisher to date, and the one I use for my own wrestler in the Smackdown PS2 game is the F-5 (used by Brock Lesnar). Coming in 2nd place, (especially after having Lazzy put it on me once, 'just to see' how it's done) would have to be the Figure-4 Leg Lock. It doesn't look like much, but DAMN does it HURT if the slightest amount of pressure is put on. How these guys can pull it off without breaking each others legs is beyond me!

Mimi

I'm a fan of submission moves. When I was younger (I'm 22) me and my cousins would try em' out. The cross-face chicken wing(Bob backlund), wasnt effective but very fun to watch, sharp-shooter, boston crab, and the most painful- THE FIGURE 4 (Yes Mimi, you are right, it reeally hurts), and my all time favorite, although obvously not effective-THE COBRA CLUTCH(Sgt. Slaughter).

Bra and panties match Have to love a finisher that leaves the woman half naked