Finisher (professional wrestling)
A finisher is a wrestler's trademark move; one that he/she relies on most of the time to end a match. For the past few decades, virtually every professional wrestler has his/her own finishing move, usually with a name that suits the wrestler's gimmick. The finisher may simply be a glorified version of a move that other wrestlers use as a regular maneuvre, or it may be an innovative attack that no one else had executed before. Regardless, if a wrestler is scripted to lose a match after receiving a finisher, he will sell that move as if it is the most damaging attack in his opponent's arsenal.
Wrestling fans tend to cheer if a face successfully performs his finisher, or boo if it is a heel. This is because they know the match will soon end, with the winner being the wrestler who executed his/her finisher. Only in very rare occasions does a wrestler get back up after receiving his/her opponent's finisher.
In Japanese puroresu, however, finishers are not quite as devastating. A wrestler may have to perform his finisher two or three times in a row in order to put his/her opponent down long enough for the referee to make the three count.
Examples of well-known finishers:
- Stone Cold Steve Austin's Stone Cold Stunner, a three-quarter facelock bulldog. One of the main draws of this move is that it can come out quickly and without warning. When Austin portrayed a foul mouthed rebel, he would perform the Stunner on every wrestler he met, regardless of whether they were face or heel. The Rock was a regular victim of the move, selling it with an exaggerated backflip on more than one occasion. The same move was previously used by Diamond Dallas Page, who called it the Diamond Cutter, and by Johnny Ace, who called it the Ace Crusher. It is currently used by Randy Orton, who calls it the RKO.
- Triple H's Pedigree, a double underhook facebuster. The set-up of the move is slow enough for fans to realize what he is attempting before he actually does it. Because Triple H had considerable authority over the booking of matches, he always scripted it such that no one has ever got up after the Pedigree, with very few exceptions.
- The Rock's People's Elbow. This is a good example of a finisher that is portrayed as being much more damaging than it actually is. It is basically a simple elbow drop, preceded by a routine that involves The Rock pulling off his elbow pad, bouncing off the ropes and lifting one leg as if performing a leg drop. All this time, his opponent has to lay motionless on the mat, waiting to receive the elbow drop.
- Bret Hart's Sharpshooter. It is a submission hold that damages his opponent's legs and back, and can legitimately hurt a wrestler if Bret applies more pressure. Sting in WCW used the same move, which he called the Scorpion Deathlock. Other wrestlers like Riki Choshu have used the move as well.
- Keiji Mutoh's Shining Wizard. This move is so popular that many Japanese professional wrestlers and even some American wrestlers have started using it, even though it is only a jumping knee to the face after stepping off the opponent's knee. Mutoh often had to use the Shining Wizard multiple times from various positions.
See also
