Wrestling’s 20 Greatest Finishers of All Time

12 of 21

10. Phoenix Splash

The 450° splash is a fantastic move in itself. Seeing a wrestler perform a 450° forward flip onto an opponent is an incredible feat. But there’s one way to make this an even more awesome finisher: by starting the splash from the opposite position. That’s what you get with the Phoenix Splash, invented by legendary Japanese wrestler Hayabusa.

The Phoenix Splash is a rarely-seen move because of how hard it is to pull off. The wrestler performing the move has to rotate their body 180° right after jumping off the ropes, but before performing the 450° splash component of the full maneuver. In other words, it’s like two moves in one, all executed in less than three seconds.

So far, we’ve only seen two men in WWE perform this crazy maneuver. Seth Rollins performed it at the 2015 Royal Rumble in his title match against John Cena and Brock Lesnar. The other man is Kota Ibushi, who also performed a standing Phoenix Splash once during the Cruiserweight Classic. If that isn’t gravity-defying athleticism, I don’t know what is.