The only thing more satisfying than a devastating-looking finisher is a finisher that the WWE takes seriously in their booking decisions. Here are the five most powerful finishing maneuvers in the company today.
An easy way for a wrestler in the WWE to get “over” is for them to have a killer finishing move, and there have been plenty of superstars who gained attention on the strength of their finisher. Who can forget Evan Bourne’s shooting star press dubbed “Air Bourne”? His only taste of gold was a tag team title reign with Kofi Kingston, but fans will always remember Bourne for his high-flying move.
In today’s WWE, most finishers have been devalued. Last-minute kick-outs are more commonplace than ever, and it seems that few superstars have finishers that are actually protected. With top stars like John Cena and Roman Reigns weakening some finishers in order to look strong, it isn’t easy to find many finishers that are truly powerful.
However, here are five such finishers, and these five should be regarded as the most powerful in the WWE.
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5. Sasha Banks’s “Bank Statement”
It may not seem like the “Bank Statement” is one of the most devastating finishing moves in the business, but that’s exactly what Sasha Banks’s go-to submission hold has become. She’s used it to put away two other horsewomen regularly, as it’s scored her championship victories over Charlotte. Most recently, Sasha earned herself a WrestleMania appearance in a triple-threat match with Charlotte and Bayley by forcing the latter to submit to the “Bank Statement”.
The move has been fought out of successfully, but that’s a rarity. When it’s locked in, the battle is usually over quickly, and you can watch a few of Banks’s encounters with Charlotte for an example of this. Nia Jax fought out of it at Fastlane, but don’t take that too seriously. Firstly, Nia is a beast, and, secondly, Raw has no idea how to book Jax, seeing how she lost on a roll-up pin in that match.
The win over Nia aside, Banks’s finishing submission hold has been executed with ruthless efficiency, and it could allow her to steal a win at WrestleMania. Conventional wisdom says that Charlotte will win it back or Bayley will retain with a big moment that sets up a later feud with Sasha, but “The Legit Boss” can’t be counted out. That’s especially true when you account for the “Bank Statement”, which has been as vicious as it looks.
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4. Goldberg’s Spear/Jackhammer Combo
You had to know that Bill Goldberg would sniff this list, because he’s put away two of the best wrestlers in the business with his spear and jackhammer combination. Those are the only two moves he does, so they had better be dominant in order to justify him being Brock Lesnar’s two-time conquerer and the WWE Universal Champion.
It’s an immediate, guaranteed victory whenever Goldberg hits the spear, because the jackhammer isn’t far behind. After crunching his opponent in half with a move that has consistently been either a signature or finishing move for some of the most decorated superstars in the WWE, Goldberg vanquishes them with the jackhammer. He suspends his opponent in the air for several seconds, making the final impact on the canvas far more damaging than a regular vertical suplex.
Conventional wisdom states that Lesnar will finally defeat Goldberg at WrestleMania 33, but don’t be completely taken off guard if the WWE sends its fans an earth-shattering swerve by making Goldberg the only opponent “The Beast Incarnate” couldn’t stop. Given how many opponents Goldberg has laid to waste with these two moves, it isn’t out of the question for this to happen. Hopefully, though, we get a match that runs a little bit longer than Goldberg’s other squash victories in his second stint with the company.
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3. Randy Orton’s RKO
The RKO has become synonymous with Randy Orton, so it’s only fitting that his version of the jumping cutter carries the name of his initials. Orton’s RKO has been countered frequently, but that’s the beauty of it. You never know when it will actually hit, and it can be creatively used against him, such as when The Miz scored his first WWE Championship victory by countering the RKO into the “Skull Crushing Finale”.
That said, when Orton does hit the RKO on his opponent, it’s almost a guaranteed victory. When you can count the number of superstars who have kicked out of a finishing move that has existed for over a decade, you know that finishing move is powerful.
Recently, Orton has used the RKO to defeat a smattering of top opponents, including John Cena and A.J. Styles on episodes of SmackDown Live following the Elimination Chamber. To defeat Styles, he used a pop-up version of the move after “The Phenomenal One” scouted out his attempt to reverse the “Phenomenal Forearm” into the RKO. It was an exceptional finish to a match with a predictable result, and it underscores the fact that Orton can use this move from virtually any position at virtually any time. Evan Bourne, Rob Van Dam, and Seth Rollins have been victims of particularly gruesome or creative RKOs, adding to the aura surrounding the move.
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2. Baron Corbin’s “End of Days”
Baron Corbin only became a main event player in December, but he’s acquitted himself well to the championship scene. After briefly trying to make a charge at the WWE Championship, Corbin has settled in nicely as Dean Ambrose’s challenger for the Intercontinental Championship, and nobody surprised if he won the title at WrestleMania 33.
Although the “Deep Six” is an excellent move, we all know that the imposing superstar’s aura as a future star mostly stems from his finisher. The “End of Days” is one of the most aesthetically pleasing and recognizable finishing moves in the WWE today, and it’s also been booked like a move that is impossible to beat.
On the final episode of SmackDown Live in 2016, Corbin faced A.J. Styles and Dolph Ziggler in a triple-threat match for the WWE Championship. Styles retained the title and pinned Ziggler for the win, but the circumstances by which he won painted the “End of Days” as one of the WWE’s premier moves. Corbin had hit Ziggler with the “End of Days”, but Styles quickly hit Corbin with the “Phenomenal Forearm”. Instead of pinning Corbin off of his own finisher, though, Styles decided to pin Ziggler instead. This was probably because there are less repercussions for Ziggler to take a pin than for an up-and-comer like Corbin to, but it had the dual effect of elevating the “End of Days” as a finisher.
Additionally, Corbin hit the “End of Days” on just about every superstar in sight during the Elimination Chamber, including after he was eliminated in order to get a roll-up pin on Dean Ambrose. The Miz took advantage of that by pinning Ambrose, and, again, that only served to further the finisher’s clout.
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1. Bray Wyatt’s “Sister Abigail”
Bray Wyatt is the perfect example of why fans shouldn’t be too worried if a superstar seems to be losing momentum, because if their work is strong, they will be believable as a champion if booked as such. The mystique surrounding Wyatt’s character is what makes him such a big draw, but its his finisher “Sister Abigail” that makes him so dangerous in the ring.
Wyatt’s power and explosiveness are impressive, but nothing approaches the damage he causes with the “Sister Abigail”. At the Elimination Chamber, Wyatt pinned both Cena and Styles with the move to secure the WWE Championship. That’s noteworthy in and of itself, but what makes it even more special is the fact that Cena and Styles regularly kick out of each other’s finishers. How many times have we seen Styles kick out of the “Attitude Adjustment” or Cena raise his shoulder at two after being hit with the “Styles Clash” or “Phenomenal Forearm”? Neither of them could do the same for “Sister Abigail”.
It wasn’t a fluke either, because Wyatt immediately followed that up with a title defense of Cena by pinning him cleanly with the “Sister Abigail”. What makes this Orton vs. Wyatt feud for WrestleMania so enticing is the fact that not only have both competitors built a story for several months, but they also boast two elite finishers that have been protected during their rivalry. They haven’t faced each other one-on-one, and the mind games both are capable of playing will ensure that their match at WrestleMania 33 has the in-ring storytelling to mirror the story they have told on the screen.
Next: Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt Deserve WrestleMania Main Event
I’m sure most fans expect Orton to capture yet another title after helping to put Wyatt, who also won the tag team titles with “The Viper”, over, but this could be the “Eater of Worlds’s” time to have a WrestleMania moment.