Bray Wyatt, Source: WWE.com
Bray Wyatt uses Sister Abigail, which is a great finisher, but he could really use a new one
Bray Wyatt’s Sister Abigail is one of the most unique finishers in WWE. It looks really convoluted in its execution: Wyatt has to spin himself and his opponent around after having to hold them as they’re bent backward for what looks like a very long time. In a way, it’s basically a more complicated version of a DDT. That isn’t to say the move is bad; it’ just that Wyatt needs something else to add to his repertoire of moves.
Wyatt has been using his current finisher for over four years now, and its success as a move has been hit or miss. While Sister Abigail has bought Wyatt some success in big matches, many top stars have also kicked out of it and weakened it. With Wyatt now looking for a new top feud on RAW, he should try and find a second finisher to use going forward.
The reason for this is simple: variety and versatility help improve a wrestler’s image. If they keep using the same move ad infinitum, it’ll lose its luster with the fans, no matter how popular it is. Conversely, if they start doing other moves, their matches become more unpredictable and thus more exciting.
In Wyatt’s case, his only real finisher is Sister Abigail, but he really should look into using other moves to end his matches. Here are five possible new finishers for Bray Wyatt going forward…
5. The Uranage
Wyatt has been using this move as a regular move recently, and has gotten great reactions whenever he has done so. This move looks like a combination between a Chokeslam and a Rock Bottom, and it makes for a great finishing move.
Power moves like this one, especially when done using one arm/hand, always resonate well with the audience. That’s because moves like this one demonstrate raw strength and power, which makes their users look more superhuman and capable of greater things.
Wyatt should make this Uranage into a finisher, and should thus end matches with this move. That way, he’ll get more over with a casual audience that likes the traditional elements of pure power, which will help him stay relevant on the RAW roster.
4. A Lariat
One of Wyatt’s biggest attributes has been his blinding speed for a man of his size. Wyatt’s incredibly agile and athletic, which makes him that much better of an athlete. WWE should encourage that idea by bestowing upon Wyatt a move that combines surprising speed with power. The move that does that perfectly is the Lariat.
Wyatt styles himself as a brawler, which would make a stiff strike with his arm an ideal finisher. The lariat is known far and wide as one of the most dangerous and vicious moves in all of wrestling. Wrestlers that have ended matches with a Lariat are presented by WWE and its commentators as vicious, brutal and threatening. All of these are what Wyatt needs to stay at the top of RAW’s roster.
Wyatt’s booking has been so inconsistent that he’s constantly at risk of stagnating in terms of popularity. For him to maintain and extensive growth and popularity, he needs to win more matches decisively and attract the attention of more casual fans. And those casual fans like seeing brutality in the ring and believable moves as finishers. The Lariat fits this bill perfectly, making it an ideal choice for Wyatt.
3. The Folding Powerbomb
This move might look awkward, but there’s a very good reason why it would work as a finisher. While many wrestlers use a Powerbomb as a signature or finishing move, none in WWE have ever used the Folding Powerbomb. How this move works is that it’s a regular Powerbomb with a unique ending.
Once the victim has been slammed into the canvas, the user lies on top of the victim, putting all of their weight onto that person. This extra weight makes it much harder for the person that had been Powerbombed to get up, thus increasing the user’s chances of winning.
This move would make perfect sense for Wyatt to use for several reasons. He’s a big guy that’s strong enough to lift someone up for a Powerbomb. If he were to ‘fold’ them up with this move, his opponents, most of whom weigh less than him, would struggle to get him off of them.
Finally, Wyatt would have a truly distinct finisher that would further help him stand out from the rest of the roster, many of whom already use power moves to end their matches.
2. The Stretch Plum
The Stretch Plum is one of those extremely-painful-looking submission holds made famous in Japan. It’s basically a combination of an inverted facelock with an abdominal stretch, while in some cases also hooking an arm to prevent the victim from escaping. The Stretch Plum has never been seen in a WWE ring before, and only a few wrestlers in Japan have ever used it on a regular basis.
For Wyatt to become a more versatile wrestler, he needs something new and unexpected in his arsenal, and the Stretch Plum would fit perfectly. Not only has this move never been seen in WWE, but it also looks extremely painful, both of which are concepts that would really help Bray Wyatt out.
Remember when John Cena started using the STF out of nowhere? That unexpected execution of a submission hold made John Cena into a more convincing top superstar because it showed he was capable of something more technical and unexpected of a ‘showman’ like him.
If Wyatt were to start using the Stretch Plum as a new submission finisher, it would help him rebuild his career. If he were to, for example, go on a winning streak whereby he won every match with this hold, he would be treated as a much bigger deal as a wrestler. This is because wins and losses to matter, and Wyatt needs something that’ll help him win more matches than he does now.
1. The Shining Yakuza Kick
There is nothing more vicious than a kick right to the face. The Shining Yakuza Kick is one such a move, because it looks absolutely devastating in its execution. This move combines the ‘shining’ part of the Shining Wizard, in that the user runs up to an opponent down on one knee and then uses that knee as leverage to attack their opponent. But instead of hitting that opponent on the side of the head, as one does with a Shining Wizard, the user kicks them directly in the face.
This is one of those moves that makes the user look both strong and agile at the same time. Wyatt already has both of these attributes, but he lacks a proper conduit through which he can show this properly. The Shining Yakuza Kick would thus be a perfect finisher for him.
It would also be a move that, regardless of wrestling’s scripted nature, would look both realistic and believable. After all, if a 285-pound man ran up to you and kicked you in the face with all his might, it would cause considerable damage, no matter how strong you might be.
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With more wrestlers going in the direction of using strike attacks as finishers, perhaps Wyatt should do the same and adopt a devastating-looking kick to the face as his next finisher to complement Sister Abigail.