Last Sunday at WWE No Mercy, fans witnessed Roman Reigns kick out of four AAs. Leading to these questions, at what point are superstars devaluing finishers? Is it hurting the in-ring product?
The first time the number of finishers in a match actually concerned me was The Rock vs. John Cena at WrestleMania 29. While watching the match in attendance at MetLife Stadium, I could not help but feel cheated by the quality of the main event.
Both competitors were in great shape and fully capable of putting on a four to five star match. Yet it was The Undertaker vs. CM Punk that stole the show. Yes, there were finishers kicked out of in that match, but both men understood that pace and psychology were two crucial aspects of telling a story in the ring. Whereas Cena and The Rock not only used their finishers on the other, but their opponent’s finisher.
The problem with using multiple finishers is it usually means that someone is kicking out of an opponent’s end of match signature move. Well what happens when a finisher is kicked out of routinely? That same finisher loses credibility as an actual finishing move. Remember a finisher is supposed to be the end.
A major reason why a finisher needs credibility is that in a rare moment where a superstar does kick out, it is special and unexpected. At WrestleMania 25, the most unexpected moment was when Shawn Michaels kicked out of The Undertaker’s Tombstone Piledriver. While it had been kicked out of before, it had not been kicked out from an immediate pin (had to exclude Edge’s kick out) in quite some time.
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If the Tombstone had been kicked out of routinely, that moment at WrestleMania 25 where Michaels kicked out of the Deadman’s finisher would not have been so shocking. Yes, since then the Tombstone was kicked out of routinely at WrestleMania, but to my point it also lost some shock value each year.
What made The Undertaker’s matches so memorable at WrestleMania were the stories told throughout the match. Undertaker matches had the understanding that you must wear your opponent down before executing a finisher.
Which brings me back to last Sunday at WWE No Mercy. Reigns and Cena called a disappointing match that did not offer the back and forth that fans were expecting. The most disappointing part of the match was perhaps the kick out frenzy that Reigns had after receiving not one, not two, not three, but four AAs.
One of the four AAs was what is called a “Super AA” where Cena actually performs his finishing move from the second turnbuckle. Think about that for a second, a minute, or however long it takes. The one impact move that Cena has that is supposed to signify the end of the match was delivered from the second turnbuckle and Reigns still kicked out!
Credit: WWE.com
If that was not bad enough, Cena later in the match hit consecutive AAs to Reigns, and that still was not enough. Forget that Reigns is the top guy in WWE for a second, what are we expected to think of the next guy who gets beat by just one AA?
Next pay-per-view Cena is a participant in, what fan will be on the edge of their seat when Cena hits his first AA? The point is these finishing moves need to be better protected.
That could mean having the finisher get the job done on the first attempt for a few months, or even adding another impact finisher similar to Styles’ Phenomenal Forearm and Styles Clash combination. At least multiple impact finishers means that each finisher does not need the same level of credibility as the Tombstone or the Pedigree.
Next: WWE No Mercy 2017: 3 Things We Learned
At the end of the day it is this simple, the more the credibility of a finisher means to each superstar, the more it will mean to the fans. Finishers in the end are eventually made to be kicked out of, but it would be much more significant if it felt like a big moment when it happened. For that to take place, these finishers can’t be kicked out of on a weekly basis.