Ember Moon talks about how “The Eclipse” came to be

NXT star Ember Moon’s diving corkscrew stunner, better known to WWE fans as “The Eclipse”, is one of the most popular and picturesque moves you will see in pro wrestling.

Even without that move, Moon is one of the best women’s wrestlers on the planet, but her possessing that move in her repertoire had helped her stand out in WWE, where the aesthetic is often emphasized to a fault.

When listening to Moon talk about how she came up with the move, she also sounded very cognizant about how it helped her stand out in the independent scene — when she called it The O Face — and in WWE.

So, how did Ember Moon’s “Eclipse” finishing maneuver come to be?

In an interview with our own Rick Ucchino over at Sportskeeda, Moon talked about the origins of The Eclipse (h/t to Fightful’s Jeremy Lambert for the transcription):

"“My friend, James, he actually created the move and he retired and I was like look, I said I need something that’s gonna set me above the rest that is gonna keep people in seats, because at that point in time, the women’s revolution had not really started. It was very much so like on the independent scene when the girls came out, alright, let’s go to the restroom, get the popcorn and the t-shirts at the merch stand. Like no one watched our matches. And so it was like you know I wanna make these people stay in their seats, I want to make them watch what we do because it’s not fair to us. And so my friend was like I’m going to retire this year, I was like teach me the way (laughs).”"

In addition to being one of the most gorgeous moves in wrestling, Moon’s Eclipse is also one of the most well-protected finishers in the WWE, which is a rare feat in 2021 given how often wrestlers kick out of one another’s signature moves in an attempt to manufacture suspense in big matches.

She most recently used the move at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, where she teamed with Shotzi Blackheart to face Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez in the finals of the women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. Moon hit the move on Gonzalez and had her down long enough for a 3-count, but Kai’s squabbling with the referee kept Moon and Blackheart from picking up the victory. Kai and Gonzalez ultimately won the match, the Dusty Cup trophy, and a future WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match.

You can read the rest of the Moon interview at this link.