It is always interesting that some of the most popular wrestlers of all time have had some of the worst finishers in the industry. For every finisher like Macho Man’s flying elbow that delights the crowd and ensures that the cream will rise, another WWE superstar employs a bad version of a submission until someone taps/passes out.
While some finishers are a product of their time that worked back then but don’t know – think Ted Dibiase’s Million Dollar Dream – there have been a bunch of objectively bad finishers. Here are some of my least favorites.
Worst WWE Finishers
The People’s Elbow – The Rock
I will listen if you want to argue that this works because of how over-the-top The Rock is when performing The People’s Elbow. As a move, however, it is such a weak finisher. The irony is that The Rock had an awesome finisher already in The Rock Bottom, but his setup move got so over when he was a face and so hated when he was a heel that this had become his finisher of choice by the end of his WWE run. On the plus side, it still looked better than his horrific Sharpshooter.
KO Punch – The Big Show
I have two gripes with this move:
- I am pretty sure one of the basic tenants of wrestling is that closed-fist punches are illegal. This harkens back to the old carney days when punching a dude time after time without him going down for the count would have uncovered the whole show for the work that is was.
- If Big Show has a punch that can knock an opponent out in one go – and looking at the size how his fists, it is easy to assume he can – then why would he do anything other than swing that haymaker over and over until he connected? Wouldn’t any other punch he threw be stupid?
Bonus entry for the big show here for having the slowest-looking spear of all time. Stick to the chokeslam, my man.
Khali Chop – The Great Khali
I get why a chop to the center of an opponent’s skull was the finisher for The Great Khali. Even when he first arrived in WWE, he was pretty immobile, and by the end of his run, it looked seriously painful for the Indian superstar to even walk to the ring. This severely limited both his move set and the moves he could take, with the Khali Chop being just about all he could do as a special/comedy attraction in the latter stages of his run.
Quick Hits
Playmaker (MVP) – Great character, awesome theme music, but a finisher that is a neck breaker variant that looks like it should hurt MVP’s leg more than the opponent’s neck after a frustrating, convoluted setup process.
??? (Bryon Saxton) – Just nope. Not even sure what it is.
Pump Handle Slam (Road Dogg) – It doesn’t look as powerful as Road Dogg lobs his opponent to the floor.
Heart Punch (Various) – NOT THE HEART!!!
Master Lock (Chris Masters) – Full Nelson’s don’t look that good. I am sure they hurt, but make it a full nelson slam.
Samoan Spike (Umaga) – Not gonna lie. This would break your thumb.
FU (John Cena) – There is just no power to this flip off of the shoulders. Even the spinning slam in Cena’s moves of doom looks better.
Leg Drop (Hulk Hogan) – We end with the Leg Drop. The most protected terrible move in wrestling history. Also, Hogan lost inches in height because of the repeated compression of his spine doing this move, so it has to be on the list.
Always remember, folks. Pro Wrestling is Real.