In this day and age, in the WWE, it has become quite visible that the audience prefer a WWE star that can actually perform well in the ring while backing it up off the ring as well. And as the popular motion in the WWE Universe goes, John Cena isn’t the most liked person due to his apparent “five moves of doom” and lack of uniqueness on the mic. Again, we do question as to how superstars such as Hulk Hogan, who was extraordinarily limited in the ring made it big in the WWE. And while putting his personality and charisma, there was also the fact that he had an exciting finisher to back it up. While it may not seem much now, the Leg Drop was a big deal back in the days and the crowd were always revved up as Hogan went towards doing the move.And over the years, it has become clear as to how big of an impact a finisher has. Be it Stone Cold’s Stunner or The Rock’s People’s Elbow, the audience were always fired up as a wrestler signalled towards ending the match. In which case, we have seen certain monstrous finishers with a huge reputation such as the Tombstone Piledriver and Pedigree. However, these do take their time for build-up and eventually executing the move.On the other hand, we have moves that can be seemingly done in seconds that by the time you realize what’s happening, the Superstar has delivered his finisher. And let’s take a look at the top 5 finishers that can be hit outta nowhere.
#5 Codebreaker
Chris Jericho’s original run in the WWE back in the early 2000s did not actually feature this move. It was the Walls of Jericho, Breakdown and Lionsault that he used as his finishers. However, in 2007, when he returned after a two-year hiatus from the WWE, came with him a new finisher. Essentially, it was a facebreaker performed with both the knees.
The Walls of Jericho was already an extremely popular move and adding the Codebreaker to his arsenal made his matches ever more fun. The interesting part was that, seeing as smooth and easy a manoeuvre it was, he could perform it on every person, with little effort. Given Jericho wasn’t the tallest guy, he could do it easily on bigger wrestlers, and not to mention, it was very effective in view for the audience.
And this made it one of the best moves to hit outta nowhere and take the opponent by surprise. It didn’t have any big build and could be performed just about anytime in an attempt to stun his moment and surprise the crowd.
#4 Backstabber
Who forgets the nasty, apple-spitting gimmick of Carlito? It was a great one, aimed at all those who wouldn’t be “cool”. As a heel, Carlito did a great job initially and was set up for a push early on in his WWE career. Suffice it to say, he defeated John Cena for the US Title in his first ever match on WWE SmackDown. How many people can claim to do that?
He had a very diverse moveset in the ring, as helped by his relatively small structure. Although he had a lot of high-flying moves in him, without question, his best move was his finisher. The Backstabber, as it was called was quite contrary to Jericho’s. While Jericho hit it on to the face, this was a double-knee backbreaker. Once again, his small size compared to many of the guys gave him an advantage as he was able to pull off this move quite easily. And that gave it the element of surprise and ability to hit outta nowhere. A look at the video would show you how he does it against Chris Jericho unassumingly from a ladder.
#3 Sweet Chin Music
You construct a list of the most popular WWE finishers of all time and without a doubt, the Sweet Chin Music would figure at the very top. Shawn Michaels’ status as the greatest in-ring performer in the WWE still stands today and he backs that up statistically too. While he was proficient in the ring with various moves, one cannot deny that his finisher topped it all.
Although what seems like a relatively simple superkick to the opponent’s face, it has been built up extraordinarily well by the ‘show-stopper’. But then, over the course of time, it also became a prey for social media as people quickly cashed on its value as a troll. But not only that, in reality as well, the easy nature of the move and Michaels’ excellent in-ring capabilities made it possible for him to perform the move on most opponents. Once again, we see the move coming out of a 6”1 superstar, but then, that’s what made it such a memorable one.
#2 Stone Cold Stunner
Was there a more recognized finisher in the WWE than the Stone Cold Stunner? I doubt it. The greatest superstar in the history of the WWE was obviously, the owner of one of the best finishers. Technically, it is known as three-seated facelock Jawbreaker. And no matter how much time you had, the Stunner was one of the finishers that you had to perform as a surprise.
It had a very small build up – essentially Austin misses a blow, has a kick to the gut, and there’s the stunner. Not once, not twice, the Stunner was hit outta nowhere almost every other time. And this was one of the key catalysts in driving Austin to his position in the WWE. The Attitude era saw numerous Stunners being delivered, and no one quite possibly sold it better than The Rock. He’d do a jump after receiving it to signify the intensity of it and that was inherently the best part of watching the Stunner.
#1 RKO
Well, forgive me for making it so obvious, but then, it had to be that way. Obviously, the inspiration for this list, the RKO tops the list. Randy Orton’s RKO is unquestionably the coolest looking finisher in the WWE and the so many different ways from which he has hit it makes it one of the most versatile moves as well. Just last month, he produced arguably the best RKO of his career along with Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 31.
The move has seen various trolls and vines made out of it, most of which are genuinely funny. The ”#RKOouttanowhere” won a Slammy Award for hashtag of the year in 2014. That made it one of the best trending things on social media from the WWE and even those who don’t watch the WWE have taken to watching these vines. Randy Orton is an excellent performer and his moves in the ring come off extraordinarily well, but none quite so well as the RKO.
