#9 R-Truth - What's Up?
WWE has something of a poor track record with mid-card African-American wrestlers stuck in singles competition. For some reason, they made the same decision with three wrestlers, one after another: Shelton Benjamin, MVP, and most recently, R-Truth.
After each of these wrestlers’ initial singles push was derailed (and then abandoned), they were each saddled with a new finisher and a terrible one at that.
The ‘What’s Up?’, as it’s called by R-Truth, is a leaping reverse STO. Basically, Truth jumps at his opponent, wraps one arm across their collar, and then falls backwards. The idea behind this move is that the opponent is driven face-first into the mat.
But this isn’t a DDT, where you can create the obvious illusion by wrapping your arm around your opponent’s head. Instead, by wrapping your arm around your opponent’s chest, there’s more space between the victim’s body and the canvas, weakening the impact.
It also doesn’t help that the user takes more damage by landing flat on their back than the victim does on their face.
Even if the move’s supposed to be athletic, most people can see through this move’s illusion. It just doesn’t make sense from any logical standpoint, even if wrestling’s supposed to be outlandish and wacky. What person would jump up and then land hard on their back without even grabbing their opponent fully around the head?
You can’t suspend your disbelief with this poorly-conceived finisher.
