5 MMA moves that WWE superstars should steal

The iconic Anderson Silva front kick 

MMA and pro-wrestling are basically like cousins – not totally alike; they have enough differences for anyone to understand the gap between the two, and yet they’re intrinsically linked together, largely because back at the turn of the 20th century – before pre-determined, scripted matches – pro-wrestling basically was a form of MMA for all intents and purposes.

The links live on to this day, with MMA fighters taking ideas such as cutting promos and developing characters in order to become bigger stars to sell more tickets, and WWE stealing ideas from MMA – tapping out to a submission hold, or matches being stopped due to cuts, for instance.

While we’ve seen examples before of MMA fights ending with moves borrowed from pro-wrestling, the opposite often happens too. Witness Daniel Bryan’s flying knee, cribbed straight from the book of fighters like Carlos Condit, or Samoa Joe’s ‘Kokina Clutch’, which is essentially a rear naked choke.

With MMA being a burgeoning sport, there are plenty of other moves, strikes and holds used by the fighters that could be stolen by wrestlers in the WWE ring. Here are five suggestions.

#1 The Anderson Silva front kick

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Okay, so the “big boot” has been a staple of wrestling for years now, usually used by larger men such as Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash. The late Test used the big boot as a finisher for a brief time in 2002 in fact. But to me, the move just looks lazy.

Think about it, the wrestler performing the move whips his opponent into the ropes, and then just raises a leg, and the wrestler taking the move runs right into it and goes down.

It doesn’t exactly look devastating, even when done with a loud leg slap as Test used to do.

Anderson Silva’s variation of the front kick, though? Now that looks nasty. As we saw in his fight with Vitor Belfort, the kick came without warning, fired off from a medium range right into Belfort’s jaw. Vitor went down and was for all intents and purposes done.

We’ve since seen other fighters use the front kick to end their fights, most notably Travis Browne and Lyoto Machida, but neither had the impact that Silva’s did. Silva’s was the first one, and it was more sudden, more snapping.

Almost like Shawn Michaels’ Sweet Chin Music, in fact.

While the Superkick still looks devastating, it’s become a little passe in wrestling now, if not overused, and often it doesn’t even lead to a pin in matches even when it’s landed cleanly.

The Anderson Silva front kick could be introduced as a finish, put over as a killer move, and the best thing is if it’s done properly it’d be a relatively safe one to take, as we’re always seeing kick variants in WWE.

Perhaps someone like Sami Zayn could use this move to help him climb up the ladder?

#2 The Twister

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It’s weird to think that while the abdominal stretch has been used over the years in wrestling as a resthold for the most part, to the point where it’s basically reviled, the twister – a similar-looking move in essence – is revered in MMA for its rarity.

The only fighter in UFC history to successfully pull off the twister – invented by grappling wizard Eddie Bravo – is the Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung. He used the move to submit Leonard Garcia in his UFC debut back in 2011. Since then, I can barely remember it being attempted, let alone used to success.

For those that don’t know, the twister is performed when a fighter laces both of his legs around one of his opponent’s from the back control position. From there, they secure the opposite head and arm and use their body to crank the two in opposite directions.

While it looks a little strange, it also looks extremely painful. The twister is a spinal lock, which causes hypertension of the cervical region and could separate vertebrae if wrenched hard enough.

It’s anything but the resthold that the similar-looking abdominal stretch is used as.

With WWE having introduced some really convoluted submission holds in their history – remember Edge’s odd leglock, for example? – I think it’s time they went back to the book of real grappling, and the twister is prime for borrowing.

Despite its rarity in MMA, it’d be relatively easy to set up in a pre-determined wrestling match, and obviously it looks great. Someone like Dean Ambrose – desperately in need of more dangerous-looking moves – could use this to great effect.

#3 The spinning backfist

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While the spinning backfist has been used in MMA numerous times – most notably by Shonie Carter in his 2001 fight with Matt Serra – I can’t really recall it being used all that often in the realm of WWE.

In fact, the only time I can recall it being used was in a super-obscure match – the Women’s match at Survivor Series 1995, when Aja Kong used it to finish off Alundra Blayze. Outside of a fun spoof of the 2012 Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen finish by Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, it’s never really appeared.

Now would be a good time for that to change.

With striking finishes becoming more and more popular inside the WWE – from Sami Zayn’s Helluva Kick to Roman Reigns’ Superman punch, why someone hasn’t taken the spinning backfist is a mystery to me.

The move could be made to look even more devastating in the ring than it is in MMA. After all, in MMA it’s a strike that only works if you manage to surprise your opponent with it. Otherwise it’s often easily avoided, as was the case when Sonnen threw one at Silva.

In WWE however, the wrestler performing the move could whip their opponent into the ropes and deliver the spinning backfist as their opponent bounces back towards them. It’d look awesome and all it’d require would be some great timing.

Seth Rollins has great timing, and since his Curb Stomp was banned he’s been in dire need of a new finisher – the Pedigree is good but it’s too heavily linked with HHH. The spinning backfist though is right there for the taking and could replace the Curb Stomp perfectly.

#4 The Kneebar

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Leg submissions have been vogue in wrestling for decades now, from Bret Hart’s legendary Sharpshooter to Kurt Angle’s use of the ankle lock and eventually the heel hook.

They’re always a great submission move to use because they can easily build drama into a match – will a wrestler tap, or will he hold out and escape? – and the knee or leg is an easy move for a wrestler to work over to build to the hold.

The simple kneebar though has never been used in WWE to the best of my knowledge.

I’m honestly not sure why, either. Not only does it look absolutely agonising, but it’s also easy to apply and can be locked up from various positions – I can’t find video footage, but Josh Thomson was able to apply one in PRIDE directly after escaping an armbar.

As a matter of fact, probably the most famous kneebar in UFC history was used by Frank Mir to tap out none other than the Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar, in his UFC debut back in 2008.

With Lesnar having history with the move, it’s a mystery to me why nobody in WWE has ever decided to introduce it to their arsenal. A feud with Lesnar built around an opponent’s expertise in the kneebar could prove to be a lot of fun.

Leglocks are known as a staple of the Russian sport of Sambo, a base for many MMA fighters such as Khabib Nurmagomedov and Fedor Emelianenko. Sambo, leglocks, and Russian/Eastern Bloc fighters have always gone hand-in-hand.

With Rusev always being proud of his Eastern Bloc heritage, who better to introduce the kneebar to a WWE audience?

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#5 The D’Arce choke

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Perhaps my favourite submission to witness in MMA is the D’Arce or brabo choke. Purportedly first used by grappler Joe D’Arce (hence the name), it’s a variant of the arm triangle choke that sees the fighter thread the choking arm underneath the near arm and neck of the opponent and then lock onto their opposite bicep, squeezing before forcing the opponent down onto their side or back.

It’s been used countless times inside the UFC Octagon, usually by lankier fighters with longer arms such as Kendall Grove and Terry Etim.

Most recently, Tony Ferguson has become renowned for his D’Arce choke, using it to submit three opponent during his nine-fight win streak.

For some reason though, nobody has ever thought to use the D’Arce in the WWE ring. Maybe it’s because it’s still a relatively new technique in MMA – it only became common in the UFC around 2007, for instance.

Still, it’d be a pretty easy move to perform inside the squared circle. How many times do we see wrestlers tie up with one ending up trapped inside a front facelock? From there the D’Arce choke is easy to apply.

With the D’Arce largely being used by taller fighters – simply as it’s easier to perform if you have longer arms – then it makes sense for a taller wrestler to use it.

As far as I’m aware, Baron Corbin hasn’t used a submission hold in his brief WWE career yet. Why not let him use the D’Arce? If he were to put the likes of John Cena and Dean Ambrose to sleep with it, you can bet it’d become popular with the crowds quickly.

After all, if it’s good enough for El Cucuy....

Think of any more MMA moves that could translate into WWE success? Let us know!

Until next time......

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