It’s been nostalgic to witness the 3D in a WWE ring againA tag team is as good as their finishing manoeuvre. So which Pro wrestling tag team has the best finisher of them all?We take a look at the top 5 greatest finishing moves in Pro-wrestling history. Only legitimate moves are included in this list – (Sorry Edge and Christian, the Con-Chairto doesn't find a mention here).Honourable mentions go to the Hart attack by the Hart Foundation, Snapshot by MNM and the Force of Nature by TNA wrestlers the American Wolves.
#5 DoomsDay Device - Road Warriors
The Road Warriors have been considered as one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Innovators of the face paint, spiked ring attires and power moves, their finishing move was so deadly that it is fondly remebered by wrestling fans even after 30 years of its introduction.
Known as the DoomsDay Device, the move terrorised opponents and got the fans on their feet at a time when usual tag team finishers used to be double standing leg drops.
Animal would lift the unfortunate opponent over his head in an electric chair position where as Hawk would climb up the to rope and deliver a flying clothesline. The move looked deadly and given the stiffness with which the Warriors worked, hurt like hell as well.
Making their debut in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1980 under the management of Paul Ellering, Hawk and Animal had such an imposing aura around them that they bulldozed through the tag team division in virtually no time, winning the NWA Tag team titles four times with the promotion.
They would make their presence felt in various other promotions including NWA, WCW, NJPW and WWF/E as well.
Their final televised match would take place in May 2003 when they returned for a night to WWE to face Kane and Rob Van Dam to a rousing ovation. Hawk would tragically pass away five months later.
#4 Steinerizer - The Steiner Brothers
Similar to the DoomsDay Device in the initial set up, the Steinerizer would have Rick Steiner deliver a modified bulldog on a wrestler held in an electric chair position by brother Scott.
The Steiner brothers would make their debut in WCW in 1989 and would go on to capture the NWA, NWGP, WCW and WWE tag team titles. They would use a number of tag team manoeuvres like the Steiner DDT and the Steiner Device, but nothing would quite match the impact that the Steinerizer had on the crowd.
Their match against Sting and Lex Luger at Super Brawl 1991 would win the Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) match of the year award and the team would be ranked as the best tag team of the year by PWI in 1990 and 1993.
Scott’s burgeoning singles career would rob the team from achieving even more success and exposure, however, they continue to team up together to this day.
#3 3D - The Dudley Boyz
The deadliest finishing manoeuvre in recent history; Dudley Death Drop or 3D has claimed a number of superstars over the years, including those considered to be the cornerstones of the WWE.
A visual treat to watch, 3D fitted in well in the Dudleys’ popularity as the masters of the Table match as the move often involved the opponent eating wood in its wake.
A flapjack – cutter combo, 3D would have D-Von Dudley hoisting the opponent for a delayed flapjack before Bubba Ray would deliver a cutter, forcing the opponent to land on the mat on his head – often through a table. 3D would deliver 23 tag team title reigns for the Dudleys over various promotions.
The duo remains the only team to capture the WWF/E, WCW, ECW, NWA, TNA and IWGP tag team titles.
Regarded as one of the (If not, the) greatest tag teams in wrestling history, the duo’s bouts with the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian during the early 2000s ignited the tag team boom in the United States and popularised the TLC matches which has eventually grown into a PPV of its own.
The Dudleys are still going strong in WWE and are currently in hot pursuit of a record tenth WWE tag team championship.
#2 Spike Piledriver - The Brain Busters
When Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson left Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988 - bringing an end to the legendary Four Horsemen stable - and jumped ship to WWE as the Brain Busters, their gimmicks remained the same, save for one tiny detail.
They introduced a new finishing manoeuvre - something that would be banned by the WWE in the future called The Spiked Piledriver.
Anderson would hoist an opponent upside down in a normal Piledriver position. This would be followed by Blanchard jumping from the top rope and pushing down the opponent's knee simultaneously while Anderson executed the Piledriver.
The result would be the truly sickening sight of a human being going head first into the mat with double the velocity of the normal Piledriver.
#1 Total Elimination - The Eliminators
No tag team manoeuvre can be called the best unless it is a ‘high and low combination’.
The term is used to describe a finisher which sees two wrestlers execute simultaneous moves on a standing opponent – one aimed at the upper part of the body and the other aimed at the lower. And no ‘high and low combination’ can match the Total Elimination manoeuvre made famous by Perry Saturn and John Kronus in ECW.
The Eliminators, as they were known, would capture the attention of the wrestling public with that devastating move. Total Elimination would see both wrestlers stand facing another standing opponent.
Kronus would execute a spinning heel kick towards the opponent, knocking him backwards at exactly the same time as Saturn would execute a spinning leg sweep, attacking the back of the opponent’s leg.
The result would be truly amazing to watch and was greeted by a standing ovation every time it was executed.
Saturn and Kronus met at a nightclub and decided to become professional wrestlers after undergoing training at Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school. After wrestling together at United States Wrestling Association (USWA), the team caught the attention of ECW owner Paul Heyman.
Both moved to Pennsylvania to wrestle for Heyman and on the back of their deadly finisher, would capture three ECW tag team titles in two years – feuding with the likes of the Dudleys and the Pitbulls. The team would split in 1997 when Saturn moved to WCW after an ACL injury.
Neither Kronus nor Saturn would ever recapture the exposure that they got in ECW over that two year period from 1995-97.
