5 rare pro wrestling moves that WWE should start using

There’s a saying going around about modern wrestling fans: they don’t want to see wrestling, they want to see wrestling moves. They aren’t interest in chain grappling or fancy transitions; they want to see their favourite stars hit their biggest moves on each other. And nowhere is this more apparent than with the finishing moves used by today’s WWE Superstars.

A wrestler’s finisher is their most important move because it allows them to distinguish themselves from their peers. Without a unique finisher, a wrestler is left to wander the dreaded midcard without much hope of escaping.

WWE’s roster is a perfect case study for this matter. Everyone knows the finishers belonging to AJ Styles, John Cena, Charlotte, Seth Rollins, Daniel Bryan, and other top stars. But for each one of these recognizable finishers, there are ten wrestlers that suffer from an unoriginal or boring finisher.

How many of you can name the finishing move of Chad Gable, Bobby Roode, Tyler Breeze, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose or Karl Anderson? Not likely, mainly because these wrestlers (and many more in WWE) lack a recognizable finisher.

WWE recently rectified this issue with one wrestler: Sonya Deville, who recently started using a much better finisher in the Shouten, which had been previously used by NJPW wrestler Hirooki Goto.

Although it wasn’t as good as Goto’s, it still brought her much more attention than before, especially since her previous finisher was some type of kick. That old move was boring and unoriginal, especially since so many WWE superstars use some kind of kick to win their matches.

So with WWE making a positive change for Sonya Deville with this move, here are some other rarely-seen wrestling moves that should be introduced to their wrestlers.

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#5. The Folding Powerbomb

This is one of the most ‘logical’ moves ever used. It’s a Powerbomb, but with an added twist on its ending. Whenever most wrestlers try to pin their opponent after hitting a Powerbomb, they either land a jackknife pin (i.e. flipping over their opponent while hooking their legs), or doing a traditional pin.

The Folding Powerbomb is different because the wrestler hits the Powerbomb before immediately lying on top of their opponent. In doing so, the user puts all of their body weight onto their opponent, making it much harder for that person to kick out.

It’s a doubly-difficult move because the wrestler being pinned has to deal with both the damage from a Powerbomb and deal with a wrestler pushing all of their weight down on the person that had just been driven down to the mat with significant force.

With WWE trying to bring some legitimacy to their product, adding this move to one of their wrestler’s arsenals would be a great start.

#4. The Dragonrana

The Dragonrana is the ultimate cruiserweight move. It’s two manoeuvres in one: a 450 Splash into a Hurricanrana. Only the best, most precise wrestlers with perfect timing can execute this move. No wrestler in WWE has ever used this move, which is astonishing given the number of excellent cruiserweights that they’ve hired over the decades.

This move would’ve been perfect for a number of wrestlers: Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Grand Metalik, TJP, Ricochet, among others. While a lot of today’s cruiserweights do use impressive moves, none of them is as impressive as the Dragonrana. If anyone of them were to use this move, you can be sure people would pay much closer attention for using such an amazing wrestling move.

After all, the Dragonrana’s most prolific user, Dragon Kid, became famous for using this move as one of his finishers. Had WWE signed him, he would’ve likely become a top star in their cruiserweight division thanks to great moves like this one.

#3. Kensuke Sasaki’s Tornado Bomb

This move looks like a twisted lovechild of a Powerbomb and a chokeslam, yet looks far better than a regular ‘choke bomb’. The user hooks his standing opponent under one leg, and then lifts them like a Chokeslam-like position, slamming them hard to the mat.

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This move is ideal for WWE for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s a unique move, given that it requires a bit of setup that you don’t see in today’s WWE. Most WWE finishers are done quickly and appear almost out of nowhere, giving little time for the fans to absorb the idea that the move it coming.

Secondly, this is one of the ultimate ‘power moves’ in wrestling because the user looks like they’re lifting their opponent’s entire body with one arm. This move made its most prolific user, Kensuke Sasaki, look like a true powerhouse. With WWE’s top brass loving big moves and feats of strength more than anything else, so this move would be perfect for anyone of their top stars.

#2. Hirooki Goto’s GTR

The Shouten is not the only move of Hirooki Goto’s that WWE should introduce. His current go-to finisher (pun intended), the GTR, is an ideal move for a WWE superstar to use.

It’s a simple yet devastating-looking manoeuvre. The user holds their opponent in an inverted headlock and then hits them with a short-range lariat with their free arm. Then, as the victim falls, they’re driven into the user’s knee, thus taking a double whammy of damage from a stiff lariat and landing head-and-neck-first into a knee.

If any WWE wrestler were to start using this move, it would help them stand out almost immediately. Few current WWE superstars have a finisher that’s done from behind their opponent, so if one of them were to use the GTR, it would get people talking. Furthermore, it’s also easy to use and set-up and requires much less strength than a ‘lifting’ move.

All of these factors make this an ideal move for a WWE superstar struggling to set themselves apart on WWE’s bloated roster.

#1. The Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex

Also called the Queen Suplex, this rarely-seen move is a more powerful version of an electric chair suplex. The user picks their opponent up onto their shoulders in the same way Kenny Omega picks his opponents up for his One-Winged Angel.

But instead of dropping them forwards, the user hooks both of their victim’s arms (to give them more control over their falling opponent’s body) and falls backwards. The victim lands on their back and the user does an inverted bridge, pinning their opponent while still holding their hooked arms.

This move is ideal for three reasons. First, it looks impressive and unique, which would do wonders for whichever wrestler were to use it. Second, it’s a safe move to take, even though it might look painful. Landing flat on your back is much safer than, for example, taking an errant kick from someone that might not be too experienced.

Thirdly, the move is associated with the greatest women’s wrestler of all time, Manami Toyota. Now that she has retired, it’s time for someone else to follow in her footsteps and use this legendary manoeuvre to win matches.