5 times WWE Superstars lost to their own finishing move

A professional wrestler is known for many things in & outside the ring, and one of the major attributes among those is his finishing maneuver. A superstar will look to make his finishing move look more impactful than the other moves he performs inside the ring, and it is still the reason the fans remember the legendary moves like Sweet Chin Music or the Tombstone Piledriver.

With this in mind, stealing the move of your opponent is the ultimate sign of disrespect, as opponents compete in a game of one-upmanship to see who can perform better, and some Superstars have even lost to their own moves.

Here are five WWE Superstars who suffered total humiliation by losing to their own finishing move.

#5 Yokozuna Leg Drops Hulk Hogan out of the WWF

The Super Heavyweight used Hogan's leg drop to win the title and sent the Hulkster rout of the WWF for nearly a decade.

It's safe to say that there has never been a Superstar in all of wrestling, quite like Hulk Hogan. Winning his first World title in 1984, Hogan is considered by many as the biggest star of the industry, but by 1993, many fans of the McMahon-based promotion had had enough.

After Bret Hart lost the WWF title to Yokozuna at WrestleMania, Hogan would win the gold with ease from the Superheavyweight, and a rematch was made for the 1993 King of the Ring Pay Per View. The match saw Yokozuna kick out of Hogan's running leg drop and at the final moments Hogan got blinded by a fireball shot by Harvey Wippleman disguised as a Japanese photographer. Yokozuna took advantage of a blinded Hulk Hogan and nailed him with his own leg drop to win the title, and send Hogan out to WCW.

#4 Jericho Rock Bottoms his way into immortality

Jericho defeated Austin and The Rock on the same night to make history.

There's an old saying that there can only be one number one, and in December 2001, Chris Jericho made history by becoming the very first WWF Undisputed Champion. The win had been a long-time coming for Y2J, as though he had been a huge player in the Invasion storyline earlier that year, he had always played second fiddle to The Rock on Team WWF, with the pair coming to blows on multiple occasions.

With the Invasion finished, the company had two champions, with The Rock holding the WCW World title, and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin with a firm grasp over the WWF Title. A four-man tournament was made for the final Pay Per View of the year, Vengeance, where Jericho made history in more ways than one.

During his match against the most electrifying man in Sports Entertainment, for the WCW Championship, Jericho took advantage of a distraction by Vince McMahon, and low-blowed the Rock, following up with a devastating Rock Bottom to win the title and the first of his two matches of the night.

#3 Angle reaches his breaking point

An Iron Man match saw the Olympian tap out to his own submission.

Kurt Angle is arguably the toughest opponent Brock Lesnar has faced in his career. Their feud over the WWE Championship remains one of the greatest rivalries in the company till date. While Angle has made Lesnar tap out to his Ankle Lock on multiple occasions (including their war at SummerSlam 2003), he got a taste of his own medicine during the WWE Championship Iron Man match on the September 18, 2003 episode of SmackDown.

In the first-ever Iron Man match to take place on free TV, Lesnar defeated Angle with a final score of five to four where Lesnar got one fall by making the Olympic Gold Medalist tap out to the Ankle Lock. This point proved to be a difference-maker, and also showed that though he was much bigger than the Olympian, Lesnar had a quickness and submission skill set most Superstars could only dream of.

This wasn’t the only time Angle had tapped out to the Ankle Lock though, as Drew McIntyre made him submit to the move on the November 6, 2018, episode of Raw.

#2 The Montreal Screwjob

Hart lost to his own Sharpshooter despite never tapping.

There are few things more iconic in wrestling, for better or worse, than the Montreal Screwjob. In case you've been living under a rock for the past 22 years, the real-life beef between WWF Champion Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels had boiled over to their on-screen characters, as the Hitman refused to lose to the cocky Showstopper in Canada.

Instead, the plan was for Hart to retain the gold at the 1997 Survivor Series, before vacating the title the next night on RAW, before leaving for WCW. A fitting symbol of respect given Bret's years in the company, many of which as the flagbearer of the WWF, this of course, sadly didn't happen.

Instead, Hart battled Michaels in the main event of the show, and in the final moments of the night, the Showstopper locked the Hitman in his own Sharpshooter. Despite Bret never tapping, the bell was rung, and Michaels won the gold. A shocking act, it would forever taint the careers of both competitors, as well as give rise to the Mr. McMahon character, and it would be over 12 years before Bret returned to the WWE.

#1 The Viper gets RKO'd out of nowhere

Orton felt the wrath of the RKO when he faced Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules 2015.

There's something special about the RKO. Though the move itself is nothing new, with DDP using the Diamond Cutter in WCW, and Joh Laurianits using the Ace Crusher before that, Randy Orton's finisher has become just as well-known out of wrestling, thanks in part to the infamous RKO out of nowhere meme.

Though Orton's character has changed a lot over the years, the RKO has remained the same, though the move came back to haunt the Viper at Extreme Rules 2015. As part of a stipulation for the match, Orton was banned from using his own finisher, though WWE Champion Seth Rollins wouldn't be receiving any help from the Authority, as the pair were locked in a Steel Cage.

While everything looked in favor of Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship from Rollins, the Architect nailed Orton with an RKO out of nowhere, as the commentary team made it clear that though Orton was banned from using the move, Rollins wasn't. That was enough to keep Orton down until Rollins could escape the cage to win the match.