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A finishing move can make or break a WWE Superstar’s believability as a character.
Roman Reigns, for example, has used the powerful spear as his go-to move to defeat opponents ever since he debuted on WWE’s main roster in November 2012, while Randy Orton’s RKO outta nowhere has become one of the most popular moves in the history of pro wrestling/sports entertainment.
On the flipside, there are Superstars like Santino Marella, whose opponents must have been wondering where their futures would go next if they lost a match to the Cobra Strike. Great Khali’s Khali Chop fits into the same category, as does Enzo Amore’s JawdonZo.
Simply put, when a Superstar finds a move that the audience believes in, there is a good chance that they will continue to use it for their entire career and they will one day become synonymous with the move.
However, in rare circumstances, there have been times when somebody has used a finisher but, for various different reasons, it has ended up being taken away from them.
In this article, let’s take a look at five WWE Superstars who were told to stop using their popular moves.
#5 Darren Young
The inspiration for this article comes from Darren Young, who recently revealed in an interview with Chris Van Vliet that he was told to stop using the Crossface Chicken Wing during his time in WWE, despite the fact that his on-screen and off-screen mentor, Bob Backlund, had passed the submission on to him.
Young explained that he was informed he could no longer use the move because “it was a dangerous hold”, but he later found out through The Miz that Triple H was actually reserving the submission so that main-roster newcomer Asuka could use it when she debuted.
He said (quotes via Wrestling Inc.):
"The Miz pointed that out to me in the locker room weeks later and I was like 'I f*****g knew it!' It broke my heart. I've got pictures of him [Triple H] on my wall in my childhood room. It broke my heart. I cried like a baby backstage and he [Triple H] came over and was like 'Darren, why are you crying?'"
#4 Asuka
Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka at WrestleMania 34 was the first one-on-one match between two women at a WrestleMania event since Melina vs. Ashley Massaro at WrestleMania 23. Naturally, there was lots of expectation for the SmackDown Women’s Championship encounter to deliver, and it didn’t disappoint.
Much of the match was built around the submission offense of 2018 Royal Rumble winner Asuka and the athletic ability of Flair. In the end, “The Queen” used a submission move of her own – the Figure Eight – to make her opponent tap out and end her 914-day undefeated streak in the process.
Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed during the match that, while “The Empress of Tomorrow” used lots of submissions, she did not lock in the armbar move that she became synonymous with during her time in NXT.
Just like how Darren Young was told to stop using the Crossface Chicken Wing because WWE was saving the move for Asuka, it was reported by the Wrestling Observer that the Japanese star was told to stop using the armbar from WrestleMania 34 onwards because it was being reserved for Ronda Rousey.
#3 Seth Rollins
Seth Rollins’ popular Curb Stomp finisher was taken away from him after WrestleMania 31 in 2015 due to the negative connotations that are associated with the name of the move.
The Shield member began to use Triple H’s pedigree as an alternative finisher between 2015-2017, while he went on to win matches with the Ripcord Knee from 2017-18. Then, almost three years after it was banned, he suddenly began to use the Curb Stomp (renamed The Stomp) in early 2018.
Discussing the return of his finisher, Rollins told The Wrap in 2019:
“When it came down to it, I just went and asked him [Vince McMahon] a few years later. I said, 'Hey look, I want to do this. Give me reasons not to and I will tell you why you’re wrong and hopefully, we can meet in the middle.' He was on my side, I caught him on a good day. Luckily it’s back and hopefully, it’s not going anywhere.”
#2 Samoa Joe
In June 2015, Tyson Kidd faced Samoa Joe in a hastily arranged dark match before an episode of Raw. The former Tag Team champion suffered a serious spinal cord injury while taking Joe’s Muscle Buster finisher and he was told the next day that his wrestling career was over.
Since then, Kidd has transitioned into a role behind the scenes with WWE, where he now works as a producer, while Joe's Coquina Clutch submission is now his go-to finishing move instead of the Muscle Buster.
Kidd told SLAM! Wrestling:
"I'd never worked Joe before. I'd of course seen him. I'm a student of the game, I've seen everybody. But I'd never physically worked him. When we landed on the Muscle Buster, I saw the whitest light I've ever seen. I thought it was a concussion for a second. I remember thinking, 'Man, I did this whole match, completely on the fly, I pulled it off and then I get rocked at the end.'"
#1 Randy Orton
From 2007 to 2012, Randy Orton used to kick his grounded opponents in the head with a vicious move known as the Punt Kick. He would still use the RKO during this time, but the Punt Kick had become another lethal finisher to help “The Viper” win matches.
Then, in 2012, the 13-time world champion revealed on Twitter that WWE had banned the move due to the possible risk of his opponents receiving a concussion.
Asked in 2013 if he gets upset when things do not go his way from a storyline perspective, Orton told The Sam Roberts Show:
“There are times, like the Punt Kick was banned. That was my thing. Arn Anderson came up with it in the summer of ‘07 when I kicked Shawn Michaels in the head. Arn Anderson said, ‘What about just rearing back and punting the guy in the head? How much more vicious can you get?’ … Very low risk for me, a little high risk for them because I’ve nailed guys with that thing.”
