The Chokeslam - Who Did It Best?

The Chokeslam is one of the coolest wrestling moves ever conceived. There’s something inherently badass in seeing a wrestler lift their opponent by the neck and then slam them down to the ring as possible. It’s also considered to be one of the safest moves for a wrestler to take, while still looking like it really hurts. Another great thing about this move is that it can be done almost anywhere, in almost any situation, against almost any opponent.

Height and elevation are critical elements in a great Chokeslam. That’s why most wrestlers that have used this move were much taller than their opponents. It has been said that the higher the Chokeslam, the greater the impact.

Because of all these positives in using the Chokeslam (with few real negatives), many wrestlers have used the move as either a signature or finishing move over the years.

But which wrestlers did it best? Read on to find out…

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#7 Awesome Kong

Kong had the potential to be a destructive force in WWE if her booking hadn't been so messed up...

Awesome Kong was, at her peak, the Vader of women’s wrestling. She towered over her fellow women and matched her size with incredible speed and agility. But because she was a monster relative to the other women, she was able to execute power moves and made them look convincing and devastating.

Case in point: Kong hitting a chokeslam on one of TNA’s Knockouts.

Kong is so much bigger and stronger than she’s able to lift other women with little effort and slam them down to the mat as hard as possible. Although she doesn’t usually straighten out her arm to maximize height, it doesn’t matter in her case. She’s still slamming her opponents down with incredible force, which makes her look like a truly dominant force in wrestling.

#6 Braun Strowman

Strowman has become the biggest monster in WWE thanks to his absurd power

Braun Strowman has changed his finisher many times since 2015, before settling on his current Running Powerslam. His first finisher was a Reverse Chokeslam, which involved him lifting his opponent by the back of the neck and then slamming them into the mat face-first.

Apparently, this is one of the most dangerous moves out there, so WWE made him change it after a few months. While his Running Powerslam has been his main finisher of late, he has also hit his own Chokeslam many times as well.

Like many of his big men predecessors, Strowman hit the Chokeslam usually through tables or other objects. This really helped him become popular with fans because everyone loves watching a smaller man gets smashed through a table.

Despite it not being his main finisher, Strowman does hit the Chokeslam very well, which shows that he’s really improving as a wrestler.

#5 Akira Taue

Looks can be deceiving: Taue is actually a very good wrestler

Akira Taue is one of the famed Four Pillars of Heaven of All Japan Pro Wrestling and is one of the greatest masters of the Chokeslam. This isn’t because his Chokeslam (which he called Nodowa Otoshi) was more impactful or came from great heights, but because he had so many different variations of the move.

Aside from hitting a standard, standing Chokeslam, Taue also hit it one as part of a hip toss, controlling their neck instead of their arm while hitting it. There’s also his version from a vertical suplex, which looks like a cross between a Chokeslam and a Falcon Arrow. He has also hit his famous ‘regular’ chokeslam from the top rope, into the ring post, into the turnbuckle, off the top rope, off the ring apron to the floor, and as part of a Doomsday Device combo.

But his version is a move he called Ore ga Taue which is a Chokeslam from a Belly-to-back suplex. The move looks absolutely amazing and devastating and has led Taue to many big victories over his twenty-five-year wrestling career.

#4 Vader

The legendary Vader was an amazing brawler, terrifying powerhouse, and could even dive off the top rope...

Vader is known for being one of the greatest big men to ever wrestle. Not only was he incredibly strong, but it was also surprisingly agile for a man that weighed over 400 pounds. Although his main finisher was the Powerbomb, he was also known to hit a Chokeslam on occasion, and boy was it ever vicious.

Vader’s Chokeslam was called the ‘Sky High Chokeslam’ because sometimes he’d grab one of his opponent’s legs with his free arm while slamming them. This gave his version much more impact and made Vader look more dangerous because he had much more control over his opponent’s body as he was lifting them.

In other cases, Vader hit his Chokeslam from a much lower angle, meaning that he’d bend them forward more to give his Chokeslam a greater arc. This, in turn, made his Chokeslam’s impact look devastating, especially since his poor victims didn’t always land flat on their backs but on their shoulders.

#3 The Big Show

The Big Show has been known to lift people to incredible heights before slamming them down hard

It should come as no surprise that the biggest man in WWE for many years would hit one of the most devastating Chokeslams in all of WWE. Big Show did many small variations that only made his Chokeslam look far more dangerous than a ‘standard’ one.

Sometimes, he would hold his opponent up in the air for a few seconds before slamming them down hard. In other cases, he’d hold onto them as he knelt down, which made the move look more impactful than if he simply let go after reaching maximum height. In other cases, he’d do a spin and make it look like he was Chokeslamming them over his shoulder.

Because of his massive size, Big Show’s Chokeslam was believable as one of the most powerful and impactful moves in WWE. As a perfect example, one of his earliest Chokeslams saw him slam the Undertaker down with so much force that it ‘broke a hole’ in the ring. That is how much power Big Show put into his Chokeslam, which should’ve been his finisher forever instead of that embarrassing ‘knockout punch’.

#2 The Undertaker

The Undertaker loves Chokeslamming people after appearing out of nowhere

The Undertaker has been Chokeslamming people for over twenty years. It has been a signature move of his for so long because it’s much easier to set up and use in his big feuds and in non-wrestling segments.

The move works perfectly for the Undertaker character: he’s in full control and slams his opponent down from a great height without it looking like it took much effort. And because he’s one of the tallest wrestlers in WWE, Undertaker has managed to hit some truly fantastic Chokeslams, much to the delight of the WWE audience.

The only reason Undertaker’s Chokeslam doesn’t hold the number one spot its because it has been a ‘signature’ move for so many years and hasn’t led to that many pinfalls. As impressive as Undertaker’s Chokeslam is, it has led to a 2-count way more than it has led to victory.

If you watched most of Undertaker’s matches (especially post-2004), Undertaker would hit the Chokeslam after hitting the leg drop and it would almost always be used as a setup for the Tombstone.

#1 Kane

How many wrestlers could Chokeslam someone using only one arm?

Nobody in WWE – or in all of wrestling, for that matter – does a better Chokeslam than Kane.

There was something in Kane’s Chokeslam that gave it extra impact when he hit it. Maybe it was the way he wrenched his arm after landing the move, or maybe it was the elevation he got with it.

Or maybe it was the way he bent them forward before lifting them to give it additional momentum. Whatever the reason, Kane’s Chokeslam looked so good and so badass that it was actually believable as a finisher, even as other wrestlers used it as a transitional move.

The sight Kane Chokeslamming people has been a highlight of WWE programming for years. In some cases, he Chokeslammed people using only one hand, which made sense given how ridiculously strong Kane was in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

And in one case, he even Chokeslammed two people with one arm, lifting both Kurt Angle and referee Charles Robinson up at the same time without any effort.

In executing the perfect Chokeslam on so many occasions, Kane managed to turn this simple move into one of the best moves in all of WWE.