The History of WWE Finishing Moves : Chokeslam

Kane’s chokeslam

Finishing moves have always been a weakness for the WWE fans since they were the most anticipated action that would’ve come out from a wrestler. Over the years, there have been many moves which gave Goosebumps to the fans and this will be a series which takes an in depth look into those finishers. We are going to start off with one of the widely used move in professional wrestling, the Chokeslam.

Basics

The Chokeslam comes under the broad category of body slams where the wrestler is slammed into the wrestling mat mostly by his back. The “choke” in the name indicates the way in which the one to be slammed is lifted up while the “slam” stands for the obvious. Usually used by big guys, they use their one hand to choke lift their opponents and then slam them for the three count on most occasions. To make matters worse, the move is also performed on various surfaces like tables, steel steps or even cells as you would see later.

Technique

The primary step in executing a chokeslam is to grab the opponent’s neck with the weaker arm. Once it is done, the opponent’s arm should be flipped onto the arm which is holding the neck. This is to give some grip while executing the move rather than just to make it look pretty. After the arm is flipped over, the opponent should jump while the wrestler performing the move should use the momentum for lift up. The lift up is followed up by the slam into the wrestling mat and some selling completes the move.

First used

There are a lot of myths which surround who used the Chokeslam first but the most prominent story making the run is about 911. 911 was a Paul Heyman guy back in the ECW days is often credited as the man who invented chokeslam. He used to be an enforcer in ECW and used to throw in the chokeslam whenever things went out of the way that Heyman wanted. 911 didn’t have that much luck as far as his career is concerned, but he was one of those wrestler without whom the ECW wouldn’t have been complete.

Famous Superstars who use the move

Chokeslam remains the Undertaker’s trademard finisher

As mentioned earlier, the move is often used by the big guys due to the amount of power that it requires. Arguably the biggest superstar who used the chokeslam would be Undertaker. Chokeslam was an integral part of Taker’s two decade long streak and while most remember his tomb stone piledriver as his finisher, the last ride and chokeslam shouldn’t be counted out. Taker’s kayfabe brother, Kane also is known for some memorable chokeslams and unlike Taker; Kane even made it his finisher. Big Show also is known for his heroics in slamming his opponents through various platforms.

Memorable chokeslams

The most memorable chokeslam has to be the one that Undertaker delivered to Mick Foley in their Hell in a cell match. The actual plan was for Foley to land on the cell but unfortunately the cell gave up and Foley ended up plummeting to the ring. Foley was knocked out for a couple of minutes but came back and continued the match. JBL also played the victim well as he was chokeslamed by Undertaker through the roof of his limousine. It was less vicious than the first one as this one was planned. Big Show then showed JBL some love as well when he slammed him through the ring in their steel cage match which actually helped JBL to win the match as he found a way to get out of the cage.