The Lariat - Who Did It Best?

#5 Satoshi Kojima

Kojima, seen here, cleaving someone's head off with his lariat

AJPW and NJPW alumnus Satoshi ‘Strong Arm’ Kojima has one of the most brutal lariats of all time. Like his fellow Japanese wrestlers, Kojima would run at his opponents and swing his arm with murderous intent.

But unlike most of them, Kojima didn’t always swing for the upper chest; he often angled his lariat upwards, striking his opponents right in the face and chest. If you watch closely, he looks like he’s actually hitting them right in the head and then wrapping his arm around their heads and smashing them to the mat.

This brutal execution of the lariat brought Kojima considerable success. He became a top star in AJPW during the 2000s and became the first person to ever hold AJPW’s Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship an NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the same time. An important factor in this success was Kojima’s lariat: fans loved it because it was a believable and respected move, and his opponents suffered intense pain after taking it.