What’s the story?
Mike Kanellis made his SmackDown Live in-ring debut today after fifteen years in the independent circuit. He unleashed his finishing move this week, during a winning effort against Sami Zayn. In this piece, we shall tell you the name of his finisher.
In case you didn’t know...
Mike Kanellis is one of the better-known wrestlers from the American independent circuit. You may remember him from his run as X-Division champion in TNA where he beat Eddie Edwards for the said title, or even from his time in NJPW and ROH.
While he is best known as ‘The Miracle Mike Bennett’, he made his debut on SmackDown Live as Mike Kanellis, a man who plays second fiddle to his wife, former WWE diva Maria Kanellis. They debuted their ‘power of love’ gimmick at Money in the Bank, and Kanellis made his in-ring debut this week against Sami Zayn.
The heart of the matter
Sami Zayn held the upper hand for most of the said contest, but a distraction from Maria Kanellis allowed her husband to pick up the advantage. Subsequently, Mike Kanellis hit Zayn with his finisher, a move that Tom Phillips called a ‘Samoan Driver’ and JBL called ‘Power of Love’.
The former may be the technical name while the latter is the gimmick name. We assume the latter will be used in the weeks that follow.
What’s next?
We don’t know how high the ceiling for Mike Kanellis is, in WWE. Although he’s booked in a feud with Sami Zayn, if he does not get over, he may not really have a bright future. The feud with Sami Zayn does not seem like it has ended because of this finish, and there's likely to be more matches between the two men.
Author’s take
I’m not feeling the whole ‘Power of Love’ gimmick, quite honestly. Mike and Maria were much better in TNA, where they were allowed to be themselves. I wish them both the best, but I hope WWE really does have big plans for the two.
Maria, especially, can be a genius on the microphone, and if you’ve not seen the ‘Laurel Van Ness-Braxton Sutter’ wedding from TNA, I recommend you to do so this very moment.
