The Lost Art of
the Finishing Move
There
was a time when you just knew that a match was over, and you could confidently
count with the referee, 1….2…..3! The audible “Ding, Ding, Ding” of the bell
would make it official and you just saw one of your favorite wrestlers either
win or lose. If that sounds like days gone by or maybe you cannot even recall
it being so simple, then do not worry, because you are not alone. Older
wrestling fans, specifically of the Golden Era of wrestling or more popularly
known as “HulkaMania” would agree that when saw the Immortal Leg Drop (preceded
by the Big Boot) or the Warrior’s Splash, that an inevitable three count was
next. As time began to pass these legends by however, a new, more exciting
style of wrestling began to emerge. With the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels
and others throughout the early to mid ‘90s. With this “new” style, and
branding of the WWF/E, we slowly began to see more of a consistent emphasis and
reliance on charisma, athleticism and in-ring technique like we had never seen
before. These new stars came with bigger and more exciting move sets to keep up
with the increasing pace of matches. The same confident feeling of the match
being over however was still not lost when we would see the Tombstone Piledriver,
Sweet Chin Music or even later into the early stages of the Attitude Era with
the Stone Cold Stunner. These moves sent a simple symbolic message to the crowd
that one man had beaten his opponent down enough to “hit his move” and because
of that, was now the winner of the match.
With
changes in eras and improved ring skills, came a necessity to alter what we
used to consider normal in a wrestling match. Match types and gimmicks changed
to adapt to a new hardcore, energetic fan base that wanted more from the
wrestling product. These changes not only began to alter the set up to matches,
but also how they would end, especially main event and PPV level matches. Most
fans can recall the WrestleMania X-7 event and the main event of Stone Cold
Steve Austin vs The Rock for the WWE Title. Not only is this PPV one of the
greatest ever created (my personal #1), but the match itself is highly regarded
as one of the best (my #2 all time) ever. The ending of the match sees Stone Cold
turning heel, joining forces with Mr. McMahon, an angle that was difficult to
process for fans at the time. However, the ending of the match also sees The
Rock kick out of multiple Stunners before inevitably losing his title. These
kick outs themselves, create HUGE pops from the crowd, as the idea and
potential that The Rock could still win the match are present in the fans
minds. Although The Rock was not the first performer to kick out of what was
once considered a “protected finisher” (see Undertaker vs Kane WrestleMania
14), this was a clear change in the dynamic of what we once knew to be the
obvious ending of a match, for the sake of entertainment and unexpected outcome.
Fast-forward
now to 2019, and there are only a handful of protected finishers left in all of
professional wrestling. Even mega-stars like John Cena and Kazuchika Okada have
seen their Attitude Adjustment and Rainmaker finishers turned into glorified
signature moves. At the same time, this does create a useful dynamic between
them and other wrestlers who still have guaranteed finishers like the RKO from
Randy Orton or the One-Winged Angel of Kenny Omega. It is hard to complain
however considering how great wrestling is in 2019. With the immense amount of
talent throughout the world, maybe a finishing move is no longer as important
as it once was. Damn though…..Ohhhhhh what a feeling it is as a fan, when the anticipation
of waiting for that one move finally comes, marking the end of a match!
Download, Subscribe, listen & support the Collar & Elbow Wrestling Podcast - The Best Fan Perspective Podcast of Professional Wrestling!
iTunes: https://tinyurl.com/y945thyx
Podbean: https://tinyurl.com/yd3vx2qm
Google: https://tinyurl.com/ycro22ux
Google Play: https://tinyurl.com/y96uw43d
Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/y7pon279
By Chris Harris
@CaEWrestling
No comments:
Post a Comment