The 15 Hardest Finishing Moves in Wrestling History

Made Famous By: Seth Rollins

The current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, doesn’t have a finishing move right now. The Curb Stomp, which starts off this list of the hardest finishing moves in wrestling history, is rumored to be “banned” by the powers that be in WWE, which is a damn shame. Despite its problematic name and history, the move was brutally efficient for the Architect. It’s the hardest finisher of all time and he usually busted it out with little run-up inopportune moments. See his victory over Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 for an example.

Made Famous By: Randy Orton

From Seth Rollins to his current rival, Randy Orton has been a mainstay in WWE for the last decade, and a big reason for his popularity has to do with his finisher, the RKO. A modified version of the cutter, which has been used by legends like Diamond Dallas Page and Johnny Ace, the RKO functions both as a finisher to be feared and a finisher that can come from outta nowhere. Inside the squared circle, few people can get up from RKO, and even fewer see it coming in the first place.

Made Famous By: Chris Jericho

The only submission maneuver on this list earns its stripes from a history of brutality. Chris Jericho, before becoming part of the more family-friendly WWE, used to apply the Liontamer in order to end matches, which it did emphatically. A modified Boston Crab, the Liontamer saw Jericho apply pressure with his knee to the back of the opponent’s head—this was so dangerous and painful that Jericho was encouraged to go back to his Walls of Jericho variation (a more traditional elevated Boston Crab) when WWE went to a PG rating. That being said, the memories of the Liontamer keep the Walls of Jericho on this list.

Made Famous By: Daniel Bryan, KENTA/Hideo Itami

A recent addition to the canon of powerful finishing maneuvers, the Knee-Plus (also known boringly as a Running Knee and colloquially as The Knee That Beat John Cena) comes from the land of the rising sun. KENTA, who now plies his craft in WWE’s developmental system NXT as Hideo Itami, popularized the move, before Daniel Bryan used it to win his first WWE championship in 2013. Not only is the knee, when connected correctly, brutally effective, it can be done in an instant, with a full-blown attack on an opponent’s face.

Made Famous By: CM Punk, KENTA/Hideo Itami

From one KENTA invention to another, as the Go To Sleep (or GTS) was invented by the Japanese star before being brought over to America by CM Punk. After hoisting the opponent on his shoulders, Punk would drop them on his rising knee, which would supposedly hit the poor victim in the face, knocking them out for the 1-2-3. Punk’s infamous sloppiness sometimes made it hit the chest instead, but regardless, the move looks brutal and is equally effective: The current measure of success for a finisher is “Has it beaten John Cena?” and the GTS most certainly did in the biggest match of CM Punk’s career, Money in the Bank 2011.

Made Famous By: Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam

Despite some more famous top-rope finishers, the Frog Splash holds a special place in wrestling fans’ hearts, as it was the weapon of choice for Eddie Guerrero. Guerrero was one of the most popular wrestlers of all time until his tragically early death, and the Frog Splash usually signaled a big win for the man that prided himself for his motto “Lie, Cheat, Steal.” For reference, it was the Frog Splash (plus some helpful interference) that put away Brock Lesnar in 2004 for Guerrero’s first WWE title. If it can beat The Beast Incarnate, it’s good enough for this list.

Made Famous By: Hulk Hogan

While not the most brutal or powerful finisher on this list, the Leg Drop earns a spot due to its mythology. Plainly put, no one kicked out of the Hulkster’s finisher, unless it was a very special moment. Almost always preceded by a big boot to the face, the Leg Drop put away legends like Andre the Giant, Yokozuna, and the Macho Man Randy Savage. While the most famous single move of Hulk Hogan’s career is undoubtedly his body slam on Andre at WrestleMania 3, it is his Leg Drop that remains his go-to move for ending matches and winning titles.

Made Famous By: The Rock

If you smellllll…the most mainstream of wrestlers in history (sorry, Hulk), The Rock actually suffers from a bit of finisher schizophrenia. His People’s Elbow maneuver may be loved by fans who hope to catch his sweaty elbowpad, but as a move, it is pretty trash. Like, just completely terrible. His other finisher, however, fares much better: the Rock Bottom sees Rocky grab his opponent by the upper body/neck, lift him up, and slam him to the mat. The power of this move comes from Rock’s fluid motions doing it; Dwayne Johnson may not have ever been a great in-ring performer, but his agility and strength made the Rock Bottom look great pretty much every time. Bonus points are given for being the easiest finisher for fans to do to their friends…not that you should try any of this at home, of course.

Made Famous By: Kane, Big Show, The Undertaker

A chokeslam is great because of its violent simplicity; the name says it all. As popularized by the Brothers of Destruction and the Big Show, the chokeslam has many variations in setup but few differences in execution. Where Kane and the Undertaker flourish their choking hand before eventually grabbing their opponent’s neck, the Big Show generally just goes for it, foregoing flair for efficiency. Regardless, after the opponent’s neck is firmly in their giant hands, a pickup occurs, followed by a slam from varying heights; the best chokeslams are done on smaller opponents who really get some air. The worst? Well, just ask Hulk Hogan.

Made Famous By: Batista, Kevin Nash, The Undertaker

Like snowflakes, every powerbomb is different. There are so many things that can really diversify what is in essence a uniform maneuver that it would take a lot more words to go through all of them. The one common element throughout every powerbomb is that it’s a dangerous move, both in and out of storyline implications, and that when a powerbomb is done correctly, there are few moves that serve as a better exclamation point. From Batistas sit-out Bomb, to Kevin Nash’s super agile Jackknife, to Undertaker’s Last Ride, which somehow gets the opponent even higher by lifting them before the slam, the powerbomb is revered for its strength and gladiatorial punishment.

Made Famous By: Triple H

Let’s get one thing out of the way: the Pedigree has a stupid, stupid name. More than any other finisher on this list, the Pedigree succeeds despite its presentation and history; between the dumb name and the fact that it has been used in some of the worst burial jobs in WWE history, this should be a supremely hated maneuver. Yet, the Pedigree lives on because Triple H embodies everything about it so well. It’s a humiliating move, which shoves the opponent’s head under Haitch’s crotch before slamming it into the mat, just below The Game’s groin. It’s also a move that takes some time to set-up, what with its underhand hooks and usual taunts, so to be hit with the Pedigree means you were already on wobbly legs. This is no RKO from outta nowhere, after all. But when it’s executed properly, the Pedigree is as devastating as anything else, and because it belongs to Triple H, it is very rarely kicked out of.

Made Famous By: Brock Lesnar

It’s named after a tornado, and its wielded by the scariest man in pro-wrestling. That’s all you need to know about the F5. From the moment Brock Lesnar hoists an opponent onto his shoulders, through the spin, and into the modified DDT landing, the F5 is a perfect example of primal fury. It sure helps its prestige that Lesnar has performed it on men as massive as The Big Show without even breaking a sweat. Needless to say, when the F5 hits, the opponent is out for the count…unless it’s The Undertaker at WrestleMania, that is. Even the Dead Man fell to it. However, it was a third F5 that finally kept Taker down and ended the most famous streak in wrestling history: 21-1 does not happen without a believably powerful finisher, and that’s what the F5 is.

Made Famous By: Goldberg, Edge, Rhyno

The spear has been used by many wrestlers across many federations, but it always connects with the same intent: to simulate a broken body. For example, Goldberg broke fools in half. At least that’s what it looked like when WCW’s last superstar hit someone with his trademark spear. There’s not much to the moves, but in the hands (and shoulder) of Goldberg, it always felt like the deadliest thing you could do to another person. It’s a Mortal Kombat move inside a wrestling ring, and when it connected at full blast, you began to fear for the victim’s livelihood. That’s what makes a spear great, and it wasn’t just Goldberg that could pull off that feat. Take a moment to remember Edge’s legendary spear from the top of a ladder to Jeff Hardy; if you watched that without believing that Hardy would never wrestle again, you are a wiser man than most. Because the spear isn’t fancy in how it delivers its pain, and that’s what makes it so powerful.

Made Famous By: The Undertaker, Kane

Rest…in…peace. The throat slash taunt that always preceded the Tombstone Piledriver really drove the message home: there’s no getting up from this. Except on very rare occasions, the tombstone wasn’t just a finisher; it was a full stop. Dropping a dazed man on his head…there’s just no coming back from that. In the annals of WWE’s finishing moves, perhaps none signify the end quite like the tombstone in the hands of the only two men to regularly wield it: Kane and the Undertaker, the Brothers of Destruction. It’s such a dangerous move, in fact, that WWE does not allow any other wrestler to use it. Until the retirement of both of these hellish competitors, feuds will be put six feet under by one move and one move only: the Tombstone Piledriver. Watch your head.

Made Famous By: Stone Cold Steve Austin

When you think of wrestling, you think of Stone Cold Steve Austin. The Rock might have gotten more famous outside of wrestling, but Stone Cold was the heartbeat of wrestling’s most popular era. And in the center of that whirlpool of hype and passion and uncensored debauchery was the Stone Cold Stunner. It didn’t matter who you were, if you were in the WWF in the late ’90s/early 2000s, you were most likely going to eat a Stunner. A swift kick to the gut, followed by a modified cutter, the Stunner wasn’t the most impressive or complex of finishers, but the power of the man behind it always made it memorable. There would be no Attitude Era without Stone Cold, and there would be no Stone Cold without his Stunner. Middle fingers to the face, beer chugging, and 3:16s are all just the foundation upon which the Stunner was lifted, hitting everyone from the aforementioned Rock to Triple H to Stone Cold’s biggest rival, Mr. Vince McMahon. For our money, the Stone Cold Stunner will live on as the hardest finishing move in the history of wrestling, and that’s the bottom line.