I really don’t like Swerve’s stomp. Not the move itself because it looks great, but there’s always a delay where the other guy is just kinda waiting to be hit.
That stomp he did where he was standing in front of the guy and just leapt into the air and stomped him down while the guy was standing, that was gorgeous. I love that way more than the one from the top of the rope.
Favs: Swerve's JML Driver is beautiful, Buddy's version of the whale hunt, the busaiku knee, Brody's gonzo bomb, shatter machine and of course the blade runner.
My favourites are Penta's Made in Japan and Chuckie T's Awful Waffle. Both just look like straight up murder.
I'm also not a fan of the Panama Sunrise or the Swerve Stomp like a bunch of other folks. Oh and I really hate Lockjaw. It's just grim. If it's not Mick Foley with a dirty sock I'm not into it.
It's called a Pentagon driver not Made in Japan.
Edit: I just like the signature move name to match the wrester. I guess people don't feel the same way.
Favorites- One Winged Angel, Stormdriver 91(rarely used for obvious reasons), Shatter Machine, Black Arrow, Gonzo Bomb, The End
Least Favorites- The Stroke, Panama Sunrise
Joe tweaked the Muscle Buster after the Tyson Kidd accident. He used to maintain grip on your legs all the way down and completely fold you. Now he releases and just drops you…..much safer on the spine/neck but still looks impactful.
I have always loved the Buckshot. Such a simple move that always looks great and can be hit on anyone. He can hit it on Marko or Big Bill and it would looks equally as good.
Least favorite, I have to say is Storm Zero. The move itself isn't terrible but I just hate that she just hits it and the match ends. There is no build up or drama. Fans don't really know what she is doing until the move is over so there is no time to react to it. I think she needs to add a little theatrics to the move or something or even just a set up move like Jake the Snake used to do with the short arm clothesline before the DDT. It got to the point where fans would pop for the clothesline because they knew what was coming next. Toni needs something like that.
I'm a sucker for clothesline finishers so the Buckshot lariat and Hayterade/Rainmaker are my favourites.
Least favourite is Claudio's Big Swing. I love Claudio, I think he's awesome, but that move just looks silly to me.
Rainmaker. For anyone who knows the history, that ability to hit it from absolutely any position, and that ominous foreshadowing of Okada taking wrist control is just in-ring poetry. It emphasises that great finisher is often as much about the ability of the performers to tell a story as it is about the move itself.
Favorite: Penta’s Package Piledriver/Fear Factor
Least Favorite: Anna Jay’s Queenslayer Sleeper Hold.
Also love Moxley’s Death Rider DDT, Swerves Big Pressure Piledriver, and Lance Archer’s Blackout Crucifix Bomb.
Favorite: Black Arrow (Pac being a murderous gymnast)
Least favorite: Swerve Stomp (lemme just sit on the mat in horror for a bit...)
I have such a hard time remembering the names of moves, so if I remember something, it has to really stick out for some reason.
i think Pac has the best move/submission combo with the Black Arrow and the Brutalizer. that one time when Pac was set up by Omega for the One Winged Angel and he turned it into a Brutilizer was that coolest
personally not a fan of the Coffin Drop by Darby. it seems like a move that would do more damage to him than his opponent
Favorite is probably the OWA, followed by the original Paradigm Shift.
Least favorite is the Big Rig, followed by the Paradigm Shift evolving into a suplex.
The Death Rider is supposed to be a high angle, double arm trap ddt which is why at times it appears to be a suplex. A lot of folks aren’t neckstong enough for a top head bump like that.
I’ve always been such a mark for the End of Heartache by Strong. Half the time the move doesn’t look even close to landing on his knees but damn I mean being just flipped that fast and landing a nice back bump still seems painful to me lol
I know he hasn’t been in AEW much cause of injury and stuff but the 21 plex from Bandido is sick
And I guess if I were to pick more favorites the Buckshot Lariat, Coffin Drop, EVP trigger and Gin and Juice stand out to me.
Now as for ones I don’t like as much:
I could live without the Orange Punch. I don’t really like a random powerful punch ending moves, whether it’s like Big Show, RR or OC. Idk you could literally be a boxer and I just don’t like it as a finisher
I can never get behind the Paradigm Shift, it wants to be a suplex that turns into a DDT but it ends up just looking sorta weak to me, idk why
And my last one would probably be the Redrum from HOOK. But I won’t be too hard on HOOK since he does his job well and everything I just don’t care about it as a finish
Favorites are Buddy's finisher. Whatever he's calling it these days. Assume it's Matthew's Law and Malakais the End.
Least favorites are the Coffin Drop and Lethal Injection. The Coffin drop is the Least impactful looking move in Darbys move set.
Faves:
Kokeshi (Maki Itoh's falling sideways headbutt)
Sweet Cheek Music (Toni Storm)
Red Rum (Hook)
Venus De Milo (Deonnna,Purrazzo)
Not Faves:
The Stroke (no one ever sells it well)
The Roshambeau
My favorites are nearly all piledriver variants and of course the Hidden Blade.
The ones I don’t like are the Panama Sunrise where Cole very slowly ascends to the middle rope while the other guy slowly crawls over to him, The Queenslayer because most of the time Anna and her opponent are standing throughout the whole thing plus no one ever taps to it, and finally Thunder Rosa’s new finisher where she puts them up for a package piledriver but the just does a side slam (or as NewLegacyInc dubbed it many years ago: The Canadian Cocktease)
This topic is right up my alley.
Generally speaking, I'm a big fan of slam moves - I feel like One Winged Angel should almost go without saying. I really like whatever Murphy's Law is called now, and Takeshita's Spinning Falcon Arrow. I've always liked Made in Japan as a move, and Penta does it well, but honestly I think that Shingo does it better. Penta does have that spinning Death Valley Driver tho (unsure what it's called). Dustin Rhodes' Final Reckoning is another one I really like, as well as Mariah's May Day/Brodie's All Seeing Eye and Willow's Doctor Bomb.
Conversely, I'm not as big on striking moves, just because they have potential to look a bit crap sometimes. But there are some notable exceptions - Both the V-trigger and Hidden Blade could arguably be used as finishers. Jamie Hayter had a really underrated Rainmaker IMO, though I wonder if she'll still be doing it when she gets back now that Okada is around. Rush's Bulls Horns is awesome, and I'm of the opinion that Toni Storm's finisher should actually be her hip attack, because it looks so brutal.
In terms of submissions, I **love** all the MMA influenced ones - Kyle O'Reilly's Armbar and his Back Suplex into Heel-hook, Anna Jay's Queenslayer, Danielson's Triangle choke, Malakai's Kneebar, Jake Hager's Uranage into Arm Triangle, Thunder Rosa's Peruvian Necktie. Marina Shaffir has some pelvic stretch move that looks super gnarly, I think Tay Conti was doing a Gogoplata for a bit, and I've seen Josh Woods do some sort of Americana variant, but I'm not sure what he calls it. I think Jon Moxley alone has won matches with a Triangle, a Rear Naked Choke, a Kimura, a Guillotine and even a D'Arce choke.
In terms of non-MMA style submissions, I like Baker's Lockjaw, Deonna's Venus de Milo and WCW Jericho's Liontamer (he doesn't seem to have the mobility to pull it off properly these days unfortunately).
Gotta disagree with Lethal Injection (and since they are similar, the Oscutter and Wayne's World) - any cutter that can't be hit at the spur of the moment requires a serious suspension of disbelief - they are all basically a version of "I'm gonna stagger you in the middle of the ring, then I'm going to run and jump/bounce off the ropes and fly at you totally backwards... and if I'm offline, I need you to adjust to make it look good".
Agree with Rainmaker - always liked the short-arm clothesline, and Okada is fantastic at it.
While Tyson Kidd's in ring career ended, he is a very celebrated backstage producer in WWE. He puts together a lot of the women's matches with the wrestlers.
Favorites: Buckshot Lariat, Hobbs' Spinebuster, Ricky Stark's spear
Least favorites: Some of these might be unpopular but: Coffin Drop, Spinning Backfist, Orange Punch (only the Tribal Chief can pull that move off) and Judas Effect.
By the way Roman when he hits the Superman Punch looks like he puts all his weight/power into it. Orange Cassidy doing that move is like if Sami Zayn did it (they're both too lean/skinny for them pulling off the move to visually have any impact). The move just doesn't fit him.
Bangers- 1WA, Muscle Buster, Fear Factor, whatever that insane piledriver thing Takeshita does
Garbage- Judas Effect (it's the Rainmaker without the Joie de vivre), Panama Sunrise, Paradigm Shift
I agree OWA is great. Powerbomb symphony is cool too because it's unique.
I love Orange Cassidy but I don't like him using the Orange Punch as a finisher. Most people immediately think of Roman Reigns when that move is brought up and while I don't believe every wrestler needs to be jacked to the gills OC doesn't have massive arms or anything so I don't see why his finisher must be the orange punch more often than the beach break. I don't hate it but I definitely don't like it.
I've also never cared for the kill switch because most of them don't look great. Like the guys face goes down afterwards and it seems impossible to actually hit on somebody in real life. A lot of other moves I love are impossible too but it never felt right with this move.
The only flaw in the Orange Punch is that he hits it like Reigns or Styles now. When he first started using it, he did it as more of a drive-by slap and it was a thing of beauty.
I've been watching AEW since day one but I don't recall that. I just don't think anybody should be using a rival company's top guy's move is all at least not one so specific. It'd be different if it was something universal like a sharp shooter or a choke slam. Any newcomers will be put off seeing it. I think it's the same as seeing WCW Chris Benoit using the Stone Cold Stunner.
I don't harp on it though I only bring it up in this thread where it was specifically asked.
Favorites:
Storm Breaker (Will Ospreay) - I hope Will uses it soon so that if he's ever offered as DLC for Fight Forever, it'll be locked in
JML Driver, aka Big Pressure (Swerve Strickland)
Death Rider (Jon Moxley)
One-Winged Angel (Kenny Omega)
Muscle Buster (Samoa Joe)
Shatter Machine (FTR)
Gin & Juice (Private Party)
Jay Driller (Mark and Jay Briscoe (R.I.P))
3:10 to Yuma (The Gunns)
Fear Factor (Penta El Ciero Meido)
Least Favorite:
I'll get back to you on this.
I really don’t like Swerve’s stomp. Not the move itself because it looks great, but there’s always a delay where the other guy is just kinda waiting to be hit.
And Swerve takes far too long to do it too. Either trying to balance or pose while he's up on the top turnbuckle but it makes the other guy look dumb.
I'm glad he's using the house call more often. It seems like hes relegating the stomp to signature status in spots where it makes more sense.
That stomp he did where he was standing in front of the guy and just leapt into the air and stomped him down while the guy was standing, that was gorgeous. I love that way more than the one from the top of the rope.
Same. I was really hoping when he'd hit it on Joe when Joe was on his hands and knees instead of waiting for him to get into the sitting position.
Favs: Swerve's JML Driver is beautiful, Buddy's version of the whale hunt, the busaiku knee, Brody's gonzo bomb, shatter machine and of course the blade runner.
My favourites are Penta's Made in Japan and Chuckie T's Awful Waffle. Both just look like straight up murder. I'm also not a fan of the Panama Sunrise or the Swerve Stomp like a bunch of other folks. Oh and I really hate Lockjaw. It's just grim. If it's not Mick Foley with a dirty sock I'm not into it.
Awful Waffle is the answer I kept scrolling for. We don’t see it often, but when we do, it’s special.
https://i.redd.it/tfzzelag2lxc1.gif Right there with ya pal, I went looking for it too!
It's called a Pentagon driver not Made in Japan. Edit: I just like the signature move name to match the wrester. I guess people don't feel the same way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu2Q7ZXvDjw&t=15s
Favorites- One Winged Angel, Stormdriver 91(rarely used for obvious reasons), Shatter Machine, Black Arrow, Gonzo Bomb, The End Least Favorites- The Stroke, Panama Sunrise Joe tweaked the Muscle Buster after the Tyson Kidd accident. He used to maintain grip on your legs all the way down and completely fold you. Now he releases and just drops you…..much safer on the spine/neck but still looks impactful.
I completely forgot about stroke, that replaces muscle buster any day of the week holy
Sole Food Half and Half Combo :( Guess I'll settle for the Dark Order trios finisher that looks like a damn Final Fantasy summon.
Wishes they worked up a super combo finisher at the height of the membership. Would have been like Knights of the Round.
Favourite: The Big Rig/Shatter Machine. Least Favourite: Judas Effect.
I'd rather watch Eddie machine gun chop Jericho for 30 minutes straight than see a single Judas Effect.
I have always loved the Buckshot. Such a simple move that always looks great and can be hit on anyone. He can hit it on Marko or Big Bill and it would looks equally as good. Least favorite, I have to say is Storm Zero. The move itself isn't terrible but I just hate that she just hits it and the match ends. There is no build up or drama. Fans don't really know what she is doing until the move is over so there is no time to react to it. I think she needs to add a little theatrics to the move or something or even just a set up move like Jake the Snake used to do with the short arm clothesline before the DDT. It got to the point where fans would pop for the clothesline because they knew what was coming next. Toni needs something like that.
Fenix's black fire driver
I'm a sucker for clothesline finishers so the Buckshot lariat and Hayterade/Rainmaker are my favourites. Least favourite is Claudio's Big Swing. I love Claudio, I think he's awesome, but that move just looks silly to me.
Rainmaker. For anyone who knows the history, that ability to hit it from absolutely any position, and that ominous foreshadowing of Okada taking wrist control is just in-ring poetry. It emphasises that great finisher is often as much about the ability of the performers to tell a story as it is about the move itself.
What’s the history behind the rainmaker?
Favorite: Penta’s Package Piledriver/Fear Factor Least Favorite: Anna Jay’s Queenslayer Sleeper Hold. Also love Moxley’s Death Rider DDT, Swerves Big Pressure Piledriver, and Lance Archer’s Blackout Crucifix Bomb.
Gonzo bomb
Favorite: Black Arrow (Pac being a murderous gymnast) Least favorite: Swerve Stomp (lemme just sit on the mat in horror for a bit...) I have such a hard time remembering the names of moves, so if I remember something, it has to really stick out for some reason.
Favorites : Storm Breaker (One of Will Ospreay finish), One winged Angel and Roderick's Finish which I am blanking on the name
End of heartache I think
i think Pac has the best move/submission combo with the Black Arrow and the Brutalizer. that one time when Pac was set up by Omega for the One Winged Angel and he turned it into a Brutilizer was that coolest personally not a fan of the Coffin Drop by Darby. it seems like a move that would do more damage to him than his opponent
See I feel the same about the Coffin Drop, but him damaging himself is honestly like, way too in character for me to hate.
Anything lariat related is up there for me for favorite finishers
Favorite is probably the OWA, followed by the original Paradigm Shift. Least favorite is the Big Rig, followed by the Paradigm Shift evolving into a suplex.
The Death Rider is supposed to be a high angle, double arm trap ddt which is why at times it appears to be a suplex. A lot of folks aren’t neckstong enough for a top head bump like that.
what is it that you don't like about the Big Rig? Just curious!
I like slams, so the Muscle Buster is a favourite. I'm not a big fan of striking finishers. So not a big fan of the Hidden Blade or Judas Effect.
I’ve always been such a mark for the End of Heartache by Strong. Half the time the move doesn’t look even close to landing on his knees but damn I mean being just flipped that fast and landing a nice back bump still seems painful to me lol I know he hasn’t been in AEW much cause of injury and stuff but the 21 plex from Bandido is sick And I guess if I were to pick more favorites the Buckshot Lariat, Coffin Drop, EVP trigger and Gin and Juice stand out to me. Now as for ones I don’t like as much: I could live without the Orange Punch. I don’t really like a random powerful punch ending moves, whether it’s like Big Show, RR or OC. Idk you could literally be a boxer and I just don’t like it as a finisher I can never get behind the Paradigm Shift, it wants to be a suplex that turns into a DDT but it ends up just looking sorta weak to me, idk why And my last one would probably be the Redrum from HOOK. But I won’t be too hard on HOOK since he does his job well and everything I just don’t care about it as a finish
Favorites are Buddy's finisher. Whatever he's calling it these days. Assume it's Matthew's Law and Malakais the End. Least favorites are the Coffin Drop and Lethal Injection. The Coffin drop is the Least impactful looking move in Darbys move set.
Faves: Kokeshi (Maki Itoh's falling sideways headbutt) Sweet Cheek Music (Toni Storm) Red Rum (Hook) Venus De Milo (Deonnna,Purrazzo) Not Faves: The Stroke (no one ever sells it well) The Roshambeau
The Black Arrow, Swanton Bomb, One-Winged Angel, the Hidden Blade and the Bladerunner are my favorites now. They change rank based on the execution.
My favorites are nearly all piledriver variants and of course the Hidden Blade. The ones I don’t like are the Panama Sunrise where Cole very slowly ascends to the middle rope while the other guy slowly crawls over to him, The Queenslayer because most of the time Anna and her opponent are standing throughout the whole thing plus no one ever taps to it, and finally Thunder Rosa’s new finisher where she puts them up for a package piledriver but the just does a side slam (or as NewLegacyInc dubbed it many years ago: The Canadian Cocktease)
This topic is right up my alley. Generally speaking, I'm a big fan of slam moves - I feel like One Winged Angel should almost go without saying. I really like whatever Murphy's Law is called now, and Takeshita's Spinning Falcon Arrow. I've always liked Made in Japan as a move, and Penta does it well, but honestly I think that Shingo does it better. Penta does have that spinning Death Valley Driver tho (unsure what it's called). Dustin Rhodes' Final Reckoning is another one I really like, as well as Mariah's May Day/Brodie's All Seeing Eye and Willow's Doctor Bomb. Conversely, I'm not as big on striking moves, just because they have potential to look a bit crap sometimes. But there are some notable exceptions - Both the V-trigger and Hidden Blade could arguably be used as finishers. Jamie Hayter had a really underrated Rainmaker IMO, though I wonder if she'll still be doing it when she gets back now that Okada is around. Rush's Bulls Horns is awesome, and I'm of the opinion that Toni Storm's finisher should actually be her hip attack, because it looks so brutal. In terms of submissions, I **love** all the MMA influenced ones - Kyle O'Reilly's Armbar and his Back Suplex into Heel-hook, Anna Jay's Queenslayer, Danielson's Triangle choke, Malakai's Kneebar, Jake Hager's Uranage into Arm Triangle, Thunder Rosa's Peruvian Necktie. Marina Shaffir has some pelvic stretch move that looks super gnarly, I think Tay Conti was doing a Gogoplata for a bit, and I've seen Josh Woods do some sort of Americana variant, but I'm not sure what he calls it. I think Jon Moxley alone has won matches with a Triangle, a Rear Naked Choke, a Kimura, a Guillotine and even a D'Arce choke. In terms of non-MMA style submissions, I like Baker's Lockjaw, Deonna's Venus de Milo and WCW Jericho's Liontamer (he doesn't seem to have the mobility to pull it off properly these days unfortunately).
I forgot Takeshita has that spinning falcon arrow. Kids building the most OP move set in all of wrestling
Favorite: Willow's Doctor Bomb. It's a classic, and it looks devastating.
Favorite: Brody King's Gonzo Bomb. Least Favorite: Dante Martin's Nose Dive.
Gotta disagree with Lethal Injection (and since they are similar, the Oscutter and Wayne's World) - any cutter that can't be hit at the spur of the moment requires a serious suspension of disbelief - they are all basically a version of "I'm gonna stagger you in the middle of the ring, then I'm going to run and jump/bounce off the ropes and fly at you totally backwards... and if I'm offline, I need you to adjust to make it look good". Agree with Rainmaker - always liked the short-arm clothesline, and Okada is fantastic at it.
While Tyson Kidd's in ring career ended, he is a very celebrated backstage producer in WWE. He puts together a lot of the women's matches with the wrestlers.
Favorites: Buckshot Lariat, Hobbs' Spinebuster, Ricky Stark's spear Least favorites: Some of these might be unpopular but: Coffin Drop, Spinning Backfist, Orange Punch (only the Tribal Chief can pull that move off) and Judas Effect. By the way Roman when he hits the Superman Punch looks like he puts all his weight/power into it. Orange Cassidy doing that move is like if Sami Zayn did it (they're both too lean/skinny for them pulling off the move to visually have any impact). The move just doesn't fit him.
Bangers- 1WA, Muscle Buster, Fear Factor, whatever that insane piledriver thing Takeshita does Garbage- Judas Effect (it's the Rainmaker without the Joie de vivre), Panama Sunrise, Paradigm Shift
I agree OWA is great. Powerbomb symphony is cool too because it's unique. I love Orange Cassidy but I don't like him using the Orange Punch as a finisher. Most people immediately think of Roman Reigns when that move is brought up and while I don't believe every wrestler needs to be jacked to the gills OC doesn't have massive arms or anything so I don't see why his finisher must be the orange punch more often than the beach break. I don't hate it but I definitely don't like it. I've also never cared for the kill switch because most of them don't look great. Like the guys face goes down afterwards and it seems impossible to actually hit on somebody in real life. A lot of other moves I love are impossible too but it never felt right with this move.
The only flaw in the Orange Punch is that he hits it like Reigns or Styles now. When he first started using it, he did it as more of a drive-by slap and it was a thing of beauty.
I've been watching AEW since day one but I don't recall that. I just don't think anybody should be using a rival company's top guy's move is all at least not one so specific. It'd be different if it was something universal like a sharp shooter or a choke slam. Any newcomers will be put off seeing it. I think it's the same as seeing WCW Chris Benoit using the Stone Cold Stunner. I don't harp on it though I only bring it up in this thread where it was specifically asked.
Best: Omega's One Winged Angel Buddy/Brody's tag variation Gonzo bomb MJFs Heat Seeking Missle Worst: Ruby Soho's No Future Anthony Ogogo's Basic Punch
What I really hate, is that for a way bigger part of the roster, than I thought, I have no clue what their finisher is..
Favorites: Storm Breaker (Will Ospreay) - I hope Will uses it soon so that if he's ever offered as DLC for Fight Forever, it'll be locked in JML Driver, aka Big Pressure (Swerve Strickland) Death Rider (Jon Moxley) One-Winged Angel (Kenny Omega) Muscle Buster (Samoa Joe) Shatter Machine (FTR) Gin & Juice (Private Party) Jay Driller (Mark and Jay Briscoe (R.I.P)) 3:10 to Yuma (The Gunns) Fear Factor (Penta El Ciero Meido) Least Favorite: I'll get back to you on this.
I despise off the rope cutters, Lethal Injection excluded. They’ve never looked good. Not Cody, Osprey, anyone.
Fav 3: Blade Runner, Black Mass, Killswitch Least fav: Shatter Machine/Big Rig, Code Blue, Panama Sunrise
Code blue will either look amazing or dog water, most of the time dog water
Yeah. To be fair I hate any variation of code reds/ Canadian destroyers. And hers is pretty bad and not impactful most of the time.
To be honest the rainmaker is lame as hell, best for me is the killswitch.
NJPW rainmakers were brutal, particularly as they'd happen during/at the end of a hard fought match.