Finishers are an integral part of pro wrestling.
In my mind they are as much part of wrestling
as the wrestlers or the ring. Sometimes wrestling
can occur without them, but it tends to be
much better when they are included.
In trying to select what the “Greatest Finisher
in Pro Wrestling History” is, there is an
almost infinite field of criteria that you
could use when trying to make your decision,
and over the course of this series I will
likely use lots of different methods. But
do keep in mind that this is purely subjective
and of course there can never be a single
“Greatest Finisher in Pro Wrestling History”.
Anyway, enough of my blabbering, time for
the first candidate for “Greatest Finisher
in Pro Wrestling History”.
The RKO
The RKO can best be described in wrestling
terminology as a “Jumping three-quarter
facelock front face bulldog”. What a mouthful!
In essence under normal circumstances, Randy
Orton with his back to his opponent will jump
in the air grab the back of his opponents
head with his hand and with his bicep pressed
against their jaw or throat, pull the opponent
to the floor causing them to land on their
face.
The RKO is always the move that I first bring
up in discussions with friends about the best
finisher and so it is only fitting that it
is the first in this series. And when I say
that the RKO is the best finisher, yes I mean
that it is better than both the similar moves
of the Ace Crusher and the Diamond cutter...fight
me! Although (Executive Vice President of
Talent Relations) John Laurinaitis invented
the move as Johnny Ace back in 1988, I believe
that it is Randy Orton who has realised the
full potential of the move, and brought it
to greater prominence.
One of the main arguments that I make about
the RKO being the best finisher is that it
can be used in a massive variety of situations,
and although it has become somewhat of a meme,
one of the strengths of the RKO is that it
can truly be hit “outta nowhere”. This
ability to hit it out of nowhere in surprise
situations has led to some of the most iconic
moments in WWE history.
Who can forget the amazing RKO counter to
the shooting star press that Orton hit on
Evan Bourne on Raw. I don’t think there
are any other finishers that would have allowed
for this moment to have happened. Of course
part of the ability for this move to have
been hit in such spectacular fashion has to
go down to the athleticism of both Bourne
and Orton themselves. But a big part of the
ability for the moment to happen at all is
down to the design and execution of the move
itself. No other move would have been possible
from this position. Orton doesn’t even make
it fully to his feet, it looks like he is
doing the limbo when he catches Bourne. The
limited contact points between the two wrestlers
during the RKO are what allows this sort of
impressive move to be performed.
We saw a similarly impressive use of the RKO
in countering a move when Randy reversed Seth
Rollins’s curb stomp at Wrestlemania 31.
Again part of the praise has to go to the
athleticism of the two wrestlers, but again
this spot would not have been possible with
any other finishing move. This movie wouldn’t
have worked with something like the Attitude
Adjustment for instance, because this would
involve catching the opponent first which
increases the possibility that the move could
go wrong with either the opponent landing
incorrectly and hurting themselves, or the
falling mass being too much for the catcher
to hold and dropping them meaning the iconic
moment would be lost. Not to mention that
allowing gravity to take its course makes
it look so much smoother as well as impactful.
And for those that are saying that any strike
finishers could have been used in this situation
alla Shawn Michaels and Shelton Benjamin,
to this I would say that these strike finishers
might be too dangerous to perform in the two
situations described, or they might not look
as good as the RKO anyway. Can you imagine
if instead of a shooting star press into RKO
we instead got it into a Bullhammer Elbow.
While we might also have looked back at this
fondly, 1) it would have been harder to have
been pulled off, needing the Bullhammer-er
to be fully on their feet first and with enough
wind up to hit it, and 2) even if it was able
to have been pulled off without a botch ruining
it, it would have looked less impactful and
less impressive than the RKO. The RKO goes
with the gravity rather than trying to fight
it which makes it easier to sell the devastation.
With a strike move, the direction of travel
should change if the opponent was actually
hit, but you can’t really do that if you
are keeping your opponent safe.
Another component to the RKO being a candidate
for the Greatest Finisher in Pro Wrestling
History is that it can be used to put opponents
through tables and other objects. It can be
used off ladders, off turnbuckles, off aprons,
on to aprons, out of other people’s finishers
and other situations. This wide variety of
situations is all down to the simplicity of
the move.
Of course there are numerous points of criteria
that you could use in order to decide what
makes a great finisher, and one of these points
is believability.
One could argue that the RKO lacks believability
in several ways. First of all, the user of
the finisher ends up falling and landing on
their back from the same height as the receiver
of the move will. Indeed the height that Randy
normally falls from is probably higher than
several other finishing moves, such as the
Rock Bottom for instance, that are supposed
to be match ending, devastating moves. And
yet when Orton performs the RKO, unless he’s
very incapacitated and tired from a long match,
he will normally pop straight back up after
hitting the move. This not only delegitimises
his own move (if he can pop back up after
filing from that height then surely his opponent
is also able to do this and yet they never
do), but it also delegitimises moves of fellow
wrestlers. If Orton falls further and harder
hitting his move than you do hitting yours
on him, how can yours be powerful?
This in turn makes us question the resiliency
of the wrestlers that get put away with these
now apparently inferior moves, and in essence
undermines wrestling as a whole! …maybe
that was a step too far! But the believability
of the RKO is also undermined by its visual
and physical distance from real life. For
example, it is difficult for the audience
to believe that the RKO could be an effective
move in a street fight or in the UFC. And
while I realise that if wrestling was just
like real life then it would just be a worse
version of the UFC. Part of the reason, if
not the main reason why we watch wrestling
is the suspension of disbelief and the moves
and situations that the suspensions allow
to occur. But to some if it can’t work in
a real fight then it’s just not credible.
Furthermore, it could be argued that the RKO
does not look devastating enough. While it
looks flashy and smooth and cool when Orton
performs it, it doesn’t look like it hurts
a great amount. It may also be unclear to
viewers what the intent of the RKO is, should
the opponents face hit the mat or Randy’s
shoulder. If it’s his shoulder, how can
the move ever cause any significant damage?
But despite all of these negative factors
I still believe that the RKO is one of the
best wrestling finishers ever created. It
suits the character or Orton very well, can
be used in possibly the widest variety of
situations of any wrestling move, and has
been used to win Orton several titles and
big matches. It’s one of my favourite wrestling
moves, even if I might not necessarily be
the world’s biggest Randy Orton fan! And
will certainly go down as one of the most
iconic moves 
in wrestling history.
This episode was written and produced by me,
Steven Lemontree. Our outro music is Simplicity
by Macroform music. If you ever want to contact
us you can do so on Instagram and Twitter
at @nevetslt or email nevetslt@gmail.com that’s
n e v e t s l t.
Life is hearing a baby screaming and wishing
it was socially acceptable to do the same
We'll see you next week.
