Number 5 – Umaga – Samoan Spike
Eddie Fatu was a Samoan-American professional wrestler, best known under the ring name,
“Umaga”.
His character was built as this unstoppable force weighing in at 350 pounds, however,
his finishing move, the “Samoan Spike” didn’t do any justice conveying his character’s
destructive nature.
The Samoan Spike was essentially a high-speed thumb thrust to an opponent’s throat.
Granted, a quick jab to the throat will do some damage, however, surely not enough to
knock someone out.
For a wrestler of his size, a signature splash would have been better as opposed to a measly
taped thumb strike to the throat.
Number 4 – The Great Khali – Khali Chop
The Great Khali was a giant when it comes to wrestling, towering at 7 ft 1 inches and
debuted on the 7th April 2006 in an episode of Smackdown!, attacking The Undertaker.
Surely The Great Khali must have had a deadly finisher to accompany his giant and destructive
gimmick?
Well…
I’m afraid that is not the case, his finisher was just as dull as Roman Reigns’ Superman
Punch.
The finishing manoeuvre involved Khali waiting for his unsuspecting opponent to face him
until he would karate chop their head with full force.
Although the move could cause concussion, Khali’s lack of athleticism and speed only
made the finisher less believable.
Number 3 – Mick Foley – Mandible Claw
The Mandible Claw or Mr. Socko, as it is otherwise known as, was the finishing move of hard-core
legend, Mick Foley.
The Mandible Claw is a manoeuvre that involves Foley putting a smelly sock over his hand
before placing his middle and ring fingers into his opponent’s mouth.
The move compresses the nerves in the jaw and renders the opponent’s jaw paralyzed.
Although highly entertaining, the move is no-way enough to finish an opponent off.
Chris Jericho even commented on the move saying, “I don’t like Mick Foley’s Mr. Socko
because it doesn’t do anything – he puts a stinky sock in your mouth and you fall down….
The last thing I want is a dirty sock pulled out of a guy’s pants and then shoved into
my mouth.”
Number 2 – Scotty 2 Hotty: The Worm
To give this guy credit The Worm was pure entertainment, however, in terms of it being
a finishing move was just farcical.
The Worm was in essence a backhand chop to a lying opponent that would be executed basically
a minute later after a silly routine dance was performed.
He would stand over his downed opponent with a big expression on his face and then hop
four times to the other end of the ring while the crowd chanted W.O.R.M, do the worm and
finally sway his arms in the air before striking his fallen opponent with a backhand chop.
The whole build up was just for a lousy chop to the face!
Although amusing, the move itself definitely should not be considered a finisher and his
fallen opponent could probably get back up by the time he is done executing the finisher.
Number 1 – Santino Marella: The Cobra
Words cannot describe how stupid this finishing move actually was!
Santino Marella was one of the funniest performers in wrestling entertainment and his finisher
was a reflection of his comedic character.
Marella’s finishing move involved him taking a sock puppet snake from his vest, putting
the sock over his hand, slapping his forearm to ‘summon’ the snake and then turning
his hand, yelling “Cobra” before eventually striking his opponent in the throat or the
face.
I cannot comprehend how the Cobra strike was deemed as a finishing move, however, the manoeuvre
surprisingly had a pretty good success rate when executed putting away many opponents.
As Marella’s gimmick was hugely entertaining, I guess we could forgive him over his finishing
move as you have got to admit, it is pretty damn hilarious to watch!
Before this video ends I had to showcase this absolutely bizarre move that was actually
a finishing move in professional wrestling!
This is not WWE, however, I had to include this on this on the list because of the sheer
stupidity of the move!
The finisher, performed by Joey Ryan, doesn’t even have a name but to summarise the move
it literally involves Joey tugging at his opponent’s crotch which in turn, causes
agonising screams from his opponent.