It’s no secret times change a lot in wrestling and fans have to expect the shifts in dynamics. Thus, moves that were once eye-popping like a hurricanrana or a moonsault are now standard. Some are still pretty good to see in the ring and can work as finishers. Guys can put spins on things like a running powerslam or the various leg lock moves to still work as great finishers today.
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But others aren’t quite as believable as they once were. They’ve become commonplace and thus fans today won’t take to them as believable finishing moves. For example, every time Bret Hart locked in the Sharpshooter, WWE fans knew the match was over - nowadays, not so much. They were fun in their time but have lost effectiveness today as these ten once common finishers of wrestling’s past would be just another move for today’s fandom.
10 Knockout Punch
The last guy using a knockout punch regularly was the Big Show and that was only semi-believable due to his size. It was nuttier to have guys smaller like Johnny B. Badd do it. Some could be fancier like Kerry Von Erich’s Tornado Punch or the various heart punches used.
Yet it’s hard to see guys trading wild blows back and forth then one manages one simple punch that lays their opponent out instantly. Again, it can work for a larger person but such punches are better suited for boxing, not wrestling.
9 Superplex
Once upon a time, a superplex really was something. Seeing a guy hit a suplex off the top rope was a big deal and guys like Bob Orton Jr helped sell it as a powerful ending to a match.
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Today, this barely registers as a big mid-match move. It’s gotten wilder as guys will do it off cages or ladders and onto a pack of guys to boot, but it almost never ends in an actual pin. It’s too bad, as the superplex was a great finisher in its time but watered down over the years.
8 Hot Shot/Stun Gun
Eddie Gilbert used it as the Hot Shot, while Steve Austin had it in WCW as the Stun Gun. It was them tossing the opponent off the ropes, then picking them up and dropping them across the top rope on their chest or neck.
Sometimes it could look fun if the guy sold bouncing off well, but it also required the right timing to make it work. These days, that’s a move used to just change the momentum of a match with guys flying off regularly, so add it to the list of once nifty finishers that wouldn’t be as effective these days.
7 Airplane Spin
The airplane spin is one of those finishers that never really made any sense. Picking a guy up on your shoulders and then spinning around a lot was supposed to make them too dizzy to fight back. The problem being, the guy doing the spinning should have gotten just as dizzy too.
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Yet it was used as a finisher by Gorilla Monsoon, Mike Rotunda and others, and crowds back in the day popped for it. Yet, today fans would roll their eyes at making this more than a comedy spot for modern wrestling.
6 Slingshot Suplex
Tully Blanchard used this move a lot, with a few other guys doing it. He’d lift a guy up like a suplex, then bounce his feet off the ropes into the rest of the move. The idea was the added bounce made it more of a knockout blow.
Probably a reason you didn’t see it used more often was that it was hard to see how that extra little bounce could make this anything more than a fancy-looking suplex. Even Tuly faded from using it after a while, as the slingshot wouldn’t hit the mark as a finisher nowadays.
5 Flying Crossbody
A splash off the ropes on someone prone on the mat is one thing. Hitting a flying crossbody on someone standing up isn’t the big finisher it was back in the day. Ricky Steamboat used it a lot (and won countless matches with it) and a lot of high-flyers followed suit.
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But it doesn’t have quite the same impact when the opponent is standing and lately, the flier is caught and put into a hard move themselves. It can still spark a match only in a mid-bout move, but it is not the stunning and flashy finisher it had been in the territory days.
4 Shoulder Breaker
It’s odd how this was once used as a finisher by guys. Vader used it to win the WCW World title over Ron Simmons, and Rocky Maivia had it as his first finisher. It was picking a guy up and then dropping one of his shoulders onto your knee.
Why this would be some sort of paralyzing knockout blow never made sense in the first place, especially if the guy’s shoulder wasn’t injured already. It was already a lame finisher before and it's no surprise that it isn't used anymore.
3 Bulldog
Dustin Rhodes actually used this as a finisher in WCW, but it’s hard to remember when it was so effective. It could be good grabbing a guy in a headlock, getting a running start and then jumping to ram them into the mat.
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You still see it used, but now for a near fall, not the top finisher it once was. There are far more effective and hard-hitting moves to use as the bulldog works as a “wear opponent down” move but not the one to finish someone off.
2 Lariat
Some guys could make this look devastating like Barry Windham, Stan Hansen and JBL. But at the end of the day, it’s a clothesline, one of the simpler moves in wrestling.
Sure, you can try to make it look good, but even a top rope one doesn’t do as much damage nowadays. It only works if the guy is big enough to sell it as devastating, but even then, the lariat looks like a move belonging to the territory days and not as effective as a big finisher these days.
1 The Hogan Legdrop
Hulk Hogan likely wishes he could have avoided the wear this would have on his body over the years. Sure, the People’s Elbow can be silly, but while Hogan’s epic leg drop was terrific in its prime, it looks a bit lamer today.
A legdrop is now a standard move, even one off the top rope is just a filler maneuver and rarely has much impact. It is rarely used nowadays, as dropping a leg no longer has the effect it once did.
