10 Beloved Wrestling Finishers That Are Actually Ineffective

Every pro wrestler has a repertoire of moves, and among these maneuvers, one or two (perhaps even more) are designated as finishers. These match-enders are usually a feast for the eyes and a delight to the ears, but sometimes, the appeal of these moves outweighs their credibility.

Canadian Destroyer & 9 Other Wrestling Finishers That Lost Their Effectiveness

If you stop and think about it, some of the most beloved finishers in wrestling history are actually on the flimsy side. All things considered, these maneuvers hardly qualify to be finishing moves in an athletic competition.

10 Dusty Rhodes' Bionic Elbow

This Move Did Not Maximize His Frame

With his sizable frame, Dusty Rhodes could have picked a power move or two for his finishing move. Instead, he went with a rather tame, single-strike finisher that challenges fans’ suspension of disbelief.

By no means did the Bionic Elbow hurt Rhodes’ legacy as one of the most popular babyfaces of all time. But if there was ever a weak spot in his pro wrestling act, it was the selection of this pedestrian move as his finisher. (Then again, Rhodes was immensely proud to be a common man, so perhaps a common maneuver was aproros.)

9 Roddy Piper's Sleeper Hold

Piper Had A Loud Personality, But His Finisher Didn't Really Make Noise

With all due respect to the legendary Roddy Piper, this move would be much more credible if the competitor executing it had freakishly huge arms. Even so, behemoths like Superstar Billy Graham opted not to use the sleeper as their finisher. Perhaps it was because they didn’t think so highly of it?

MMA fighters, of course, use the rear naked choke to finish off opponents. That move, however, is far from the unimaginative standing headlock that Piper and other pro wrestlers have ended their matches with.

8 Ric Flair's Figure Four

According To A Martial Arts Guy, This Would Be Ineffective In A Legit Grappling Session

Leave it to a master of hot takes to talk smack about the finisher of perhaps the greatest pro wrestler of all time. Who dares critique Ric Flair’s figure four leg lock, you ask? Why, none other than controversial podcast host Joe Rogan.

RELATED: 10 Most Iconic Pro Wrestling Submissions That Target The Legs

“A bunch of wrestlers got mad at me,” he said on episode #1881 of The Joe Rogan Experience. “I was trying to explain how dumb a figure four leg lock was because, I was like, he was literally giving up an inside heel hook…It doesn’t work. It’s funny in that regard.” Say what you will about Rogan, but if you dissect the figure four, his comments actually make some sense.

7 The Rockers' Double Fist Drop

Two Punches From Guys Who Jumped Off The Top Rope. That's It.

Remember how the Rockers made jaws drop with their synchronized offense? As though telepathically connected, Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels came up with several creative maneuvers on the fly. “Creative,” however, is not the right term to describe a particular finisher of theirs.

On several occasions, The Rockers resorted to a double diving fist drop. With their extensive knowledge of tag team moves, you’d think that Jannetty and Michaels would go for a more lethal maneuver. But there they were, doing little more than a couple of airborne punches.

6 Rey Mysterio's 619

This Is Vintage Lucha Libre

To be fair, lucha libre has always thrived on being over-the-top and cartoonish. When Rey Mysterio—perhaps the most famous practitioner of this wrestling style—took his talents to WWE, the company’s global audience got to see his unorthodox finishing sequence.

The crux of this sequence is the 619, a spinning kick performed as Mysterio goes horizontal while grabbing the top and middle ropes. This is then followed by a splash, a springboard leg drop, or a hurracanrana pinning combination. So which one of those moves is meant to be the high-impact maneuver that knocks the opponent out? That’s a head-scratcher right there.

5 The People's Elbow (As Executed By The Rock)

It Was A Delayed Elbow Drop, And Nothing More

Strip away The Rock’s otherworldly charisma, and you’re left with the undeniable truth. No matter how many elbow pads he throws into the crowd, no matter how many times he runs the ropes and leaps over his opponent, the People’s Elbow will always be a low-impact move.

If it was so devastating, hundreds of pro wrestlers should have been able to put away their opponents with standing elbow drops. Bottom line: This particular finisher of the Great One wasn’t all that great, strictly speaking.

4 Kurt Angle's Angle Slam

The Ankle Lock Looked Way Better

If Kurt Angle had gone with a couple of submission moves as his finishers throughout his career, he’d still be one of the most credible world champions in the industry. In reality, though, Angle deployed both the Ankle Lock and the Angle Slam. One of those moves actually hampers his shooter persona just a little bit.

RELATED: 10 Funniest Moments Of Kurt Angle's WWE & TNA Career

Consider the way in which this slam is executed—slow turn, delayed impact, and all—and you might to realize that this finisher borders on silly. While Angle was known for turning ridiculous situations into comedy gold, his Angle Slam—in retrospect—was laughable in a not-so-flattering way.

3 Scotty 2 Hotty's The Worm

There Was Plenty Of Dancing, But Not A Lot Of Credible Offense, In This One

Scotty 2 Hotty had quite a lot of things going on for him in his WWE career. He enjoyed title reigns as a singles competitor, title reigns as a tag team wrestler, a dancing gimmick that was incredibly over, and even a memorable moment in Madison Square Garden. What he did not have, however, was a believable finisher.

This is a classic instance of a finishing move in which the allure of the set-up trumps the effectiveness of the actual finisher. On paper, a karate chop to the neck sounds like it could cause damage. But the way Scotty executed The Worm (the chop, not the dance move), it did not look devastating at all.

2 John Cena's Attitude Adjustment

It Was Highly Popular, Yes, But It Was Hardly The Most Believable Maneuver In The Industry

To some wrestling fans, the suggestion that John Cena’s AA was ineffective might border on sacrilegious. But if you compare an overhead slam off a fireman’s carry to the finishers of Cena’s peers, you’d see that the Attitude Adjustment could have used some adjustment.

Do a side-by-side viewing of Cena and Lesnar getting their opponents up in a fireman’s carry, then see how their subsequent actions attempt to deal match-ending damage. Without question, Lesnar’s F5 looked better as a blockbuster move—as did Orton’s RKO and Batista’s sitout powerbomb.

1 AJ Styles' Phenomenal Forearm

It's A Shame That The Styles Clash Has Been De-emphasized

In terms of versatility with wrestling maneuvers, AJ Styles has one of the deepest bags of tricks out there. The Styles Clash and the Calf Crusher are two moves that underscore his mastery of grappling. What about his third finishing move in WWE? That’s a different story.

In a promotion filled with super athletes that possess tremendous heart and resilience, it’s hard to buy the Phenomenal Forearm as a top-tier finisher. Sure, there’s extra momentum generated by Styles springboarding off the ropes, but can it realistically put away his world-class adversaries? As far as the eye test goes, that’s a hard sell.