Missed the rest? Catch up before reading the rest:
30. Bryan Danielson's Elbow Strikes
This is not Bryan Danielson's first appearance on this list and will not be his last. Many know him for his goofy tag team with Kane in the WWE but before he ever stepped foot in a WWE ring, he was a legend in Ring of Honor and virtually every independent promotion in the United States. One reason for his popularity was the long list of holds he could utilize and I could name about 8 ifferent moves he used regularly as finishers. Above was one of the most impressive. Trap the arms and bash your opponent with elbows until they either submit or you can roll them into a pin after turning their brains to mush.
29. Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho
The walls of Jericho is maybe the most well known submission move on my list. The interesting thing about the Walls of Jericho is that the hold is not always delivered the same way. The video above is the version that I rank here, although often it is just a basic Boston Crab. What makes the Walls so great is the knee placed in the center of the back, adding a spot the back has to stick on a bend around which drastically increases the pain of the hold.
28. Jay Briscoe's Jay Driller
The move is simple and really needs no description. Butterfly the arms, drop on head, count to three.
27. Ric Flair's Figure 4 Leg Lock
The Figure Four almost got left off my list because it is starting to be seen by so many wrestlers. However, while many use the hold, only Flair ever got it over as a legitimate finish. The hold itself hurts like hell and virtually every wrestling fan can attest to this as they have likely been stuck in it at some point. The move is brutal in that it uses one of your opponents legs to attempt to break the other by crossing them and applying pressure directly into each other. Flair has used it to many countless titles and it has been used to torture even more countless fanboys the worlds over.
26. The Dudley Boyz 3-D
The greatest sign that any finishing move has caught on with the fans is when there is a signature sound that floods the arena when it gets hit. The figure four gets a "Wooo", Sweet Chin Music is precluded by the crowd tuning up the band, and when the 3-D gets set up, the crowd yells "3-D!!" in unison. No tag team finisher has every been more popular and been able to maintain its greatness over a period so long as the almost 20 years now that the 3-D has had fans cheering and the move has brought in more tag team championships than any other move in history.
25. Jerry Lawler's Spike Piledriver
The piledriver is the most dangerous move in wrestling. It has been used by years, broken a lot of necks, and is actually banned by WWE and several states. That is now, this was then. I don't know who created the piledriver but no one has made their own like Jerry "The King" Lawler. The move itself always felt ironic when used by Lawler because of his character. He was generally a cowardly, loud-mouthed heel who was more sneaky than tough. The piledriver was a great layer to the character showing that he was dangerous, whether his character showed it or not. When the match ended, you would be incapacitated. Don't try this one at home kids.
24. CM Punk's Pepsi Plunge
Remenber when I said the Pedigree had been outdone Well here is where that happened. Before he was ever dropping pipebombs in the WWE and using poor GTS's and top rope elbows, CM Punk had an awesome finisher. The move we all know as the pedigree, only Punk never used it from the mat, only off the top rope. Sadly, when he moved to the WWE, HHH was the man. That meant there would be no upstaging of his trademark finisher and the Pepsi Plunge was left behind on the indy circuit. I still hold hope that one day down the line Punk can start busting it out for big Wrestlemania matches as a special occasion, the way Undertaker does with his dive over the top rope.
23. Low Ki's Warrior's Way
If every Warriors Way was hit the way it is the posted video, I'd probably have it in my top five. The regular version of the move occurs with a prone opponent laying on his back in the ring and Low Ki would leap off the top rope and land with both feet on the opponents chest in a vicious double stomp. Even at a mere 175 pounds it astounds to me to this day that the move has never resulted in a major injury.
22. Tajiri's Buzzsaw Kick
There is not much to say about the Buzzsaw kick. It is a nasty, fast, kick to the side of an opponents head. Tajiri was never a main eventer but even at a low spot on the card, this move was a legitimate finisher that I can only remember ever seeing some one kick out of one time. Sometimes the move speaks for itself.
21. Mr. Kennedy's Green Bay Plunge
There are a lot of moves that start in a fireman's carry, however, none have ever looked as devastating as Kennedy's Green Bay Plunge. The Plunge was a rarely used maneuver, I assume because there were a small number of wrestlers that were willing to get hit with it, however when Kennedy did bust it out the match was as good as over.
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