10 Best WWE Finishing Moves

It goes without saying that a WWE star’s finisher is tremendously important and should be one of their most prized assets.

A great finisher is one that is going to win major matches and titles, a move that fans associate with the performer and when they witness it expect to see a 1-2-3 or a tap-out immediately after.

Before we start proper, there have obviously been a tonne of great finishers over the decades, and honourable mentions must go to Randy Savage’s top-rope elbow drop, the Walls of Jericho, Diesel’s Jackknife Powerbomb, the Rude Awakening, the GTS, Rhyno’s Gore, the Kill Switch and The Widow’s Peak, all of which just missed the grade.

These are the 10 Best WWE Finishing Moves.

10. End Of Days

There is no arguing that his End of Days finisher is one of the absolute best of the modern era.

The End of Days – which sees Corbin picking up his opponent in a uranage position, only to stop and swing them the other way with a flatliner so that their momentum takes them face-first into the canvas – looks both really cool and like it would actually hurt.

Baron’s calling card has been heavily protected, too, which is something of a rarity in the days of frequent finisher kick-outs and no-sells.

It was on the advice of The Undertaker that Corbin made sure his finisher was just that and it’s served him well during his WWE career to date.

It also meant that when Drew McIntyre became the first person to kick out of it at WrestleMania 38, it really meant something.

9. Razor's Edge

Though it was innovated by Danny Spivey, Scott Hall took the Crucifix Powerbomb and made it his own.

Hall started doing the move in WCW when he was known as The Diamond Studd, dubbing it the Diamond Drop. When he jumped to WWE and was repackaged as Razor Ramon, it was re-christened The Razor’s Edge.

It became one of the most protected finishers in the business, because after The Bad Guy had hoisted you up by the armpits and crashed you down to the mat with a mighty thud, you simply knew it was time to go and take a shower.

Nobody (save for, all people, Crush) kicked out of the Razor’s Edge, which looked like it really hurt and was a somewhat scary bump for the recipient to take.

It is a credit to Hall that nobody, from lowly jobbers to world champions, was ever injured by it.

The Razor’s Edge was subsequently used by Mordecai and Sheamus, while Hall himself gave WWE star Damian Priest permission to use the move.

8. The Sharpshooter

The Sharpshooter originated in Japan, with New Japan star and booker Rikki Choshu inventing what he called the sasori-gatame, AKA the Scorpion Hold.

It makes sense, then, that WCW’s Sting would pinch it and call it the The Scorpion Deathlock.

When Bret Hart was embarking on a solo career after the breakup of the Hart Foundation tag team, Vince McMahon and Pat Patterson told him that he needed to come up with a good submission finisher to help stand out.

The Hitman suggested the Scorpion Deathlock and, since he’d never done the move before, asked Konnan (then wrestling as Max Moon) to demonstrate it to him in the showers.

One incorrect version of its origins (often parroted by fans and commentators) is that Hart family Patriarch Stu taught Bret the move in his infamous basement ‘dungeon’.

Regardless, it fit the Excellence of Execution like a pink-and-black glove and he used the Sharpshooter to great effect during his WWE career.

It has since become something of a rite of passage for Canadian wrestlers to use it, with Chris Benoit, Edge, Tyson Kidd and Natalya all doing so.

However, Bret’s remains the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

7. The Pedigree

Triple H first started practising what would become known as The Pedigree when he was a student in Killer Kowalski’s wrestling school.

He then used it while trying to make a name for himself as Jean Paul Levesque in WCW before coming to WWE.

In his early WWE days, Hunter Hearst Helmsley used a version of the cutter as a finish, but it was hit-and-miss as to whether it looked good, depending on who he was doing it on. Plus, Diamond Dallas Page called his former colleague and gave him an earful about ‘stealing’ it from him.

Triple H thus started busting out the Pedigree and, after a bit of trial and error, got the formula down pat.

The Pedigree is great because it’s unique, looks utterly devastating and is something that can be teased and countered in various ways.

It did always look better when The Game would hold onto his opponent’s arms while they took the face-first bump, but I don’t blame anyone for not wanting to take that version.

The multi-time WWE Champion later gifted the move to Seth Rollins as his own in-ring days were winding down.

6. Tombstone Piledriver

The piledriver, in its various forms, is a tremendous move that looks like it would end a match each and every time. Only one looks like it would put you six feet under, though.

Unlike other big-time WWE stars who came to their preferred finisher later, The Undertaker used the Tombstone in his very first WWE match.

Picking his victim up upside down and then spiking them on their heads, the Tombstone was a move as terrifying as The Deadman himself and very few ever kicked out of it.

If they did, it was typically reserved for a special occasion like WrestleMania and only elite-level stars like Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar got the honour.

The Phenom did use other moves to end matches, such as The Chokeslam and later The Last Ride and Hell’s Gate, but he always came back to The Tombstone, a well-established fan favourite that may have looked like it killed the guy on the receiving end, but actually did a lot more damage to ‘Taker’s own knees.

Speaking of knees, The Undertaker must have been praying his held up when he hoisted Mark Henry in the air for his most impressive Tombstone ever back in 2006.

5. The F5

While stationed in WWE feeder farm Ohio Valley Wrestling, Brock Lesnar would occasionally win matches with a spectacular Shooting Star Press.

Doing that four nights a week as a member of the main WWE roster, however, would not lend itself to longevity, so The Next Big Thing had to come up with an alternative.

As Brock tells it, he was watching Japanese wrestling tapes and messing about doing different things in practice when he came up with the move, which sees him pick somebody up on his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, before transitioning into a kind of spinning elevated DDT. The move's name is a reference to an F5 tornado, which is certainly apt.

While the F5 wouldn’t be a good finisher for a lot of wrestlers, a freak of nature like Lesnar had no issues with getting anyone up there, including superheavyweights like Mark Henry, Rikishi and The Big Show.

Interestingly, Brock wasn’t even the first person to do the move, as variations had been done by both Sean O’Haire and Brian Adams months before Lesnar’s debut, but it was The Beast who popularised it and made it one of the best in WWE history.

4. The 619

Back in his WCW days, Rey Mysterio used to do a Tiger Feint Kick, where he would look like he was going to dive onto an opponent on the outside, only to swing his body between the middle and top ropes and come back into the ring.

It was the masked man’s way of paying tribute to the original Tiger Mask and luchador Super Astro, who both used the spot in matches during the 1980s.

It usually garnered a decent reaction and was impressive looking in its own right, but Mysterio took things up a notch when he adapted it ahead of his WWE debut.

On the advice of close friend and former WCW star Damian 666, Rey started doing the move with his opponent draped on the middle rope, kicking them square in the face.

It was then-SmackDown commentator Taz who dubbed it the 619, which is the area code of Mysterio’s home town of San Diego, California.

The 619 was an instant hit and helped Rey get over with a new audience. The beauty of it is that he could hit it on anyone of any size, with variants thrown in here and there, setting him up nicely for the springboard move that follows.

3. Sweet Chin Music

During Shawn Michaels’ early WWE solo run, he used a variation of the back suplex called the ‘teardrop suplex’.

It was alright for a while, but hardly the sort of match-ender befitting such a talented star on the rise.

At some point, The Heartbreak Kid started doing the superkick (a move he used as a setup for the Teardrop), which he openly admits to stealing from former World Class Championship Wrestling standout Gentleman Chris Adams, who Michaels watched on television at home in Texas.

The Lone Star Statesman dubbed his version Sweet Chin Music and tinkered with it over time, with Michaels often setting it up by ‘tuning up the band’ and stomping his foot to build anticipation.

The Sweet Chin Music was a fantastic finisher for HBK, as he nailed it perfectly 99% of the time and it looked like a true knockout blow.

He could hit it instantly and on anyone, while also nailing guys with it as they were jumping off the top rope.

His opponents, meanwhile, could easily counter it by either catching Shawn’s foot or ducking out of the way, which helped him tease it during the course of the match.

As with Jake Roberts and the DDT, a million wrestlers might use the superkick, but The Showstopper’s remains the standard.

2. The Stunner

When Steve Austin came into WWE as The Ringmaster, he was given the finisher that his manager, The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase, had previously used.

And while there was nothing wrong with The Million Dollar Dream submission hold, Austin needed a new, more explosive finisher as his attitude became increasingly intense and aggressive.

It was Michael Hayes who suggested Stone Cold use a version of the Ace Cutter, which John ‘Johnny Ace’ Laurinaitis had been using to great effect in Japan.

A swift kick to the gut is the perfect setup for the move, which sees Austin grab his opponent with his bicep under their jaw, before dropping to his backside and sending his foe to their knees in a sort-of jawbreaker motion.

It was one of the missing pieces of the puzzle and would go on to become one of the moves that defined the Attitude Era.

A timeless finisher, fans to this day will still pop huge for a good Stunner, a move which has been adopted in recent years by Kevin Owens.

1. The RKO

When Randy Orton burst on the scene as a plucky, fresh-faced good guy in 2002, he used everything from cradles, high cross bodies and the dreaded overdrive neckbreaker to win matches.

When he turned heel and got a proper push as a member of Evolution, however, he adopted the cutter.

While the likes of Johnny Ace, DDP and Matt Hardy had all used cutters before, the RKO was something a little bit different, as Orton tended to jump into the move.

It ticked all the boxes – it was impactful, easy to do on anyone, could be easily countered and so on.

Over time, The Viper has tweaked the deadliest weapon in his arsenal, including by adding a preamble where he would slither on his stomach and pound the mat while waiting for an opponent to get to their feet.

The real beauty of the RKO is, of course, Orton’s ability to hit it from outta nowhere.

There is seemingly no position he can’t hit it from and no move he can’t counter into it, with every novel application guaranteed to garner an epic response each time.

And that is why it’s the greatest finisher in WWE history.