10 Stiffest Wrestling Clotheslines Ever

In the wake of the theatrics of pro-wrestling; the People's Elbows, Knuckle Shuffles, Hulking Up and Leg Drops, it's a good thing the industry has always had the hard-hitting, smash-mouth balance in place to add some credibility to the cartoonist nature of some of the wrestling repertoire. Super-kicks, spears, punt kicks, knee smashes and, perhaps the oldest and stiffest of the lot, the clothesline and its brother in arm, the Lariat. For the record, the difference between a clothesline and a Lariat is in the positioning of the arm. A clothesline keeps the arm extended out towards the attackers side, where as the Lariat utilises the movement of the arm as an attacking weapon, often off of the ropes. Whilst no more than a regular move for most, some wrestlers have made the clothesline (and Lariat) their own over the years. This list looks at 5 of the stiffest examples of clotheslines you're likely to find in WWE history and 5 of the men who made stiff clotheslines their calling card- performing many in their illustrious careers. One thing you'll want to look out for in this list is the point of contact with the body and the resistance from the bumping wrestler. The smoke and mirrors of pro-wrestling often make clotheslines look harsher than they might be, such as on this attack by Brock Lesnar on Molly Holly:

What signifies a real stiff clothesline is the impact upon the bumper. Molly here travels down with Lesnar's arm, making it look far worse than it was when, really there was not too much impact. We'll be looking at examples where impact was everything! We start with the singular examples...