10 Wrestlers Who Desperately Need New Finishers

That pedigree's gotta go!

seth rollins pedigree
WWE.com

Nothing in a wrestler's arsenal is more important than his or her finishing maneuver, and it's hard to find the perfect finisher. While some moves are undoubtedly impressive or painful looking, a lot goes into finding the move that best suits the talent in question.

For a perfect example, just look at Kazuchika Okada. The current IWGP Heavyweight Champion finishes opponents with the Rainmaker, a short clothesline spun out of a wrist-clutch waistlock. While the idea of a short clothesline as a finisher may not seem very impressive, the grandiose manner in which Okada does it and the way in which his opponents sell it make it look impactful. As a result, the move is considered one of the most devastating in Japanese wrestling.

What's also fantastic about the Rainmaker, though, is that there are so many different ways to counter it, making for unlimited potential in creating exciting match endings. Okada's opponents can duck the clothesline, fire back with a headbutt, hit a lariat of their own, or do a hundred other things that'll leave an audience gasping. The result is an insane finish to one of the many classic bouts Okada's had.

A good finisher can do a lot, and it's something these 10 stars would do well to take into account:

10. The Big Show

seth rollins pedigree
WWE.com

To be sure, getting punched in the face by a guy with a fist the size of a cantaloupe can't be pleasant. Plus, the fact that The Big Show typically connects very well with his punches makes the WMD finisher one of the more believable ones in wrestling.

At the same time, though, it's hard not to think that Big Show is wasting his size simply by using a punch as a finisher. Anybody can punch someone, and while Show's punch does pack power, a 6'2" wrestler with a kayfabe boxing background could knock his opponents out just as easily, and with the same level of credibility.

Big Show's old finisher, the Chokeslam, was much more visually impressive than the WMD. Though Show wasn't the first to use the Chokeslam to great success, his variation - where he held his opponent high up in the air for a moment before planting him - made good use of his incredible size.

The Big Show's career is probably coming to an end within a matter of months, but building up the Chokeslam leading to his WrestleMania match with Shaq - surely his most important match in years - would add an extra layer of intrigue to the bout.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013