11 Most Overused Moves In WWE

After months of face-offs and run-offs, the hero and villain are finally going at it. The battle goes back and forth with the face having the upper hand until, shock-horror, the heel character manages to cinch in a sleeper hold. The commentators are livid, portraying this not as good wrestling but the kind of underhanded techniques that rich Johnny Foreigners use against good-hearted Real Americans.

The fans are on the edge of their seats as they see the life slowly drained from their hero. The ref holds his arm up once, and it drops to the canvas. A second time and the same thing happens. A third time and it starts to drop. The match is obviously over and the forces of darkness and massive moustaches have won...

BUT WAIT!

At the last second he's drawn energy from the cheers of the fans and kept his arm from hitting the mat. He's still in this, and now he's getting a second wind from somewhere which is particularly impressive considering he's in a chokehold. He's lifted the villain and slammed his own body back into the turnbuckles. Loosening the evil villain's grip, our hero is back in the match.

If you watched the then-WWF in the '80s, you remember that match. In fact, you probably remember lots of matches where that happened because it was fashionable for a while.

Forty years on from that, here are the modern moves that are overused in WWE.

The number one most devastating move in all sports entertainment, the surprise roll-up is designed to protect wrestlers who lose to it. They didn't actually get beaten, you see. They had one "stolen" from them. They were distracted so that doesn't count as a real win. Come back next week to watch the exact same match, only this time we might see a proper ending to it because that one doesn't count, get it?

In the days of the territories, bookers would do everything they could to keep their guys looking strong. Screwy finishes and battles to the time limit draw were standard as it kept the rivalry that was selling tickets going as well as keeping the belt on their biggest draw. The surprise roll-up is born of the same stuff in a company that tries to make everyone look strong and ends up making them look equally weak.

Being unprepared for a move that pins you in a wrestling match where pin attempts should probably be expected, leaves the loser looking like an idiot. But this has only gotten worse with the advent of the 24/7 championship, which eschews the match entirely, favouring fresh wrestlers being taken out easily by surprise roll-ups that they simply do not have the strength to kick out of even while fresh.