10 Most Awesome Wrestling Submissions (And Who Did Them Best)
It's either tap or snap with this lot.
There's a fine line between crowd heat-intensifying submission hold finishers and excrutiatingly dull, crowd silence-intensifying rest holds.
The difference lies as much in the presentation as it does in the hold itself. Certain wrestlers will slap on weak-looking holds, clearly not cut out to finish a match, for what feels like an aeon (looking at you Randy Orton's chinlock). Other times, a finisher that could be devastating will be applied so sloppily and lackadaisically that it kills all suspension of disbelief immediately (SANADA's Cold Skull is an unfortunate recent example here).
Other times, however, those with exceptional technical skill, a boatload of charisma or, better yet, both, set the world on fire with their patented tapout-maker. From knotting up (hopefully) flexible foes in plausibly painful knots to knowing how to press fans' buttons with the right showmanship, this lot have rocked the house with their body-contorting sadism.
Submissions, should, in theory, provide a certain level of realism in the ring. In MMA, all manner of holds have been used to decimate fighters and extract the tap. For wrestling, with this in mind, it's a quick way to ensure suspension of disbelief among the audience remains at a sturdy level.
However, as a few of the more bombastic holds on this list show, nothing quite beats star power when it comes to getting a submission over.
10. The Bulldog Choke (Jon Moxley)
The rebirth of Jon Moxley ever since that Dean Ambrose fellow left WWE in 2019 has been a sight to behold. Gone were the goofball antics and crippling germaphobia that came to define him during his closing stretch with the promotion. In their place was a hard-grafting, gritty, grumpy brawler out to mangle and mutilate anyone unlucky enough to be booked opposite him.
In AEW, Moxley has finally realised his true main event potential, putting on hard-hitting, ultra-violent matches and feuds with the likes of Kenny Omega, Eddie Kingston and Chris Jericho. His aptly-named Bulldog Choke, a chokehold he applies just under the chin of a grounded opponent, has become a key part of his game.
It's a perfectly believable match-ender. Between the generally fatal power of a good chokehold and the sadistic intensity with which Moxley smothers and cranks his opponents' necks, fans know it's a potential lights out moment any time it's applied. During his laudable reign as AEW World Champion, Moxley even used it to subdue big beasts like Brian Cage and Lance Archer.
The addition of a technically sound submission hold to his otherwise brawling-heavy style was smart. It makes Moxley a more complete wrestler with a more diverse array of dangerous offence at his disposal. Hopefully we see him putting wrestlers to sleep with it again soon enough in 2022.