100 Best Wrestling Moves EVER
45. Hiroshi Tanahashi | Dragon Screw
A basic move is better than a spectacular move, provided it is executed at the ideal time for full dramatic effect. The best illustration of this principle is Hiroshi Tanahashi’s dragon screw leg whip.
Now, the move itself is excellent. Tanahashi executed it with a ferocious snap in his prime. The person on the receiving end did their bit, selling as if their knee ligaments had been shredded. At its best, the dragon screw was incredible; any fans of legit sports knows that the specific way in which the knee bends is often a season-ender of an injury. The dragon screw epitomised the core concept of suspension of disbelief.
Tanahashi was a genius who grasped the principle of the “when” as well as any wrestler ever. He executed the dragon screw in every single match, but, every single time, he inserted it when it made the most sense and when you least expected it, all at once. Whenever he’d convinced the crowd that he was done for, he’d bust out his reliable signature to alter the momentum of a match thought lost.
In one awesome tweak, at his most desperate, he once used two arms to clutch at Jay White’s leg and take him down.
Informing his work with a sense of pathos, post-prime Tana was better than most wrestlers operating at the peak of their powers.