10 Best AEW Finishers

8. The Young Bucks' Meltzer Driver

Chris Jericho Liontamer
AEW

The Meltzer Driver is wonderful because Nick Jackson's contribution is necessary but also fairly unnecessary.

It's a flex as much as anything else. It's Nick Jackson having his cake and eating too; he's leaning into tired criticism, inviting it, but also doing something to actually win a professional wrestling match by adding spike to the impact. He could do this without flipping, obviously, but he's a Young Buck. He is a cocky prick who transgresses on old notions of "serious wrestling" because he knows them to be ridiculous. He's flipping off the wrestling-started-in-'84 crowd by making a Tombstone look more impactful. This is in character. It's showing off and backing it up in one visually stunning parallel moment.

The more mature iteration of the Bucks' act has allowed for the Meltzer Driver to be modified somewhat; at Double Or Nothing, with his arm having been worked over throughout the match, Matt could only clutch to Pentagón Jr. with the other. In this match, he needed his brother to bring the spike because he couldn't execute the move without it.

The Bucks, known as thoughtless spot monkeys, add more depth to their work than almost any performer.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!