10 Best Finishers In Wrestling Today
3. Daniel Bryan: The Running Knee
As with quite a bit in wrestling, if you think too deeply, the entire concept of a finisher is a bit...daft. Often, the person on the receiving end is taking a flat-back bump not too dissimilar to those they absorb throughout the match.
For those equipped with the genius to make it coherent, it's all in the set-up. Daniel Bryan is an in-ring artist, and the Running Knee is the last brush stroke on the canvas.
Bryan, who once got the catchphrase "I'm going to punch you in the face" over, relentlessly targets the face. His corner dropkicks bludgeon the face. His multiple foot stamp spot scrapes the skin of the face off the bone. His alternate LeBell Lock finisher, designed to crack the neck, also suffocates the face. Bryan in his matches recognises the sensitive textures and crucial senses of the face, and aims his scientific onslaught in its direction, all of which culminates in the deathblow. With his opponents knocked senseless, he leaps at them at high speed and with explosive force, connecting his hard joint square with their cheekbones.
It also just looks really cool on its own terms. Bryan does something that looks very painful on a primal level, and he also soars majestically as he does it.