10 Early Wrestler Finishers You Totally Forgot About

by Jack Morrell

1. CM Punk - Pepsi Plunge

When he debuted on television with the WWE's version of ECW in July 2006, CM Punk had a small transitional phase whereby he was using the anaconda vice as a sole finish. The submission move worked well with his babyface kickboxing shooter gimmick at the time, but the office wasn't happy with it, so Punk adopted the Go To Sleep as a homage to KENTA, one of Japan's premier performers.

While wrestling the independents, however, Punk made famous the Pepsi Plunge, named after his love of the eponymous soft drink. Performed from the turnbuckle, this double underhook facebuster looked lethal, so it's a complete and total mystery why Punk wasn't allowed to bring it with him into the big leagues. Oh, wait no it's not. The Pepsi Plunge is a more dramatic version of Triple H's Pedigree, and of course, The Game wouldn't have approved if the indie darling had stumbled in and begun upstaging him on television.

In fairness to Levesque, we doubt he had any idea that Punk ever used the move; he claims not to have known anything about Punk's pre-WWE career. The change was probably just the result of a road agent deciding to give Punk a little political advice about his future, advice Punk clearly took on board.

Punk had to wait until February 2022 to bring the Pepsi Plunge back, deploying the move in a match with AEW rival MJF.

Nonetheless, it wasn't featured as a regular part of his arsenal, even in Tony Khan's promotion.

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Contributor

Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.