10 Most Heavily Protected Wrestling Finishers Ever
8. Gotch-Style Piledriver (Karl Gotch)
Pictured above is the Gotch-Style Piledriver's foremost modern practitioner, Minoru Suzuki. As you can imagine, finding high-quality images of Karl Gotch dropping people with the move he popularized in the 1950s isn't exactly easy.
Suzuki gives the move a level of protection above and beyond the average finisher. Even Kazuchika Okada's Rainmaker, once considered an insta-kill, has been watered down with softer, less impactful versions for transitions and kickout pops. When Suzuki drops you on your head, however, you're usually down. Knowing this, the elaborate setup as Suzuki works to cradle the opponent and hoist them up spreads fear amongst the fans.
Gotch was highly protective of the business. Nicknamed The God of Pro Wrestling, he famously said the following of NWA great Harley Race and his flying headbutt finisher:-
"He'd dive with the head-butt and he looked like a kamikaze coming in. That's the trip of no return that all these guys travel on the yellow brick road. It's not believable. How do you want people to believe this? ... They have no ability anymore. They take these bumps that don't mean nothing. They look like that guy on TV, the Michelin Man. When you act like a clown you look like a clown. Everyone has paint on their face."
Gotch said this in 1990. 31 years later, critics are making the same points about today's stylistic innovators.