10 Most Humiliating Wrestling Moves

6. Rush's Kick Slap

Orange Cassidy Luchasaurus
AEW

With Los Ingobernables, Rush and La Sombra (Andrade) developed a new means of drawing heat in CMLL: basically, they were considered contemptible and entitled, Andrade in particular, who craved being the centre not merely of attention, but rather the universe.

If they didn't fancy putting the work in, they simply did not put in the work - but maddeningly, they were such excellent workers and heat magnets that, when they turned it on, they emerged as the biggest breakthrough stars of the mid 2010s lucha scene. Hell: their heel work was so fantastic that they wrote the blueprint for the man, Tetsuya Naito, who might well be the most popular Japanese wrestler of the 21st century. He was a sensation at the merchandise stand and drew the largest gate for any show that is the NJPW equivalent of a "B-level" pay-per-view in its modern history (The New Beginning In Osaka, 11, 411 paid).

Andrade and La Sombra knew how they were perceived and luxuriated in that perception by laying on their side and posturing that they were lazy sh*ts, above it all.

Rush compounds this winking lack of respect to the paying customer by humiliating his opponents; he sprints to the corner, motioning to drill them in the face, but instead stops in his tracks and kicks them in the mush. They get bitched, the fans see a less spectacular move, and he lies down, satisfied.

What a worker - in every sense of the phrase.

 
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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!