10 Most Protected WWE Finishing Moves Ever

Placing Santino Marella in the same category as industry-best workers such as Razor Ramon and The Dudley Boyz is almost like a miscarriage of finisher judgement - but have you seen anyone kick out after being struck by the Cobra?

The Cobra, you see, worked. It worked so well, in fact, that it was protected almost accidentally. It's no more than a throat thrust to the neck, a basic strike if you will, but the theatrics surrounding it - the placing of the dragon-themed sock on his arm, smacking his arm three times to bring the cobra 'to life', etc. - turned the strike into an almost deadly weapon. Hitting it almost always guaranteed a Santino Marella victory, though its effect is confirmed to wear off after a minute or so, considering Alberto Del Rio was magically unharmed just enough to hoist him out of the 2011 Royal Rumble match.

So protected, in fact, was the Cobra that in 2012, Marella honestly could have won the World Heavyweight Championship from Daniel Bryan in Santino's heroic Elimination Chamber performance and it would have been fine.

Bryan, however, evaded the Cobra, which is actually a dragon.

This was deft. 'The American Dragon' countering a strike from a dragon-themed sock? And they say WWE doesn't do great storytelling...