10 Most Protected WWE Moves Ever

2016 is a strange time to be a finishing move in professional wrestling. Once upon a time these moves were sacred, never to be kicked out of. If a wrestler hit his finisher, the match was simply over. Men were able to get over on the strength of their closing strike, whether it was Jake 'The Snake' Roberts and the DDT or 'Ravishing' Rick Rude and his 'Rude Awakening' neckbreaker. If Gorilla Monsoon was saying 'patented finishing manoeuvre', the chances are his son Joey Marella was counting to three at the same time.

Fast forward to now, and things have changed. In big matches it is not unusual for individuals to kick out of their opponent's finisher multiple times. This has become excessively at WrestleMania, to the point where if a finishing move is hit the assumption is a kick-out will follow. To a degree, finishers are no longer finishers.

Some moves have carried more weight than others in World Wrestling Entertainment over the years however. Much is known about the Undertaker and the protection afforded to his Tombstone, and you have to think pretty hard to remember moments that someone kicked out of the Batista Bomb or the RKO. Protection still exists - it is just harder to find.

So here are the 10 most protected moves in WWE, past and present. Please note this is WWF/E only, so don't expect any Burning Hammers or Emerald Flowsions. 

Okay, it might not be the most credible of starts, but the facts speak for themselves. Santino Marella was released last month, and hadn't been involved in active competition for two years before that, but he was still in possession of one of the most deadly finishing moves in all of modern wrestling.

As far as I know, Daniel Bryan was the only man to kick out of the Cobra, doing so at Elimination Chamber back in 2012. Sure, Marella wasn't often in high-stakes competition and if he had been I imagine John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, and others would have kicked out of this puppet-assisted strike thrust. You can only beat what is in front of you however.

Love it or hate it, the Cobra put many down during its tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment.