At the start of Randy Orton's WWE career in 2002, his finishing maneuver was the less-than-impressive inverted headlock backbreaker. Dating back to when "Above Average" Mike Sanders used the move in the dying days of World Championship Wrestling, it lacked the snappiness of say, the RKO. By 2004, though, the Diamond Cutter-similar RKO was firmly established as his go-to finishing manoeuvre. Ten years later, from the set-up to the execution, the RKO is one of the signature features of WWE as a company. Paige's leg-sweep on AJ was made to look like a million bucks by the ex-Divas champion, but the move certainly does not convey "respected women's wrestler." While yes, she's now using the scorpion hold as her go-to finisher (which is a great idea), maybe scrapping the "Paige Turner" for some sort of DDT type maneuver could work. Similar to Orton, Paige is young, gifted and clearly will be depended on by the company as an earner for years to come. Is giving her a move bearing a resemblance to Orton's a solid way to complete this connection? Only time will tell.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
