10 Times Wrestling Finishers Passed The Torch

1. Ace Crusher - Johnny Ace To DDP

Stunner Steve Austin Kevin Owens
AJPW

When thinking of John Laurinaitis, aka Johnny Ace, the first thing that the majority of modern-day wrestling fans will think of is the gravelly-voiced People Power character who bored us all to tears on WWE programming.

For those of a slightly older vintage, Big Johnny will be remembered for skateboarding to the ring alongside Shane Douglas as the Dynamic Dudes.

In reality, Johnny Ace is responsible for creating one of the most influential and copied manoeuvres in the history of the wrestling business.

During his time wrestling in Japan, Ace created what would be known as the Ace Crusher. In the years since then, that move was taken up by Diamond Dallas Page as the Diamond Cutter, used by Randy Orton as the RKO, adapted to become the Stone Cold Stunner, and has also been utilised by, amongst others, QT Marshall and Cody Rhodes.

The first passing of the torch here was from Johnny Ace to DDP. With Page in need of a finisher, he called Ace to ask permission to use the Ace Crusher. Skip ahead a few years to when DDP knew he was retiring, and the three-time WCW Champion called Randy Orton to offer him the move - and just last year Page similarly asked QT Marshall if he'd like to take on the Diamond Cutter as his own.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.