10 Unlikely Origins Of Wrestling Finishers

6. How PAC's Secondary Finish Got Its Name

John Laurinaitis Randy Orton RKO
AEW

AEW is the organised professional wrestling company.

AEW meticulously plots its storylines out to such a detailed extent that Kenny Omega sat in the house of Don Callis - which we knew after the fact because it had a picture of Don Callis in it - to secretly build the idea that f*ckery was afoot.

You'd think, then, that they'd establish the name of a new finisher key to both the result of a match and the implications beyond for the man who took it.

Then again, Kenny Omega Vs. PAC at All Out 2019 was a hastily-arranged match, enforced by Jon Moxley's injury, between two performers with the most protected, mythological finishers in the game. There could no finisher kick-outs, and perhaps it was thought that putting over PAC via the Black Arrow would convey the idea that one finisher was stronger than the other. In any event, in a shock result, PAC blacked out Omega with a Rings of Saturn-adjacent crucifix hold.

Tony Khan, as the commentator has subsequently revealed on the Unrestricted podcast, asked Excalibur to come up with a name on the fly.

'The Brutaliser' was an inspired choice; to borrow from PAC's regional dialect, Omega looked f*ckin' mortal and the crowd said haddaway and sh*te when he passed oot.

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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!