10 Worst Finishers In WWE Today
5. The Styles Clash
This is a very unpopular opinion, but we think by now you've learned that we at WhatCulture Wrestling do not, in fact, reach out to the Cauliflower Alley Club for the consensus opinion of wrestling legends when compiling slideshow lists.
Dave Meltzer built upon a match star rating system to include virtually every close-to-objective criteria there is, and he still gets sh*t on for it. He tried to quantify the subjective, is labelled bias because of it, yada yada yada, we're allowed to write that the Styles Clash is a bit dumb because it only really works in one of its dual objectives.
We bemoan the term 'sports entertainment', because it isn't a term, but it does capture a certain something. A wrestling star must entertain the public in the process of putting on a show that doubles as an emulation of sport. They tread an eternal line between what is pseudo-real and what is pure showmanship.
The Style Clash looks cool, so it works in that regard. The frantic, dangling legs and arms of his opponents telegraph brilliantly the imminent danger, and by hooking those dangling legs, Styles creates a sense of grim finality. But the opponent lands a bit awkwardly on their knees, from what is hardly a great height. It's anticlimactic, which is the opposite of what a finisher is. It's over, and it's cool, and so it works, but think of the physics. It's more fun that way.
Dangerous only when executed incorrectly, the Styles Clash is the Shane McMahon worked punch of finishing moves performed by otherwise outstanding pro wrestlers.