10 Wrestlers With Better Signatures Than Finishers

3. Kevin Owens

Better Than This
WWE.com

The finisher:

Kevin Owens has two more or less interchangeable finishers, and neither are great. The Pop-Up Powerbomb is a finisher that should be used as a signature; it signals not the end but a swift change in the momentum of a match. It's a fantastic defensive weapon that can never feel like a true death blow because the recipient must have something left in the tank to enable the set-up. It's never an exclamation mark. The Stunner is and always was optimistic and honestly quite lame cosplay that only echoes now that fanciful time he was going to be the next Steve Austin. There's a tedious, undying dialogue over the permissions of moves, but the Stunner is so iconic that it dwarfs Owens every time he uses it.

The better signature:

Owens' frog splash looks at once devastating and spectacular. It's the perfect finish and he should build and use it to finally exorcise the spectre of the package piledriver. It looks, plainly, like it f*cking sucks to take: Owens is a unit, and that move by rights should knock the wind out of his opponents more than long enough to secure the three. It's like throwing a wardrobe off the top rope and somehow conspiring to control its aesthetically pleasing trajectory.

Contributor
Contributor

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!