10 Wrestling Finishes Performed On The Fly

Depending on the experience and style of the performers involved, the physical art of professional wrestling lies somewhere between an intricately planned and choreographed series of moves and transitions, and a mostly improvised, chaotic tango that ebbs and flows with the response of the people watching.

No matter where on that spectrum a match falls, classical to jazz, one thing will always remain a constant: both participants know the finish. It’s the most memorable sequence of the match, in many cases, and will often define the match for posterity.

More that that, it’s the finish that will determine where the feud goes next (if anywhere) and how both parties are perceived going forward. There’s money tied up in the finish, and sometimes even careers. So when the match goes off the rails and the finish, previously set in stone, is suddenly up in the air… it’s brown trousers time.

Or it can be. One of the most sought after plaudits for any generation of wrestler is to be known as a ‘ring general’ - the kind of performer who, through a combination of talent, experience and spontaneous flair, can improvise seamless changes on the turn of a dime as needed.

When things go wrong, you need a ring general in there to drag them back on track - and when you don’t have one, the results can be disastrous. Here’s ten fascinating examples of wrestling finishes, jeopardised by sudden catastrophe, which had to be fixed (or not) on the fly.

On March 14th this year on Monday Night RAW, Neville wrestled Chris Jericho and fractured his ankle and his shinbone performing a basic slide only minutes into the match.

Despite this potentially crippling double injury, he no sold the pain (well, he is a Geordie) and followed up with a chinbreaker that saw him drop to both knees, followed by a spinning kick with the injured leg. Muttering to Jericho that he was hurt, he threw a pitch-perfect hurricanrana to begin the planned go-home sequence.

Unfortunately, instead of countering to the Walls Of Jericho and a tap, Jericho figured they still had time left and took the bump, realising too late what Neville had said. Scrambling to figure out how to get back to the finish, he had his answer when the referee, Charles ‘Lil Naitch’ Robinson followed Neville to the ropes to check if he was okay, having not heard the exchange between the two men.

Jericho was going over anyway, so he decided to shortcut to a new finish by pantomiming concern for Neville along with Robinson, and then heelishly rolling Neville up for the pinfall. The only problem now? Robinson still wasn’t up to speed, and saw Neville’s shoulder come up at the two-count… so the match continued.

In desperation, and some real anger towards Robinson for screwing up the easy finish, Jericho began yelling at his old buddy, and shoved him hard. Robinson was furious, but also saw how angry Jericho was and, finally twigging that something was up, disqualified him and awarded the win to the wrong man.

Luckily, the amended finish wasn’t a big deal - the two weren’t feuding. A DQ still left Jericho looking aggressive leading into the angry promo that called out his WrestleMania opponent AJ Styles, and that, not the action with Neville, was the point of the segment.