20 True Stories Behind Famous Wrestling Names
11. The Cutter
The official name for any variation on the three-quarter facelock front face bulldog, which is a serious mouthful for a play-by-play guy to shriek. We don’t think anyone but Joey Styles could pull that one off.
The move was actually innovated by one Johnny Ace in Japan, otherwise known as John Laurinaitis, aka Big Johnny, aka Mr. Future Endeavors, the foghorn throated ex-WWE Senior Vice President Of Talent Operations, and younger brother of Joe ‘Animal’ Laurinaitis of the legendary Road Warriors/Legion Of Doom tag team.
Laurinaitis called it the Ace Crusher, which is a rubbish name. Diamond Dallas Page popularised it in the US while wrestling in or near the main event for WCW, and was famed for being able to hit the Diamond Cutter from any angle and as a counter to any move, hence the name applied to the manoeuvre now. Randy Orton has developed much the same reputation for his heavily protected finisher the RKO (named for his initials), which is a one-handed jumping cutter.