2. Dean Ambrose's Pendulum Lariat
You know how, whenever you see an interesting new character on Saturday Night Live that gets a bunch of laughs, it's almost a certainty that the character will be back a couple of weeks later, and then every other week for the rest of eternity until audiences just start booing them? This is the story of Dean Ambrose's goofy-looking counter attack. The first time Ambrose pulled this off - after nearly being kicked through the top and middle rope - there was a crackle in the audience. A mixture of "That was awesome!" and "What the hell was
that?". It was clear Ambrose was onto something. It was also clear a few matches later that the move wasn't going to be a rarity. As a counter, the Pendulum or "Rebound" Lariat is innovative as hell, and when Ambrose appears to be in real danger of falling through the ropes - after a forceful torso attack, like a big boot to the stomach or something - it's great. But then he started doing it just about every time he bounced off the ropes. He doesn't even wait for someone to give him the lightest of excuses anymore, he just decides "F**k it, I'm Matrix-ing my way into this clothesline no matter what". It's jarring when it appears out of nowhere (albeit very slowly), and not in the good way like Randy Orton's RKO.