Ranking What Was Really The Best Wrestling Finisher Every Year 1990-2020

17. 2004 - Canadian Destroyer

Best Finishers
Impact Wrestling

It's a move so cool and controversial that it continues to saw the fandom in half all of these years later.

It's a move so cool that so many continue to adopt as a signature - even, thrillingly, as a nod to the fact that everything evolves by 50+ Dustin Rhodes on AEW Dynamite. It is a move so controversial and so definitively modern - almost two decades on, to illustrate just how futuristic it was then - that certain acts, like FTR and MJF, bury it in order to legitimise their classic "old school" credentials. It's a move so beguiling that Vince McMahon doesn't confuse it for the piledriver that it is.

It is, of course, the Canadian Destroyer invented by Petey Williams - an explosive, how-the-f*ck-did-he-do-that flipping piledriver.

We know how he did it - with a cooperation much too obvious to many - but how cool was it, man?

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!