Finish him

[LaGoosh]

One of the things I like about AEW is that they have re-educated their audience that a "finisher"is not the only way to to win the match. Therefore the in ring action is more exciting and meaningful because it means that the match can end at any moment and you can get genuine heat on the near falls.

I think if the fans are conditioned to think someone has to hit their finisher to win the match (because that's just what always happens) then it can make the actual match itself pretty pointless. Just a waiting game until someone hits their big move.

As for kicking out of finishers? Well it depends as always on the context of the match and whose doing it. It's often used as a cheap pop or storytelling short cut. Why put together a coherent, detailed match when you can just do kick outs of each others finishers with shocked faces and get a reaction? It's an empty reaction but still a reaction I suppose. Sometime it can be used to incredible effect, such as Omega kicking out of the One Winged Angel at 1. Or when Swerve Strickland completely no sold Bryan Danielson's Running Knee. Personally, I think wrestlers should have a few big moves in their pocket so that they have more options than just the one move.

[air_raid]

2 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

Or when Swerve Strickland completely no sold Bryan Danielson's Running Knee. 

[JLM]

My favourite spot of 2024 and one of my favourite pro wrestling moments ever. Was absolutely terrifying. We were all on the edge our seats willing D-Bry to win, so him hitting the knee sent this big surge of relief through the entire stadium. When Swerve shrugged it off and stared at him like a straight up psycho, you could hear as the relief and joy collectively dissolved into a mixture of disappointment and horror. Danielson's biggest shot was not going to be enough because Swerve in that moment was Michael Myers. Absolutely tremendous. No-selling is often bad but it isn't inherently bad, I will fight over this. See also: All of Sting's no-selling in his retirement match. 

Edited February 27, 2025 by JLM

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

It was fucking awesome and made total sense within the context of the match.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I love matches that end out of nowhere, in the main. At the time I found Toni Storms win at Grand Slam an anticlimax as I'd expected a bigger, more brutal match given the build. But even a day later I had been won over knowing it gave May a bit of a claim for it to have been not an emphatic win. Or something along those lines. 

 

Finisher kick out, by and large im not a fan other than in big matches. But if used right they don't half help telling a story.

[Carbomb]

Just been reminded of one of my favourite finishes ever, though it's not something I could watch again: the Triple Threat main event of WMXX.

WWE booking had done such a good job over the years of conditioning us to how submission finishes worked, and also working the Internet to believe that they still didn't want to put the belt on Benoit, that it seemed like the worst possible outcome (at the time) was going to come true, the longer Triple H was in that Crossface and refusing to tap. My heart was sinking further and further, thinking the inevitable would happen, that Michaels would recover, break it up, and Benoit would get passed over again. So when Trips finally tapped, I jumped out of my seat, yelled, and punched the air. Last time I ever did that watching wrestling.

And, of course, now it's unwatchable. But it was one hell of a finish in terms of how it exploited what we'd come to understand about conventions in wrestling.