10 Wrestlers Who Couldn't Do Their Own Moves
The best spear in wrestling is contended. The worst is not.
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00:00 The phrase "this ain't ballet, pal" gets thrown about a lot, but wrestling does
00:04 have plenty in common with dance.
00:05 On a surface level, it's about crafting something that looks pleasing to the viewer's
00:09 eye.
00:10 It should be said that not only are the men and women on this list better at fake fighting
00:13 than you or I, they could very easily beat me in a real fight and turn me into a puddle
00:18 formerly known as Psy from What Culture.
00:20 Still, every fan will have their own take on who were the best at making moves look
00:24 great and who were the worst.
00:26 I'm the future Puddle of Psy from What Culture Wrestling and this is 10 Wrestlers
00:30 Who Couldn't Do Their Own Moves.
00:32 10.
00:33 The Rock's Sharpshooter
00:34 Though he didn't invent it, it's fair to say that the sharpshooter was made famous
00:38 by Bret Hart.
00:39 The master of the move was asked in 2021 by Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp about his colleagues
00:44 who also tried to apply it, and he was quick to point out that The Rock had always had
00:48 trouble putting it on.
00:50 Looking at Hart's take on the move, it's clear to see why it's beloved.
00:52 The hitman makes the crossing over of his and his opponent's legs, as well as his
00:56 subtle hand placement, look easy.
00:58 He pulls at his opponent to turn them over, demonstrating their weight, and pushes in
01:02 deep to apply pressure.
01:04 This is what submission moves are all about, after all, pressure and control.
01:07 The Rock had very little of either when he began applying the sharpshooter onwards from
01:11 2000, often crossing legs over the wrong way and looking as weak as pond water, The Rock's
01:17 sharpshooter had been chastised by both fans and wrestlers themselves.
01:20 Still, Rocky got it over because it was the Attitude Era, and at this point he could almost
01:24 do no wrong.
01:25 9.
01:26 CM Punk's Elbow Drop
01:27 Whilst there may or may not be legitimate heat between CM Punk and Kenta over Punka's
01:32 usage of the go to sleep, it's hardly the only move in the Second City Saints repertoire
01:37 that he's adopted from another.
01:38 Occasionally, Punk will take it to the top rope, point to the sky, and drop an elbow,
01:42 like Macho did back in his prime.
01:44 Although perhaps not exactly like Macho did.
01:47 Not only was Savage capable of getting some impressive air, he was able to lean into the
01:50 blow mid-flight.
01:52 Macho was a marksman with the elbow, always leading it to its mark and making it look
01:55 devastating.
01:56 With Punk, he often falls in a bit of a heap.
01:58 Yes, the elbow is extended, but it's not the singular point of impact.
02:02 CM Punk himself made fun of this in a 2020 tweet when the WWE on Fox Twitter account
02:07 put him amongst Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels and Kairi Sane as the best elbow drops in
02:11 the biz, saying "this isn't a list I should be on".
02:14 So at least he has good humour about it.
02:17 8.
02:18 The Miz's Figure Four Leg Lock
02:19 There are some stars that are just born to be heels.
02:22 Not that The Miz isn't funny or charming when he wants to be, but there's just something
02:25 so delightfully punchable about his on-screen persona.
02:28 Ergo, he needs all the help he can get during his rare babyface runs.
02:31 In 2012, WWE paired him with the legendary Ric Flair in a forgettable mentor and student
02:36 story.
02:37 In this time, Flair bequeathed his most deadly move to the A-Lister.
02:40 And whilst Miz doesn't lock the figure four leg lock in quite as impressively as Flair
02:44 did, where it really falls down is an overall performance issue.
02:47 Miz doesn't use it to tell a story, he skips right to the end.
02:51 Be it of his own volition or the time he's given, Miz never really bothers to work his
02:55 opponent's leg during any given match.
02:57 He never has and he likely never will.
02:58 As such, this already vapid hand-me-down of a move is less impactful as the prior punishment
03:03 that makes it so effective is missing.
03:05 More than this, Flair would spend minutes applying the locks, steadily becoming more
03:09 intense to amp up the atmosphere.
03:10 It's what made it so memorable.
03:12 When Miz applies the figure four, he's heaving and grimacing that punchable face before he's
03:16 even hit the mat.
03:17 7.
03:18 Charlotte Flair's Moonsault
03:19 Being able to flip your entire body over mid-air is insanely impressive.
03:23 It's a skill that requires a bit of rewiring of your instincts that tell you that your
03:27 feet should stay on the ground and by no means should your head ever be below them.
03:31 The moonsault is perhaps even worse since the move is done backwards, facing away from
03:35 your landing spot.
03:36 That being said, just because you're able to flip doesn't mean you've mastered a
03:40 move.
03:41 As Charlotte Flair demonstrates on a frequent basis, timing your rotation is imperative
03:44 as is making sure you stick the landing.
03:46 It probably doesn't help either that she's very tall and even more so that she has a
03:50 history of cheerleading so it's in her nature to land on her feet.
03:53 As it is, most of her moonsault landings are rough at best as she flips too soon and lands
03:57 on her ankles rather than pressing her opponent flat.
04:00 On the other hand, moonsaulting to the outside of the ring means she at least has to land
04:04 on her feet which she does almost every time.
04:06 Shame then that her standing moonsault always misses her opponents by so much that she may
04:10 as well have jumped off the turnbuckle and landed in a different area code.
04:14 6.
04:15 Shane McMahon's Punches
04:16 Shane McMahon is about the furthest you can get from technical wrestling.
04:19 Even in his younger years, jumping into his dad's ring to play alongside all those pro
04:22 athletes nobody ever pretended that he was more than a glorified stuntman.
04:27 And he was great at this so it distracted crowds for some time from his god-awful fundamentals.
04:32 Since his return in 2016 though, McMahon has been the subject of mockery for what are surely
04:36 the world's worst worked punches.
04:38 As a passionate fan of MMA and trained in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Shane leans
04:43 too far into wanting to look realistic.
04:46 His swift and incredibly short movements are all clearly inspired by boxing jabs.
04:50 However, this is just not how things are done in wrestling.
04:53 Full arm extension and thrust are the name of the game and Shane displays neither.
04:57 It's hard enough to take the boss's jumpy upstarts unseriously as a legitimate fighter
05:02 in his own right, but it's the seriousness with which Shane seems to present himself
05:06 - he probably whispers sweet nothings to that Best Wrestler in the World trophy - every
05:10 night.
05:11 5.
05:12 John Cena's STF
05:13 In a 2020 episode of WWE's Untold series, Edge recalled his match with Cena at Unforgiven
05:18 2006.
05:19 He tells the story of how Big Match John accidentally choked him until he passed out via a nasty
05:24 combination of STF and ladder.
05:26 Though he laughs it off in a way that pro wrestlers do, since it's just a part of
05:30 their job, it's a harrowing visual and thought.
05:32 And clearly it had an effect on Cena, because ever since that moment, his submission hold
05:36 has gone from being genuinely dangerous to looking absolutely ludicrous.
05:40 To be fair, that is pretty good reason to adapt to Mu, but there has to be a happy medium.
05:44 To give it its full name is to describe it perfectly - the step-over toehold face lock.
05:49 Edgy fans of WWE's ruthless aggression days might lament that the name of Cena's move
05:53 went from the STFU back to the simple STF when the PG era rolled around, but in truth
06:01 it's been more of an ST this whole time.
06:03 When Cena cinches it in, there's no face lock.
06:06 Not only does this mean Cena isn't putting pressure on his victim's spine, which is
06:09 the point of the full body hold, but it's clear to anyone watching that escaping it
06:13 would need little more than a duck of the head.
06:16 4.
06:17 John Cena's Springboard Stunner
06:18 John Cena was a fantastic figurehead for WWE's promotional appeal.
06:23 In the ring, his character is a great role model.
06:25 Outside of wrestling, he's a promising actor and an honourable humanitarian.
06:28 It's a shame that his actual wrestling has always been so limited, because everywhere
06:32 else he succeeds.
06:33 And while Cena is known for, and has largely got by on, his five moves of doom, he occasionally
06:39 adds a sixth.
06:40 Cena's victory over Rusev at WrestleMania 31 is a sour taste many WWE fans remember,
06:45 but there was something else that night that caught everyone off guard.
06:49 In a show of otherwise rarely seen creativity, Cena hit his first springboard stunner by
06:54 running into the ropes, bouncing off of them and taking his opponent down with a cutter.
06:58 On first viewing, it's kind of cool, because it is so surprising.
07:01 But even occasionally when it didn't look bad, it still never looked great.
07:05 The momentum of Cena running one way and then suddenly moving towards his opponent backwards
07:09 made for an awkward sell.
07:11 And most of the time, Cena could never get his hands around his dance partner's head
07:15 precisely.
07:16 He used the springboard stunner for all of about six months in 2015, in a period that
07:20 is fondly remembered as some of his best in-ring work.
07:24 Despite a move that the commentary consistently had to remark as one he never quote "got
07:28 all of".
07:29 3.
07:30 Eva Marie's Sliced Red
07:32 Eva Marie's moveset rarely got more complex than running sentons and back elbows.
07:36 However, in 2015, All Red Everything returned to the company after a hiatus, with a surprising
07:41 new move passed on to her by her trainer Brian Kendrick.
07:45 Sliced Red #2 demonstrated the beauty of fluid wrestling drilled down to one perfect second.
07:50 Kendrick would run almost vertically up the turnbuckles, with his opponent in tow, rotating
07:54 over them and forcing them onto their back.
07:57 It was a move that exemplified the Cruiserweight's agility and finesse.
08:00 Now, credit where credit is due, it's not an easy move to pull off, because in order
08:03 to look good, it requires a lot of confidence and careful footwork.
08:07 These are things Marie rarely managed to demonstrate as it felt like WWE were always shoving her
08:12 onto TV well before she was ready.
08:14 So this is very much a case of running, up the ropes in fact, before you can really walk.
08:19 Marie's Sliced Red had all the flat-footedness of a baby deer and looked like someone climbing
08:23 a particularly imposing staircase in roller skates.
08:26 It was clear that her opponents were doing most of the work to make sure everyone got
08:29 out of it safely.
08:30 It's probably not surprising that her next gimmick had her finding excuses to not wrestle
08:35 and we were all better for it.
08:37 2.
08:38 Billy Kidman's Shooting Star Press
08:40 Shooting Star Press might be one of wrestling's most beautiful moves.
08:43 The end-over-end rotating flip from the top rope requires grace and precision to hit perfectly.
08:48 On the one hand, there are those that believe that Billy Kidman was one of the most entertaining
08:51 acts of his time.
08:52 He was also one of the first men to bust out a shooting star press on TV, instantly creating
08:57 conversation amongst fans.
08:59 And sometimes it looked incredible, but only sometimes.
09:03 Quite a lot of the time, it looked like Kidman had beef with gravity.
09:06 He barely got any air, his rotations were late and his landings were sloppy.
09:10 If you can't pull off a move time after time and make it look picture perfect, especially
09:14 in Vince McMahon's clinical sports entertainment world, then you should perhaps reconsider
09:19 it, doubly so, if it has the potential to be dangerous.
09:22 Unlike other entries in this list, Kidman couldn't do his move for more reasons beyond
09:27 his own inconsistency.
09:28 In an August 2004 episode of Smackdown, Kidman hit one of his worst attempts at the shooting
09:33 star press on Chavo Guerrero, landing wrong and with some serious velocity.
09:37 He drove his knee into Chavo's head, legitimately concussing his opponent.
09:41 As such, the SSP was blacklisted at the company, meaning that both Kidman and his tag partner
09:46 Paul London had to find new signature moves.
09:50 1.
09:51 Edge's Spear
09:52 It's the job of wrestling announce teams, as much as the in-ring workers themselves,
09:55 to sell.
09:56 Commentators will tell you how impactful something is supposed to be with how they react to it.
10:01 But without any distractions, and with the right comparisons, it's fair to say that
10:04 Edge's finisher is not as powerful as Michael Cole's frenzied calls of "Spear" implies.
10:10 The spear has been a signature move for a great number of major stars, Roman Reigns and
10:14 Goldberg among them, in part because it's a simple and understandable technique.
10:19 The attacker throws their entire weight into an airborne tackle, taking their opponent
10:23 down to the mat, and perhaps most importantly, knocking the wind out of them by burying their
10:27 shoulder into their enemy's gut.
10:29 Except Edge doesn't do this, and he never really has.
10:32 He wraps his opponent in an embrace, pushing the flat of his bicep into them.
10:36 Despite being part of some of the company's most re-watched moments, Edge's spear has
10:40 always more resembled a running hug when properly scrutinised.
10:44 This was exemplified the most during his runs where he assembled a three-man team alongside
10:48 Rhino.
10:49 Rhino's spear might have gotten a unique title inspired by his namesake, but it deserved
10:53 its own moniker because of just how deadly it looked.
10:56 It didn't even need Joey Styles losing his mind chanting "Gore, Gore, Gore" on commentary,
11:01 although let's face it, it didn't hurt either.
11:03 Now, I'm sure I've just upset some superfans of these particular wrestlers, but as I say,
11:08 this is all done in good fun.
11:10 If you are going to go down to those comments either to tell me what for or to give me other
11:13 examples of wrestlers that couldn't do their own moves, make sure to hit like on the way
11:17 and make sure you go subscribe.
11:18 Head over to whatculture.com for more content every day.
11:21 I've been Si for What Culture, and have a good week.
11:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]