- 3 hours ago
RKOs out of nowhere, the move that killed The Streak, and LOTS of Eddie Guerrero.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Hello there my very good friends, Andy here for WhatCulture Wrestling with a list of one
00:04of the surest things to pop a massive crowd in all of pro wrestling, the finisher counter.
00:11These things are a nice antidote really to the slew of finisher kickouts that we see
00:16in this modern era of wrestling.
00:18It's an alternative way of generating drama that when done precisely and at just the right
00:24point in a match to get the desired pop, well it's pretty much the equivalent of lighting
00:29a match and throwing it into a barrel of oil.
00:32And today we're gonna run through some of the very best ones from all of WWE history
00:37but before you ask, no, unfortunately we cannot show you footage.
00:42So with that in mind, I'm Andy from WhatCulture and here are the 10 best ever counters to WWE
00:49finishers.
00:50Number 10, Edge Spears Styles Out of the Sky, WrestleMania 38.
00:55The one really cool moment from a match that, being polite, didn't quite live up to astronomical
01:01expectations came when Edge saw AJ Styles was about to shoot through the sky with his phenomenal
01:06forearm and decided, hey pal, I'm gonna spear you clean out of the air.
01:11And indeed, out of your boots.
01:14It always helps in situations like this where the person jumping into the move isn't just
01:18jumping into the move.
01:20You know what I'm talking about.
01:21How many times throughout history have we seen someone just conveniently jump off the top
01:26rope or springboard into the ring doing absolutely nothing, just like they're a willing participant
01:32in all of this.
01:33That's the kind of thing that really shatters your immersion and makes you think, oh yeah,
01:37this whole deal is really coordinated and fake and lame.
01:40But when you do it like this, when you have a reason to jump in, AJ has the phenomenal forearm.
01:46Obviously, he's gonna springboard in for that a lot of the time.
01:49That's what he was attempting, Edge countered it.
01:52It wasn't just a man jumping into the spear, it was an attempted move into the spear.
01:57And I'm always gonna appreciate stuff like that because let me tell you, I've had enough of these
02:01pesky wrestlers just jumping into nothing.
02:05This was great.
02:06Anyway, what am I saying?
02:07Number 9, Mr Perfect escapes the stink face from the 7th of March 2002 episode of Heat.
02:14How do you stop a gigantic ass from entering your face and putting your lights out with its
02:20flesh and smells and fluids?
02:23Well, you could do a lot worse than what Kurt Hennig did here wrestling Rikishi on an episode of Heat.
02:30He took his signature towel and he placed it conveniently at the last second between his face
02:37and Rikishi's cakes.
02:38A genius way to counter a pretty gross move, but an effective one throughout Rikishi's career.
02:44And although this didn't lead directly to perfect winning the match, it did give us the all-time
02:48visual of Rikishi walking away from the corner with the towel shoved up his ass.
02:54Just tremendous stuff across the board.
02:56And yes, I know strictly the stink face wasn't a finisher, it was the banzai drop,
03:01but how can you emit something like this?
03:03I mean, look at that towel, it's right up there.
03:07Number 8, a most disastrous kick from the 20th of January 2014 episode of Raw.
03:13Cody Rhodes has recently returned to WWE and of course the Roman Reigns match has been
03:18rumoured heavily.
03:19Cody wants to go for a world title, Roman holds the only world title in the form of the universal,
03:24undisputed, intergalactic, supercalifragia, whatever we're calling Roman Reigns top prize.
03:30He's the guy, Cody's gunning for him and when that match happens, you have to imagine that Cody is
03:35going to want it to go a lot better than this.
03:39There's a point in this match, Cody ducks a clothesline, he hits the ropes, he's going to
03:43springboard back with the disaster kick, but instead of hitting it, he gets Superman punched
03:48to his death.
03:50And death is exactly how he sold this thing, Cody crumpled like a foostie biscuit.
03:56It's an absolutely tremendous spot and that's why it's on the list.
04:00Number 7, Eddie rolls through the rock bottom from the 22nd of July 2002 episode of Raw.
04:07At the peak of his powers, Eddie Guerrero was almost impossibly smooth and it's
04:12really highlighted when you go back and you look at spots like this one here.
04:16He counters the rock bottom so fluidly that it almost looks like it's a video game move.
04:22Rock hoists him up, Eddie pulls him to the mat somehow.
04:26When they get there, after seizing the arm, Eddie presses his back against Rock's chest and
04:32gets him down for a pinfall.
04:34Now this was only a near fall, it didn't end the match in Eddie's favour, but maybe it should have.
04:40I mean, if you're going to close a match on the coolest spot, hard to do better than this.
04:45Just sensational, fluid, seamless technical wrestling from one of the best to ever do it.
04:51Number 6, a tombstone from a moonsault, WrestleMania 25.
04:56The WrestleMania 25 match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker is understandably held up as one of the
05:02greatest in WWE history.
05:04Outdone only, perhaps, depending on who you ask, by the match they had the following year.
05:09But this one had just one of my favourite and one of the best, I think, finisher counters in WWE history.
05:16And again, it's not strictly a finishing move for Shawn Michaels, particularly in this era of his work,
05:23but when he goes to the top rope looking for a moonsault, it's because he's desperate,
05:27it's because he's running out of ideas on how he can put the dead man away.
05:31So he's clearly going to the top rope for the moonsault with ending the match in mind.
05:37Doesn't come off for him, however, he goes for the moonsault, he lands in a tombstone and he gets spiked.
05:44It's just great, dramatic stuff from two of the best wrestlers in WWE history,
05:48two of the most important wrestlers in WrestleMania history.
05:52It's a classic.
05:53Number 5, the counter that killed the streak.
05:57This one is a little bit different compared to some of the counters on this list,
06:00which are just really visually appealing, really smooth, really crisp,
06:04just everything is tied together so perfectly and they look, they look perfect.
06:09That's just absolutely the right word for it.
06:11This, not so much. This was kind of messy. It was kind of all over the place.
06:16But that's professional wrestling in a nutshell.
06:19Not everything should be this super coordinated, super smooth exchange.
06:23You're supposed to be buying into the idea that what you're watching is a fight,
06:27a very elaborate fight with moves and Irish whips and stuff, but a fight nonetheless.
06:33So when you have a counter like this as Brock engineers an F5 from an attempted tombstone from
06:39The Undertaker, it really enhances that feeling. Brock has to struggle.
06:44He has to work to get the dead man in place and to me that is just tremendous stuff.
06:49The guys are exhausted. They have emptied the tank on each other.
06:52They are believably not going to be able to perform at full capacity.
06:57So this little moment of wavering, this little sense of struggle really took this over the top and
07:04say what you will about the result of this match. But for me, this was just really awesome.
07:09Number four, Eddie Guerrero's F5 escape.
07:13In which Latino Heat scores one of the biggest, probably the biggest actually, win of his WWE career
07:19over Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004. He's up for the F5. You've seen this spot before.
07:25The World Heavyweight Championship is on the mat. All looks to be doomed for Eddie.
07:31Until he reverses into a swinging tornado DDT thing, onto the belt, hits the top rope, frog splash,
07:37one, two, three, boom, boom, boom, job done.
07:41Now, my favourite thing about this is not just the counter itself, but Taz's call.
07:46He is incredulous that Eddie Guerrero has cheated to gain this advantage over Brock Lesnar.
07:52And what makes that so great is that, yeah, he did cheat, but that was Eddie Guerrero.
07:56This spot really sums up just the charm and the appeal and the charisma and the cunning of the man.
08:01He knew that he was overmatched against Brock. He knew that he was going to have to play quite
08:05loose with his morals in the ring, which the character was always fond of doing.
08:09And he did just that. It fit him to a tee. He had to take an extra step to fell this
08:15gigantic, terrifying, imposing monster. He did it, and it was one of the most cathartic wins
08:22in WWE premium live event, I guess, history.
08:26Number three, Randy Orton plucks Evan Bourne right out of the sky from the 12th of July,
08:322010 episode of Raw. This is another one of those counters where often guys coming off the top rope
08:38just jump into nothing. Here, the complete opposite. I mean, this was so perfectly timed that if it had
08:43been performed or even attempted by two people less skilled than Matt Seidel as he's now known
08:49and was known before WWE and Randy Orton, it might have ended really poorly and somebody maybe would
08:55have gotten hurt. But because these guys were so locked in and because these guys are such pros
08:59between the ropes, it was just sensational. Evan Bourne, you've seen the move. You've seen it before. I don't
09:05need to explain what a shooting star press is, but he comes off the top and just at the point where his body is
09:11straightening out and he's gonna land it and he's gonna beat Randy Orton and win the match, score one
09:16of the biggest wins of his career. Randy Orton's off the mat hitting him with an RKO. The RKO is perfect
09:21for situations like this. In fact, I could have populated this whole list from RKO counters if I
09:26really wanted to, but I picked this one for this particular spot at this high position on the list
09:31because, my goodness, it just doesn't get much better than this. But, I mean, it does get a little bit
09:37better. I've got two more things on this list. But, that aside, this rule.
09:42Number 2. Seth Rollins gets trapped. Money in the Bank 2019.
09:47I don't think many people would argue that Seth Rollins' Universal title run in 2019 after beating
09:52Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania maybe didn't live up to expectations. The babyface run didn't quite pan out,
09:58but he did have this awesome match with AJ Styles for the belt at Money in the Bank 2019 and it was one
10:05of the best of the year in WWE. Taken over the top by the incredible kick out from this counter.
10:12Rollins was going for the stomp. Now, AJ had tried for the Styles Clash a couple of times already,
10:17but it didn't work. Seth had him scouted. That meant that if he was going to hit the Styles Clash
10:22and stand a chance of victory, he was going to have to be crafty and creative. That's exactly what he did
10:27here. Seth goes up for the stomp. AJ goes up too, catches him on his shoulder, obviously puts him down,
10:34gets him in position for the Styles Clash, hits it, near fall, crowd goes mental, just tremendous stuff.
10:40Like, in terms of how it came together, in terms of the execution, perfect, looked really cool,
10:45looked really great, but also strategically, hadn't been able to hit the move twice before.
10:51Here's an advantageous situation that I'm so smart in the ring that I've been able to work to my benefit.
10:57Fantastic. Just a great match and a great spot.
11:01And at number one, the ultimate RKO out of nowhere at WrestleMania 31.
11:07Strong chance that when you first clicked on this video and started making your way through the entries,
11:12you might have picked this as number one. It is the greatest RKO counter ever, if you ask me.
11:18I think a lot of people would agree with that. And yeah, I mean, just go rewatch the clip. Look at how
11:24this comes together one more time. It is so perfect in its positioning, in its execution,
11:29in how it gets the crowd fired up, in the way it sets the tone for a fun night of action.
11:35It is, of course, Seth Rollins going for the stomp against Randy Orton, getting incredible air
11:41on the stomp. And then Randy pops up, Randy's in place, Randy hits the RKO, he does some snake stuff,
11:49where he gets all fired up afterwards. It's an all-time crowd popping moment in WWE history,
11:56and that is why this counter is number one on my list. The greatest finisher counter in WWE history,
12:03in my opinion. But what's your opinion? How about you let us know down in the comment section below and
12:09click like and click subscribe and ring the bell, all those nice things that help us to create more
12:15content like this. Anyway, thanks for joining us today, guys. You can follow us on Twitter at
12:19WhatCulture WWE. You can follow me at AndyHMurray. The H stands for Hey, Where Was My Favourite Counter?
12:26My friends, the answer is leave it in the comments. Goodbye.
Be the first to comment