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 going to 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
01:06phenomenal forearm and decided, hey pal, I'm going to spear you clean out of the air.
01:11And indeed, out of your boots.
01:13It always helps in situations like this where the person jumping into the move isn't just
01:19jumping 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,
01:38this whole deal is really coordinated and fake and lame.
01:41But when you do it like this, when you have a reason to jump in, AJ has the phenomenal forearm.
01:46Obviously, he's going to springboard in for that a lot of the time.
01:50That's what he was attempting.
01:51Edge 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 going to appreciate stuff like that because let me tell you, I've had
02:01enough of these pesky 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?
02:24Well, you could do a lot worse than what Kurt Hennig did here wrestling Rikishi on an episode
02:30of Heat.
02:31He took his signature towel and he placed it conveniently at the last second between his
02:36face and Rikishi's kicks.
02:38A genius way to counter a pretty gross move, but an effective one throughout Rikishi's
02:43career.
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.
02:54Tremendous stuff across the board and yes, I know strictly the stink face wasn't a finisher,
03:00it was the banzai drop, but how can you omit 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.
03:14Cody Rhodes has recently returned to WWE and of course the Roman Reigns match has been rumored
03:19heavily.
03:20He wants to go for a world title, Roman holds the only world title in the form of the universal,
03:24undisputed, intergalactic, supercalifragile, 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
03:35that Cody is going 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
03:43to springboard back with the disaster kick, but instead of hitting it, he gets superman
03:48punched to his death and death is exactly how he sold this thing, Cody crumpled like
03:55a foostie biscuit.
03:57It'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 really highlighted
04:13when you go back and you look at spots like this one here.
04:17He 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
04:32and gets 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
04:39it should have.
04:40I mean, if you're going to close a match on the coolest spot, hard to do better than
04:45this.
04:46Just sensational, fluid, seamless technical wrestling from one of the best to ever do it.
04:52Number 6, a tombstone from a moonsault at WrestleMania 25.
04:57The WrestleMania 25 match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker is understandably held up as
05:02one of the greatest in WWE history, outdone only, perhaps, depending on who you ask, by
05:07the match they had the following year.
05:10But this one had just one of my favourite and one of the best, I think, finisher counters
05:15in WWE history.
05:16And again, it's not strictly a finishing move for Shawn Michaels, particularly in this era
05:23of his work, but when he goes to the top rope looking for a moonsault, it's because
05:27he's desperate, it'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,
05:43and he gets spiked.
05:44It's just great dramatic stuff from two of the best wrestlers in WWE history, two of the
05:49most important wrestlers in WrestleMania history, it's a classic.
05:54Number 5, the counter that killed the streak.
05:57This one is a little bit different compared to some of the counters on this list, which
06:00are just really visually appealing, really smooth, really crisp, just everything is tied
06:06together so perfectly and they look perfect.
06:09That's just absolutely the right word for it.
06:12This, not so much.
06:13This was kind of messy.
06:15It was kind of all over the place, but 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, a very
06:28elaborate 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
06:39from The Undertaker, it really enhances that feeling.
06:43Brock 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, they are believably
06:54not going to be able to perform at full capacity.
06:58So this little moment of wavering, this little sense of struggle really took this over the
07:03top and say what you will about the result of this match, but for me, this was just really
07:09awesome.
07:104.
07:11Eddie Guerrero's F5 Escape
07:13In which Latino Heat scores one of the biggest, probably the biggest actually, win of his
07:18WWE career over Brock Lesnar at No Way Out 2004, he's up for the F5, you've seen this
07:24spot before.
07:26The World Heavyweight Championship is on the mat, all looks to be doomed for Eddie, until
07:31he reverses into a swinging tornado DDT thing, onto the belt, hits the top rope, frog splash,
07:38one, 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
08:00of the man.
08:01He knew that he was overmatched against Brock, he knew that he was going to have to play
08:05quite loose with his morals in the ring, which the character was always fond of doing, and
08:09he did just that.
08:11It fit him to a T. He had to take an extra step to fell this gigantic, terrifying, imposing
08:18monster.
08:19He did it, and it was one of the most cathartic wins in WWE Premium Live Event, I guess, history.
08:27Number 3.
08:28Randy Orton plucks Evan Bourne right out of the sky from the 12th of July 2010 episode of Raw.
08:34This is another one of those counters where, often, guys coming off the top rope just jump
08:39into nothing.
08:40Here, the complete opposite.
08:41I mean, this was so perfectly timed that if it had been performed or even attempted by
08:45two people less skilled than Matt Sydal as he's now known and was known before WWE and Randy
08:51Orton, it might have ended really poorly and somebody maybe would have gotten hurt, but because
08:57these guys were so locked in and because these guys were such pros between the ropes, it was
09:01just sensational.
09:02Evan Bourne, you've seen the move.
09:04You've seen it before.
09:05I don't need to explain what a shooting star press is, but he comes off the top and just
09:10at the point where his body is straightening out and he's going to land it and he's going
09:14to beat Randy Orton and win the match, score one of the biggest wins of his career.
09:18Randy Orton's off the mat hitting him with an RKO.
09:20The RKO is perfect for situations like this.
09:22In fact, I could have populated this whole list from RKO counters if I really wanted to,
09:27but I picked this one for this particular spot at this high position on the list because,
09:32my goodness, it just doesn't get much better than this.
09:35But, I mean, it does get a little bit better.
09:37I've got two more things on this list, but that aside, this ruled.
09:422.
09:43Seth 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
09:52after beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania maybe didn't live up to expectations.
09:56The babyface run didn't quite pan out, but he did have this awesome match with AJ Styles
10:01for the belt at Money in the Bank 2019 and it was one of the best of the year in WWE,
10:07taken over the top by the incredible kick out from this counter.
10:12Rollins was going for the stomp.
10:14Now, AJ had tried for the Styles Clash a couple of times already, but it didn't work.
10:19Seth had him scouted.
10:20That meant that if he was going to hit the Styles Clash and stand a chance of victory,
10:24he was going to have to be crafty and creative.
10:26That's exactly what he did here.
10:28Seth goes up for the stomp, AJ goes up too, catches him on his shoulder,
10:33obviously puts him down, gets him in position for the Styles Clash,
10:36hits it, near fall, crowd goes mental, just tremendous stuff.
10:40Like, in terms of how it came together, in terms of the execution, perfect,
10:45looked really cool, looked really great, but also strategically,
10:48hadn'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.
10:58Just 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.
11:14It is the greatest RKO counter ever, if you ask me.
11:17I think a lot of people would agree with that.
11:19And yeah, I mean, just go rewatch the clip.
11:23Look at how this comes together one more time.
11:26It is so perfect in its positioning, in its execution, in how it gets the crowd fired up,
11:32in 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,
11:39getting incredible air on the stomp.
11:42And then, Randy pops up, Randy's in place, Randy hits the RKO,
11:48he does some shit stuff where he gets all fired up afterwards.
11:51It's an all-time crowd-popping moment in WWE history,
11:55and that is why this counter is number one on my list.
12:00The greatest finisher counter in WWE history, in my opinion.
12:04But what's your opinion?
12:05How about you let us know down in the comment section below,
12:08and click like, and click subscribe, and ring the bell,
12:12all those nice things that help us to create more content like this.
12:17Anyway, thanks for joining us today, guys.
12:18You can follow us on Twitter at WhatCultureWWE.
12:21You can follow me at AndyHMurray.
12:23The H stands for, hey, where was my favourite counter?
12:26My friends, the answer is leave it in the comments.
12:29Goodbye.
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