In pro wrestling, there’s hardly a maneuver that a wrestler can execute that doesn’t have a name. Move names can range from straightforward and fairly descriptive (armbar) to colorful and not necessarily clear what the move actually is (Sweet Chin Music). Of course, there are loads of finishing maneuvers that have awesome names, but what about moves that aren’t necessarily finishers?
Let’s take a look at 10 moves that fans have seen in wrestling matches. Some of these are finishers, but most have been around for so long that some wrestlers just use them as normal moves — or signature maneuvers at best — in promotions like WWE.
10 The Banana Split
While pro wrestling is staged, it takes a lot of influence from “real” sports, particularly legitimate wrestling. One such move that dates back to the origins of folkstyle wrestling is the cleverly named Banana Split. A submission hold that targets the legs, the move has the opponent on their back while the wrestler applying uses their arms and legs to spread the opponent’s legs as far as possible, and looks ridiculously painful. Despite the whimsical name, the Banana Split is definitely fodder for technical wrestlers.
9 Falcon Arrow
Fans have seen the amazingly named Falcon Arrow many times over the years, though many can’t tell it from the very similar Michinoku Driver. Innovated by Hayabusa in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, this move involves lifting an opponent up as if to execute a slam, sending the opponent back-first to the mat while landing in a sitout position. It’s most often seen used by Seth Rollins in WWE, who pulls off a superplex on his opponent before holding on to pull off the Falcon Arrow. Then there’s Chuck Taylor in AEW, who maintains that nobody kicks out of it, even though they always do.
8 Canadian Destroyer
The Canadian Destroyer is one of those moves that’s considered devastating in kayfabe and dangerous in real life, and has a name to match. Basically a flipping piledriver, Canadian performer Petey Williams is credited with popularizing the move, though fellow Impact Wrestling star Amazing Red invented it while wrestling in his early teens or so.
Adopted as a signature by Adam Cole and Pentagon Jr. (among others), the Canadian Destroyer has become a controversial move in recent years. While athletically impressive, there are some who believe it’s become overused and thus lost its mystique.
7 Tombstone Piledriver
For years, the only piledriver that WWE fans have regularly seen on television is the Tombstone Piledriver, a variation on the move that involves the wrestler falling to their knees while holding an opponent upside down. Made famous for modern audiences by The Undertaker, the Tombstone Piledriver is a perfectly fitting name for a maneuver executed by The Dead Man. But the Tombstone was actually innovated by influential legend Karl Gotch, and has been famously used by other big names like Kazuchika Okada and even Andre The Giant.
6 Blue Thunder Bomb
Most powerbomb variations make for cool names, like the Liger Bomb or the Vader Bomb, but one of the best names of a powervomb variation is the Blue Thunder Bomb, an impressive maneuver that involves a wrestler setting up for a back suplex, spinning the opponent over their heads, and then sending them back-first onto the mat for a powerbomb. Credited to Japanese star Jun Akiyama, the Blue Thunder Bomb is best known to Western fans as a signature maneuver of Sami Zayn, and looks so impressive that some fans believe it should be his finisher.
5 Poisonrana
As anyone who’s watched high flyers like Rey Mysterio certainly know, the head scissors takedown — sometimes called the Hurricanrana or Frankensteiner — is a popular move for more agile wrestlers to pull off. But there’s an awesome inverted variation, the Poisonrana, that fans have seen pulled off in particularly epic matches in promotions like NXT or AEW. Since it’s applied from behind to send the opponent flipping backwards onto their head, the Poisonrana is a particularly cruel, dangerous-looking variation, earning its name.
4 Shining Wizard
Fans have seen the Shining Wizard — a running knee strike to a kneeling opponent’s head — utilized by Adam Cole, AJ Lee, and Tegan Knox, but it comes from one of the great and influential Japanese wrestlers of the 1990s: Keiji Mutoh, better known in the West as The Great Muta.
The Shining Wizard was introduced in the early 2000s as Mutoh sought to reinvent himself, changing his in-ring style as well as his look. The unique name of the maneuver is based on Mutoh’s nickname at the time, which was “Cross Wizard.”
3 Space Flying Tiger Drop
The kinds of mind-blowingly athletic moves pulled off by high flyers are often totally ridiculous, so it’s only appropriate that they have absurd names to match. One of the most absurd names goes to a maneuver innovated by legendary ‘90s Japanese star The Great Sasuke, who was known for his melding of Japanese and Mexican styles of wrestling and trained TAKA Michinoku. He gave wrestling the Sasuke Special, a cartwheel handspring over the top rope to an opponent on the floor, and then innovated the Sasuke Special 2 — later known as the stunningly ridiculous Space Flying Tiger Drop — which adds a moonsault to the end of the move, and has been utilized by modern flyers like Ricochet.
2 Boston Crab
The Boston Crab is one of the most basic wrestling moves fans can see. Not only is it the one submission that Young Lions in New Japan Pro-Wrestling are allowed to do, but it’s also one that the general public often see in cartoons and TV shows. Everyone knows it — the wrestlers sits on their opponent’s back, pulling up the legs to bend the opponent backwards. Originally named the Backbreaker, it was once used as a finisher in pro wrestling — Chris Jericho’s Walls of Jericho is a variation on it — and even once ended a legitimate MMA fight.
1 Burning Hammer
Like the Canadian Destroyer, the Burning Hammer is a devastating finisher that some believe is all-too common, which is a shame for something with such an amazing melodramatic name. An inverted Death Valley Driver — which is also a cool name — the move was popularized by All Japan Pro Wrestling pillar Kenta Kobashi, considered one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. But for Kobashi — who only pulled it out seven times over the course of a 25-year career — it was strictly a nuclear option, to be employed when all other options were exhausted.
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