Shining a Spotlight 04.23.09: Comeback Moves

This week’s column is one of those ideas that just popped into my head without much reason. It involves move sets. I’ve never been what one would term a “workrate freak” but I appreciate the importance of in-ring work. I’ve been watching wrestling for a long time and I’ve seen changes in how moves work. It’s not just how things are going “Main-event style” or such. It’s that moves that used to be absolute finishers (like the piledriver) are now being shrugged off as just part of the match. But I’m also struck by the fact that a lot of moves that were pretty damn cool to see just aren’t used anymore and I don’t know why. Big ones and little ones, here’s a look at some maneuvers I think deserve a comeback nowadays:
　

The backslide: It’s a simple finisher, really. Get behind a guy, hook your arms under his and kneel forward, the guy’s shoulders over your head on the canvas for the pin. It was used most famously for Kerry Von Erich to beat Ric Flair for the NWA title in 1984. Of course, it’s been revealed they needed something so simple so Kerry could remember it. You see small packages still but a backslide is a surprisingly effective move to finish if applied in surprise and can get a crowd up for a cheer.
　

The DDT as finisher: If you could copyright a wrestling move, Jake Roberts would be a very, very rich man. The legend of its creation is famous: While wrestling the Grappler, Roberts got him in a front face lock but then tripped over the Grappler’s foot, sending them both down. Jake got up but the crowd thought it was deliberate and gasped and the Grappler, hearing the reaction, smartly stayed down. Since then, the DDT has been seen as an effective as hell move even though no one could make it look as devastating as Jake did. However, the move is used way too often in the middle of matches now, no longer the big finisher which is a shame since it should be. Driving a guy’s head into the mat is a cool sight and if that could be used to finish folks off again, it’ll remind people how cool the move once was.
　

The Gorebuster: Arn Anderson himself used to use the DDT in the later part of his career. However, I miss his old finisher, the gore buster, a move I’m surprised no one’s co-opted since. It’s basically a suplex, only instead of falling backward, you fall forward, Arn taking the impact on his knees while driving his opponent onto the mat. True, you’d think this would hurt Arn as much as the other guy but then that’s true for a regular suplex too. There is a risk of smashing a guy’s face too hard into the mat but it’s still a cool twist on the old formula and some young guy today could make it work well.
　

The Slingshot Suplex: Arn’s old partner, Tully Blanchard has his own cool suplex variation. After lifting the guy up, Tully would twist both himself and his opponent around, bouncing the guy’s feet off the top rope. He’d then use that momentum to fling the guy back at higher speed so he came down on the mat harder, allowing Tully to get the pin. Another simple but effective twist on the suplex that I’m amazed no one has picked up on in the last two decades.
　

The Brainbuster: Another suplex variation, although you can understand why it’s not used often since it is dangerous. After lifting the guy up in a suplex, the guy would fall back, driving the opponent head-first into the canvas. As noted, it would be all too easy to mess this up with dangerous consequences but that makes it a great move to sell a finished guy off.
　

The Rack: Lex Luger wasn’t the first to use the shoulder backbreaker. Hercules Hernandez was making it his finisher before Luger got into the business. Luger did popularize it though, making it look truly painful as he’d hook the guy up on his back before flexing hard, making it look like the guy was being stretched and bounced on his broad shoulders, leading to a submission. With all the big beefy guys out there, you’d think someone would try to recreate this as a move that could be seen as a painful finish.
　

The buckle butt series: An old favorite of mine as the face would drag the heel over to the corner and ram his head into the turnbuckle. He’d then do it again and then again and then start doing it in a series as the crowd would count along until he reached ten by which point the heel would be staggering about in a daze. It was one of those bits always good to get the crowd going, something wrestling today could use more of.
　

The Claw: There used to be a lot of guys who’d use the Claw: the Von Erichs, Baron Von Raschke, Blackjack Mulligan, Barry Windham and more. It’s another case of a move so simple and yet so effective-looking. Clamp your hand on a guy’s forehead and squeeze hard, the idea being that the blood was being cut off to the guy’s head properly, weakening him down, often causing the opponent to “pass out.” I’m amazed guys aren’t using this more nowadays. It works best with a strong guy who can sell a killer grip but even smaller guys could make it work given the circumstances as when it was used, it would get a crowd going well.
　

The Hart Attack: Another move that was around before the team that popularized it, the usual finisher for the Hart Foundation was a great tag team move. Jim Neidhart would hold the opponent in a bear hug, the guy lifted up so his head was above Neidhart’s. That would allow Bret Hart to take a running start off the ropes, rush over and hit a flying clothesline, Neidhart letting go so the guy fell with Bret still holding onto him in a sort of reverse bulldog. True, it was a Hart tradition but it’s still a good move for some modern day tag team to co-opt as tag teams today can use all the attention they can get.
　

The Demolisher: We all know the Road Warrior’s classic “Doomsday Device” finisher (Animal holding a guy on his shoulders while Hawk hit a clothesline off the top rope). But the team often cited as copycats had a good one as well. Demolition’s finisher would have Ax holding the guy over his knee like a backbreaker while Smash took to the second rope and flew off with a flying elbow across the guy’s chest. The move was used to help them win two of their tag team titles and showcased once more that, while rip-offs, the Demos were really a great team on their own as well.

The Crush Slam: WWF made a lot of mistakes when they had Brian Adams come back as Crush in 1993. They had him come in as a face, ignoring how cool a heel he was. They had him wear a goofy bright outfit that really didn’t match him at all. They did, however, make sure to give him a cool finisher befitting someone his size. Crush would grab his opponent by either side of his skull and lift him up before slamming him down hard to the mat. It became better when he turned heel as he’d add more power and thus some savagery to it and some big men today might keep that in mind if looking for something to add to their arsenal.

Full nelson This is going old-school, I know but often the classics still work best. Grabbing a guy by arms from behind, pinning the arms up and pressing on his neck is a good submission move to be sure. If you needed to spice it up, you could always turn it into a slamming move, grabbing the guy and either slamming him on his back or, better, onto his face. Maybe not as showy as other moves but still an “oldie but goodie.”

The Rocker Dropper: Marty Jannetty may not have been in Shawn Michaels’ class in terms of wrestling but he was still a pretty good worker. His finisher, in fact, was a cool sight as he would get a guy into an armbar, twist it around, put his leg on the back of the guy’s head and fall forward, driving him into the mat. The move is sadly infamous as in 1990, Jannetty did it to jobber Charles Austin and accidentally broke the man’s neck. It should be pointed out, of course, that Austin failed to properly protect himself from the move, tucking his head in when he shouldn’t have but he still ended up getting several million in a lawsuit against WWF. Jannetty still kept using the move which makes sense as it is a cool finisher and if taken correctly, can be a goof wrap-up to a bout.

I’m sure there are a lot of other underappreciated moves out there folks can mention. I know so many workers out there are looking for something new and fresh to wow crowds but wrestling has always relied on recycling so perhaps some of these moves can be making comebacks someday. True, the psychology of a match is important but a cool move to get the crowd going and add a signature helps a wrestler make more of a mark which the business can always use.

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