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 What Culture Wrestling with a list of
00:04one of the surest things to pop a massive crowd in all of pro wrestling, the finisher
00:10counter.
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 What Culture and here are the 10 best ever counters
00:47to WWE finishers.
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
01:18jumping into the move.
01:20You know what I'm talking about, how many times throughout history have we seen someone
01:23just conveniently jump off the top rope or springboard into the ring doing absolutely
01:29nothing, just like they're a willing participant in all of this.
01:34That's the kind of thing that really shatters your immersion and makes you think, ah yeah,
01:38this 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
01:45forearm.
01:46Obviously he's going to springboard in for that a lot of the time.
01:50That's what he was attempting, Edge countered it.
01:53It 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 enough
02:01of these pesky wrestlers just jumping into nothing.
02:05This was great.
02:06Anyway, what am I saying?
02:07Number nine, Mr. Perfect escapes the stink face from the 7th of March 2002 episode of
02:13Heat.
02:14How do you stop a gigantic ass from entering your face and putting your lights out with
02:19it's flesh and smells and fluids?
02:23Well, 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
02:36his face and Rikishi's cakes.
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
02:48all time visual 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, but how
03:02can you omit something like this?
03:03I mean, look at that towel.
03:06It's right up there.
03:07Number eight, 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
03:18rumoured heavily.
03:20Cody wants to go for a world title, Roman holds the only world title in the form of
03:24the Universal Undisputed Intergalactic Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, 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.
03:53Cody crumpled like a foostie biscuit.
03:57It's an absolutely tremendous spot, and that's why it's on the list.
04:00Number seven, Eddie rolls through the rock bottom from the 22nd of July 2002 episode
04:07of Raw.
04:08Speaking of his powers, Eddie Guerrero was almost impossibly smooth, and it's really
04:12highlighted when 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.
04:23Rock hoists him up, Eddie pulls him to the mat somehow, when they get there, after seizing
04:28the arm, Eddie presses his back against Rock's chest and 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
04:51it.
04:52Number six, a tombstone from a moonsault at Wrestlemania 25.
04:56The Wrestlemania 25 match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker is understandably held
05:01up as one of the greatest in WWE history, outdone only, perhaps, depending on who you
05:07ask, by the 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
05:22era of 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
05:31away.
05:32So he's clearly going to the top rope for the moonsault with ending the match in mind.
05:38Doesn't come off for him, however, he goes for the moonsault, he lands in a tombstone,
05:42and he gets spiked.
05:43It's just great, dramatic stuff from two of the best wrestlers in WWE history, two of
05:49the most important wrestlers in Wrestlemania history, it's a classic.
05:54Number five, 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, that's just absolutely the right word for
06:11it.
06:12This, not so much.
06:13This was kind of messy, it was kind of all over the place, but that's professional wrestling
06:18in a nutshell.
06:19Not everything should be this super coordinated, super smooth exchange.
06:24You'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, he has to work to get the Deadman in place, and to me that is just
06:48tremendous 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, so this little moment of wavering, this little
07:01sense of struggle really took this over the top, and say what you will about the result
07:06of this match, but for me, this was just really awesome.
07:10Number 4, Eddie Guerrero's F5 escape, in which Latino Heat scores one of the biggest,
07:16probably the biggest actually, win of his WWE career, over Brock Lesnar at No Way Out
07:222004.
07:23He's up for the F5, you've seen this spot before, the World Heavyweight Championship
07:27is on the mat, all looks to be doomed for Eddie, until he reverses into a swinging tornado
07:33DDT thing, onto the belt, hits the top rope, frog splash, 1, 2, 3, boom, boom, boom, job
07:40done.
07:42My 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
07:52Lesnar, and 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
08:04quite loose with his morals in the ring, which the character was always fond of doing, and
08:09when he did just that, it fit him to a tee.
08:12He had to take an extra step to fell this gigantic, terrifying, imposing monster.
08:19He did it, and it was one of the most cathartic wins in WWE premium live event, I guess, history.
08:27Number 3, Randy Orton plucks Evan Bourne right out of the sky from the 12th of July, 2010
08:33episode 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,
08:50and Randy Orton, it might have ended really poorly, and somebody maybe would have gotten
08:56hurt, but because these guys were so locked in, and because these guys were such pros
08:59between the ropes, it was just sensational.
09:02Evan Bourne, you've seen the move, you've seen it before, I don't need to explain what
09:07a shooting star press is, but he comes off the top, and just at the point where his body
09:11is straightening out, and he's gonna land it, and he's gonna beat Randy Orton and win
09:15the match, score one of the biggest wins of his career, Randy Orton's off the mat hitting
09:19him with an RKO.
09:20The RKO is perfect for situations like this, in fact, I could have populated this whole
09:24list from RKO counters if I really wanted to, but I picked this one for this particular
09:29spot at this high position on the list, because my goodness, it just doesn't get much better
09:34than this, but, I mean, it does get a little bit better, I've got two more things on this
09:39list, but that aside, this ruled.
09:42Number two, Seth Rollins gets trapped.
09:45Money in the Bank 2019.
09:46I don't think many people would argue with Seth Rollins' Universal title run in 2019
09:52after beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, maybe didn't live up to expectations, the
09:56babyface 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 kickout from this counter.
10:12Rollins was going for the stomp, now AJ had tried for the Styles Clash a couple of times
10:17already but it didn't work, Seth had him scouted, that meant that if he was gonna hit the Styles
10:22Clash and stand a chance at victory, he was gonna have to be crafty and creative.
10:27That's exactly what he did here, Seth goes up for the stomp, AJ goes up too, catches
10:32him on his shoulder, obviously puts him down, gets him in position for the Styles Clash,
10:37hits it, near fall, crowd goes mental, just tremendous stuff, like, in terms of how it
10:42came together, in terms of the execution, perfect, looked really cool, looked really
10:46great, but also strategically, hadn't been able to hit the move twice before, here's
10:51an advantageous situation that I'm so smart in the ring that I've been able to work to
10:56my benefit, fantastic, just a great match and a great spot.
11:01And at number 1, 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
11:11through the entries, you might have picked this as number 1, it is the greatest RKO counter
11:17ever if you ask me, I think a lot of people would agree with that, and yeah, I mean, just
11:22go re-watch the clip, look at how this comes together one more time, it is so perfect in
11:27its positioning, in its execution, in how it gets the crowd fired up, in the way it
11:33sets the tone for a fun night of action, it is of course Seth Rollins going for the stomp
11:38against Randy Orton, getting incredible air on the stomp, and then Randy pops up, Randy's
11:46in place, Randy hits the RKO, he does some snake stuff, where he gets all fired up afterwards,
11:52it's an all time crowd popping moment in WWE history, and that is why this counter is number
11:591 on my list, the 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 comments section below, and click like and click subscribe
12:11and ring the bell, all those nice things that help us to create more content like this.
12:17Anyway, thanks for joining us today guys, you can follow us on Twitter at WhatCultureWWE,
12:21you 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!