10 Wrestling Finishers That Went Through Name Changes
When it comes to creating a successful and memorable finishing move, the name is almost as important as the visual aspect of the move itself. It's all about making it memorable, and something for fans to latch onto. A great name can mean the difference between a move like the Stone Cold Stunner or the Wasteland.
A finisher's name can have a number of influences, and ultimately, can sometimes change due to a shift a the wrestler's character and copyright issues due to entering another promotion.
10 Chris Jericho - Liontamer/Walls of Jericho
Before his arrival in WWE, Chris Jericho had the nickname of 'Lionheart', and thus he named his unique variation of the Boston Crab as The Liontamer during his tenures in WCW and ECW.
After his WWE debut in 1999, the move's name was switched to The Walls of Jericho and even went through a physical change as Jericho adapted it to more of a traditional Boston Crab.
9 Daniel Bryan - The Lebell Lock/The Yes Lock
When Daniel Bryan first began regularly appearing in WWE in late-2010, his submission finisher was named The LeBell Lock after its creator, former wrestling/martial artist Gene LeBell. However, after a heel turn in early 2012, Bryan changed the name to the Yes Lock to fit more into his current gimmick.
It would later be referred to as The No Lock when Bryan tried to stop the fans from chanting "Yes" along with him, but for the most part, it kept this name.
8 Big Show - WMD/KO Punch
Over his 20-year tenure in the WWE, The Big Show employed a number of finishing moves, but in the late 2000s, he began using a straight right-hand punch which was portrayed as an immediate knockout of an opponent.
Originally the punch was known as the Weapon of Mass Destruction or WMD for short, but it was eventually changed to the less threatening KO Punch.
7 Scott Hall - Razor's Edge/Outsider's Edge
When Scott Hall entered the WWE in 1992, he took on the gimmick of Razor Ramon, borrowing heavily from Al Pacino's character in Scarface. His finishing move, a crucifix powerbomb, was aptly named the Razor's Edge.
When Hall jumped to WCW in 1996, he performed under his own name, and while WWE would sue WCW under the pretense he was the same character as Razor Ramon, he changed his finisher name to The Outsider's Edge, influenced by his tag team with Kevin Nash.
6 Seth Rollins - Blackout/Curb Stomp
For the first few years of his WWE stint, many fans likely didn't realize Rollins' finishing move was called the Blackout because as part of the Shield, Rollins didn't wrestle many single matches.
However, after his solo heel turn in 2014, Rollins began calling his finisher The Curb Stomp, and even though he was banned from using the move for a few years, that moniker remains.
5 Christian Cage - Impaler/Unprettier/Killswitch
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Christian Cage's double reverse underhook facebuster was originally called The Impaler when he made his debut as a member of The Brood in 1998. However, he changed it to The Unprettier as his gimmick switched from a vampire to an annoying, conceited heel.
When he returned to WWE from TNA in 2009, Cage began calling the move the Killswitch because he wanted the move to sound more dangerous.
4 Damian Priest - Reckoning/Hit The Lights
Ironically, when Priest first arrived in NXT, he used a version of the Razor's Edge as his finisher but moved to the springing reverse neck breaker known as The Reckoning.
This move has had seemingly dozens of names over the years - the generic name is 'Rolling the Dice' - but when Priest arrived on RAW, his move was renamed to Hit The Lights. It was rumored it was changed because Reckoning was the name of Mia Yim's character in Retribution, but the stable was broken up shortly after Priest's debut.
3 Kurt Angle - Olympic Slam/Angle Slam
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As an Olympic gold medal winner, it seemed to be natural that Kurt Angle would name his finisher as the Olympic Slam when he debuted in late-1999. However, according to Angle, the International Olympic Committee threatened to sue the WWE and it was changed to the Angle Slam.
Over the years, other wrestlers such as Randy Orton have used the move, but because Angle was wrestling for TNA at the time the commentators didn't identify it by its most known name.
2 Curt Hennig - Perfect Plex/Henning Plex
When Curt Hennig entered the WWE in late-1988, he wrestled under his real name before taking on the Mr. Perfect character. With that, he dubbed his fisherman suplex finisher as the Perfect Plex.
The name stuck until he debuted for WCW in 1997, when it was simply changed to Henning Plex, showing WCW was not the best at being original.
1 John Cena - FU/Attitude Adjustment
This is probably the most notable entry on the list as John Cena was the biggest star in the WWE at the time of the name change. When Cena began using his rapper gimmick in 2003, he named his finisher the FU to mock Brock Lesnar's F5.
Eventually, as Cena became more of a kid-friendly character, and the company, in general, moved towards PG-rated television, he changed the name to the Attitude Adjustment.
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