Ranking the 10 Greatest Finishing Moves in WWE History (2024)

Hulk Hogan's leg drop built an organization, but it is not one of the top 10 WWE finishers of all-time.

While Hogan hulking up and body slamming people turned the WWE into the biggest wrestling organization in the world, his finisher was lame.

The best finishers in WWE have three things in common: high impact, a signature user and a big-time event that put it on the map.

Follow along as we go through the top 10 WWE finishers of all-time.

Stone Cold Steve Austin's Stunner

As much as everyone loves this move, it just barely misses. While it defined an era, it still wasn't better then the top 10 picked.

Also included: Razor Ramon's Razor's Edge and Randy Savage's Flying Elbow

The Rock is synonymous with arrogance when it comes to his finishing maneuver. Stolen by Booker T—who called it the bookend—the Rock Bottom is the move that truly finished opponents to set up the "Most Electrifying move in Sports Entertainment"—The People's Elbow.

The Rock Bottom is No. 10 because it is able to immobilize the opponents with its impact. The only reason why it isn't higher is because The Rock had to do the People's Elbow after it almost every time, creating a confusion as to which his true finisher is.

While the Undertaker was the first to do a Chokeslam in WWE, The Big Show does it the best. Lifting a man almost 10 feet in the air only to slam him as hard as he can into the mat makes this move tough to not love as a wrestling fan.

Itfalls right into the No. 9 hole because it has put another wrestler through the ring itself. Who didn't love when the Big Show slammed the Undertaker through the mat in one of the most vicious looking chokeslams ever?

Nothing is as recognizable in the modern form of WWE as Triple H's Pedigree. From 2002 until his semi-retirement at WrestleMania XXVIII, the Pedigree was the one moveyou never wanted to find yourself in, as it meant the match was done.

It ranks No. 8 only due to the sheer awesome that is the moves above it. But there will never be a move that makes people see the power, respect and viciousness of a man as much as the Pedigree did for Triple H. It makes most of today's finishers weak. (Looking at you, Attitude Adjustment.)

BAM!

Kick to the face. Now you are unconscious and didn't even see the kick coming in the first place. That's how Shawn Michaels made his career. He went from mid-card tag team member with Marty Jannety to full-on star with a swift kick to the face.

It comes in at No. 7due to the sheer violence of the move. Add in the fact he would even taunt some of his opponents before it by "tuning up the band," and you have one of the best finishers of all-time.

Kevin NashwasDiesel in his time with the WWE, and his biggest impact wasn't his trucker-style persona or his great wrestling ability. It was when he showed up on WCW TV and hithis Jackknife Powerbombon Eric Bischoff.

This comes in right at No. 6 due to the sheer power shown by Nash. Seeing him do this at every organization under the sun only glorifies just how amazing it was to see him throw people around like complete and total rag dolls.

Constant reactions to Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bombs sounded similar to this:

"He's climbing the top of the ladder! That guy is on top of a table. He's not gonna do it!" - Jim Ross

"OH MY GOD! SWANTON BOMB THROUGH THE TABLE!" - Joey Styles

That alone is enough to show how amazing the move is.The gainer onto aflattened opponent always creates the best reaction fromcrowds no matter whatgoes on before it.

It comes in at No. 5 for its pure heart-stopping abilities and true daredevil nature of the move. It's the most extreme move due to the constant insane things he does with it. Seriously, how oftenhave we seen Hardy Swanton off of a ladder oronto an opponent that's lying on a table...or both?

Quick and dangerous like a viper, Randy Orton has earned his nickname using this move that was once known as the Diamond Cutter when Diamond Dallas Page used it. There is no question that the RKO is a move that can completely cut someone down in an instant.

It ranks No. 4 due to its sheer ability to pop out of nowhere and win a match. It looks like a layout-stunner in some ways, and it's used in a very similar way to how Stone Cold used to use the stunner—to surprise the competition with a shoulder to the jaw.

It's such a simple yet effective move that was executed to perfection. The Perfect-Plex is by far the best suplex of all-time. The simple bridging cradle suplex was the move that vaulted Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig into the limelight.

He stayed there for his amazing wrestling abilities. However, the move that carried him was so flawlessly perfect that he could hit it on anyone. That's why the Perfect-Plex is No. 3on the all-time list of best finishers ever.

Coming in at No. 2 is the Five-Star Frog Splash. While other wrestlers have used some form of the frog splash, be it Eddie Guerrero or Hornswoggle even, no one got the air, the hangtime or sold it as well as Rob Van Dam did.

The absolute height of the move is scary when you realize that Van Dam is close to 13 feet in the air on his jump and then comes crashing down with his over 220-pound frame onto an opponent. No wonder healwaysgrabbed his stomach after hitting it.

The Undertaker closes us out with the greatest move of all-time. It's the one that led him to multiple WWE and World Heavyweight Championships. The Tombstone Piledriver is the perfect move for the man from Death Valley.

What makes this move No. 1 is the complete creativity and how he has never lost at WrestleMania because of it. After taking a man and flipping him upside-down, he crashes to his own knees and then lets the man drop.

He's already in a spot to pin, so he closes the match out folding his opponent's arms and signifying the death of the match. Look no further than the Tombstone if you talk about the best WWE finisher of all-time.