Smark Out Moment

Welcome to the third edition of FINISHER VS FINISHER for Smark Out Moment.

Finisher vs Finisher pits two or more wrestlers together that are known for performing the same signature maneuver. It's up to us to examine the positives and negatives associated with each person's legacy with the move and determine which one of them pulls it off better.

In honor of the returning Dave Bautista, let's discuss one of the best finishers of all time that has been used by a wide variety of characters...


The targets here are primarily Batista, Undertaker, Syco Sid Vicious, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sheamus and Vader.  Naturally, other people have used the move sporadically, but these are the men that have made them cornerstones of their signature maneuver palette.

These men all have different variations of the same move, which would seem to be very basic at a first glance. Note that there is over 20 different versions of this move, so we obviously are not going to run down every single possible one on their own edition. Maybe in the future, we can elaborate, but for now, this encompasses everything that can be classified as a powerbomb.

Scott Hall and Sheamus use the Crucifix Powerbomb form, where instead of sitting their opponent on their shoulders, they hold them up with their arms above their head and lean forward, tossing them down with less brunt force. It is essentially a way to take the same concept but stylize it. The Razor's Edge and the High Cross respectively are the same, but I personally believe Hall was able to put more of an impact behind it, making it look more devastating. Overall, though, this doesn't seem like it hurts as much as some others, due to how far close to the ground most wrestlers are by the time they actually are tossed to fall.

Kevin Nash performs the Jackknife powerbomb, which is more free-flowing than all of the rest. Essentially, by the time he's picked his opponent up, the only thing left to do is stop him from making a full 360 flip and landing back in the same position. When the wrestler is smaller, Nash tends to hold him in place and throw him down with force. However, when they are bigger, they tend to almost just flip toward Nash and then are guided to fall down gently. Sometimes, they almost flip over too much and land on their feet instead of viciously on their back. A good Jackknife can look painful to take, but a bad one looks like Nash was supposed to catch them and let go by accident.

Vader, Mike Awesome and Sid have the most overall basic powerbombs. They're pretty standard textbook definitions of what you should do. The opponent is lifted up, rested on their shoulders, and they are thrown down onto their back/shoulder with force.

Batista utilizes a different ending to his move by sitting down while he slams his opponent. This is typically used to help ease the transition while slamming them down. Unfortunately, this means that it frequently appears like it has less impact and is slower than other variations.

Jack Swagger performs the Gutwrench powerbomb. Instead of setting up his opponent by having their head between his legs and bent over, Swagger picks them up from a multitude of different angles, spins them around above his head and slams them down in front of him. This almost combines elements of the Crucifix powerbomb and the Jackknife, but with much more control due to his strength. Easily, I would say this is the most impressive looking one of the bunch, and the fact that more people don't use it astounds me. It's quick, powerful, and fun to watch. There is significantly more torque behind it, which greatly adds to why this is such a good finisher.

Overall, though, I would say the person that has the best powerbomb is The Undertaker. His finisher, the Last Ride, puts the slightest bit of a twist on the basic powerbomb style by having him elevate his opponent just a little more before slamming them down to the mat. That extra height makes a huge difference in seeming like they are falling that much further, picking up more speed in the process. Very rarely does Undertaker ever botch this, as well, and it almost never seems like he's endangering the other wrestler by potentially putting them down on their neck.

Nearly all of these are cool, which makes it difficult to pinpoint how one can be better than the other, but for my money, the one above all is probably the Dead Man's.

WINNER: Undertaker.