Lance Storm took questions from F4W subscribers on the latest Figure Four Daily on WrestlingObserver.com. The entire show is available now to all subscribers and via the F4W Twitch account.
Storm was asked his thoughts on wrestlers kicking out of finishers. Storm said, “I don’t really have a big problem with it. I think people need to get it out of their head that these are finishers that just magically injure people to the extent that they automatically win. I always thought that was stupid. I always liked thinking, and I don’t know if this was in fact how it was portrayed in commentary, but it was always explained to me in All Japan was it was the wrestler’s favorite hold or favorite move. You might use a Tiger Driver in your match. It may be the finish, it may not, much like (Mirko) Cro Cop with the big head kick. He won a lot of matches with it. You can say it was his finisher but not every time he kicked somebody in the head the guy got knocked out.
So fans need to get it out of their head that this move is a finisher even if you are fresh as a daisy just standing there healthy as a horse and you will be defeated by this move, or if you’ve wrestled for six hours and you get hit by a different move, well, it’s not a finisher so you should kick out. I think it’s just a matter of if you quit thinking of things as finishers, because, to be honest, if it’s a finisher, you’re almost admitting that it’s fake and we just designed this move to be our finisher. But, if it just happens to be that I have a good superkick so I use it, or I happen to really like the half crab so I use it if I can, much like in MMA, let’s use Ronda (Rousey). The armbar was her finisher. She didn’t always win with it. There was an occasion where she got it on Meisha Tate and Meisha got out of it. You just have to get your head wrapped around calling it a finisher like I will just pick this move and I can beat any opponent with it, get that out of your head and then everything else will make much more sense. Then you don’t have that problem because the concept of a finisher when you really think about it is kind of dumb.”
The entire podcast is worth listening to and there was a surprise bonus at the end of the show. You can listen now at WrestlingObserver.com.
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