Daniel Bryan - A Question of Finishers

Daniel Bryan is currently gearing himself up for a match with the WWE Champion John Cena at this year's Summerfest extravaganza. Questions abound as to whether or not Bryan can pull off the upset and whether or not Randy Orton will cash in his MITB briefcase should DB come out victorious.


Then there's the question of if Bryan beats Cena, how does he beat him? His only really recognised finisher in WWE is the YES! / NO! Lock, and I think we can be 99.9999999% certain that Jumpin' John won't be tapping out. When Bryan wins a match without a YES! / NO! Lock, he usually wins with a roll-up or a variation of it. Back in ROH of Honor he used a small package as his finisher and managed to get it over so well that when someone finally kicked out of it (Takeshi Morishima IIRC?) it garnered a tremendous response from the crowd. Would he be able to make this work in WWE? And if not, is it time to give him a proper 'impact' finisher?


So I'd like to put out the following questions:


Is it a help or a hindrance that Daniel Bryan doesn't have a signature 'impact' finisher?


If you were to give him an 'impact' finisher, what would it be?

He has used the diving headbutt as a finisher in the past, I suppose that could be considered impact, but hopefully not as I hate that move

I like him reling mainly on his submission and I think the small package was always a great gimmick but I doubt WWE has the patience for that.

Something like a Tornado DDT would work well.

Given his martial arts background, a Shining Wizard or something might look good. Quick and devastating - a strike move.

Due to his size, I dont think something like a powerbomb would be a viable solution. You should (broadly) be able to use your finisher on anyone (e.g. RKO).

I wouldn't want him to continue using the flying headbutt given the lasting damage it could do to him, as has been seen by the condition of practitioners of the move like Harley Race, the Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit.


A Tornado DDT or Shining Wizard are great shouts  When I was writing this thread I was thinking along the lines of a Stunner / RKO / Twist of Fate but then thought that for some reason these moves wouldn't really "fit" with Daniel Bryan. The two moves suggested would though.

DDT and Wizard are good shouts,

The thing about the headbutt is that it isn't even a decent move, it's really unspectacular and its got a record of 2 crippling back injuries and a concussion based double murder suicide.

No move his worth that, certainally not that one.

He used the lariat a lot in ROH, i wish this YES/NO Lock would go away and he brought back Cattle Mutilation.

Well if a move is going to lead to a concussion based double murder suicide at least make it a decent move like John Cena's STF or Rey Mysterio's 619.

I've seen him use the Cattle Mutilation in the 'E once (from my limited viewing) but only as a regular move. At least Matthews/Striker (I forget who) called it by its proper name.

It will probably get rebadged to 'Super Thunder Twist Lock'. Or 'The Cattle Prod'.

I'm trying to think of finishers used by smaller wrestlers who won major titles. And that's smaller very loosely used, basically the ones who are not huge and/or musclebound. I honestly can't remember what other signature moves Bret used.

I preferred it when Bryan was built up as a submission machine, with counters and a huge list of different submissions. I suppose the focus on one specific move makes sense, its just not as exciting

He could use the Backstabber maybe?

what about a move from the top rope like the diving moonsault. Kurt Angle is of similar build to bryan and he executes it perfectly.

I love it when Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, its very intense.

I'd like a finisher where his opponent is in the middle of the ring on his knees and Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, People's Elbow style but quicker, then hits a running knee to the head of his opponent. It's fast, it's violent and it KO's the opponent.

Call it The Beard Trembler.

Mr H wrote:I love it when Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, its very intense.

I'd like a finisher where his opponent is in the middle of the ring on his knees and Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, People's Elbow style but quicker, then hits a running knee to the head of his opponent. It's fast, it's violent and it KO's the opponent.

Call it The Beard Trembler.

Great shout H

theundisputedY2D2 wrote:

Mr H wrote:I love it when Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, its very intense.

I'd like a finisher where his opponent is in the middle of the ring on his knees and Bryan runs the ropes at 100mph, People's Elbow style but quicker, then hits a running knee to the head of his opponent. It's fast, it's violent and it KO's the opponent.

Call it The Beard Trembler.

Great shout H

More like the beard trimmer

I like the fact that he doesn't have a recognised finisher really, it kind of says that he's so gifted in the ring that he's able to just wear his opponents down until one of his signature moves or the no lock gets the job done.

Moves I'd suggest for him though would be something like Rollin's head stomp thing as that can be hit by anyone and if done well looks deadly or as H say's a running knee attack. I'd also say Low Ki's top rope stomp attack would work or even something like the codebreaker.

A move I came up with for an e-fed character I was going to make was this, the guy starts out in a pedigree position but instead of hitting it in a kneeling position he jumps up landing both feet on to the opponents head, stamping them face first in to the ground.

I don't think he really needs a new finisher it never really harmed Ric Flair's career but wrestling has progressed a fair way since then, If allowed in the WWE he could use a Tiger Driver, Not difficult to do and could do it to 95% of the roster.

i was going to suggest a Shining Wizard type move which was mentioned above. I would just believe a strike move would be more Bryan than a power/lift move.