Wrestling finishing moves: There was a day in professional wrestling when somebody would slap their finishing hold on an opponent and as a fan, you knew that was the end. Back in the 1980s, when it was just squash matches featured on the weekly Saturday morning television show, the finishing move meant a merciful end to the three-minute beating the nobody jobber took from the big star. On January 11, 1993, Monday Night Rawdebuted and the day of a finisher working 100 percent of the time was done.

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Some finishers, like John Cena’s STF or Attitude Adjustment, still work most of the time, but there is no guarantee. If Wrestler X can never overcome Wrestler Y’s finisher, the outcome of the match is never in doubt. If the outcome isn’t it doubt, the promoter isn’t going to sell tickets.

There are certain holds, such as Scott Hall’s Razor’s Edge or Lex Luger’s Torture Rack that are so closely defined with a specific character that it would look like blatantly ripping the creator of the move off if another wrestler tried to claim that finisher as their own. And then there are the holds that were once finishers that have either disappeared (the swinging neckbreaker), been banned (chairshots to the head), or been converted to a non-finisher (the clothesline). Here are 10 classic finishers that don’t work anymore.

10. Dropkick

via allwrestlingsuperstars.com

From Koko B. Ware to Jumpin’ Jim Brunzell, the Dropkick was the finisher of those wrestlers who didn’t pick up the number of wins compared to the very top guys on the card. Brunzell’s was traditional, but Koko B. Ware added the flare of jumping off the top rope for the “Missile Dropkick.” Tag teams got in on the move, with the Rock ‘n’ Roll Express using a double-team Dropkick to finish off most of their matches. Perhaps the craziest version was Rob Van Dam’s corner-to-corner Dropkick, the Van Terminator, which was also used by Shane McMahon during his short run as a wrestler. Dropkicks are still found in almost every match, but it seems silly to think that wrestling fans ever took it as a serious finisher.